To assist and support as many students as possible, Memorial’s Student Wellness and Counselling Centre (SWCC) has added daily counselling slots for virtual drop-in appointments.

“Requests for counselling have increased substantially this year,” said Dr. Ken Fowler, director of the Student Wellness and Counselling Centre. “By offering same-day counselling sessions, we’re hoping to be able to address the increase in demand and see as many people as possible.”

The 50-minute sessions, known as One-at-a-Time sessions, take place with a SWCC mental health professional, and are an opportunity for students to focus on one current concern or question. Like a walk-in clinic at a physician’s office, the sessions are designed to offer counselling support and intervention at the time a student needs it.

“This program has been launched as an additional supplementary service, so it does not take away from any services or programs already offered by the SWCC, nor does it prevent students interested in ongoing counselling from requesting that option. One-at-a-Time is a way to offer one more option, a focused type of counselling well-suited to the needs of many university students,” said Dr. Lisa Moores of the SWCC, who developed the program. “One-at-a-Time aims to help students address issues impacting them currently, so they can start tackling these concerns right away.”

Next steps

Students will leave One-at-a-Time sessions with a plan for next steps they can take, and information on relevant resources to help them.

After following through on their plans, student clients can return to the SWCC and One-at-a-Time if or when they need to for further sessions.

Development of the program was based on a review of programs shown to be effective and beneficial for counselling centres at peer institutions and in consultation with clinicians working with post-secondary student populations.

“We have found that often times, this one focused session meets immediate needs and provides clear guidance to help determine what to do next,” said Dr. Moores. “It was important for us to add One-at-a-Time as an extra service that could be beneficial to many students and helpful when there is high demand and a wait for ongoing, but also would not take away from services already in place at the SWCC and would respect students right to choose what they want to avail of.”

One-at-a-Time counselling appointments are booked on a same day and first-come/first-served basis starting at 8:30 a.m. each morning, by calling (709) 864-8500. Counselling appointments are available for the winter term starting Jan. 10, 2022.