About This Guide

This guide targets student leaders, frontline staff, faculty members, graduate student supervisors and program leaders who directly interact with students as a part of their roles and responsibilities, in addition to policy makers and strategic planners who indirectly influence the experiences of students. Readers are encouraged to use this guide to consider the accessibility of resources and how services can be expanded to support student retention, time to degree completion and success.

This toolkit aims to take a meaningful approach to offering guidance on how to support graduate students from all walks of life, whether in need of mental health and addictions supports or not, and the suggestions provided are meant to enhance campus experiences for graduate students in the long term. “Graduate students” refers to students in post-bachelor professional programs, master’s, doctoral and post-doctoral students.

This toolkit discusses the unique challenges faced by graduate students, their impacts on mental health, and the importance of addressing pre-existing conditions in campus life. This is not a definitive resource as the experiences, perspectives and approaches of students are diverse across the province and informed by their lived experiences. However, the steps and strategies outlined provide a foundation for learning, reflecting and engaging.