Queen’s Accessibility Services provides support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who require accommodation and accessibility supports.
Processes for accommodating students and postdoctoral fellows with disabilities and extenuating circumstances can be found in the Wellness section of this website.
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have access to a variety of counselling services on campus via Student Wellness Services as well as other service providers:
- Graduate Counsellor: The School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs has an embedded counsellor who provides individual counselling services to graduate students and offers group programs on mental health and wellbeing.
- Other Specialized Counsellors: Queen’s Student Wellness Services offers a number of specialized counsellors to support our students. Counsellors include registered psychotherapists, social workers, and psychologists who specialize in working with particular issues or student populations including Eating Disorders, Sexual Violence, Black-identified, LGBT2SQ+, Indigenous, and Cross-cultural/racialized students.
- General Counsellors: In addition to the graduate specific counsellor and other specialized counsellors, Student Wellness Services offers registered psychotherapists and social workers who are qualified to address issues related to stress, low mood, relationships, academic stress, clinical depression, and/or anxiety disorders.
How to Access Counselling: To book an appointment with any counsellor at Student Wellness Services (SWS), graduate students should call 613-533-2506 and ask to set up an appointment with a counsellor. Students can ask to speak with the graduate specific counsellor, one of the other specialized counsellors, or a general counsellor. All of these appointments are free. Graduate students can also visit the page on the Student Wellness Services website.
Empower Me: Empower Me provides graduate students with free online counselling services 24/7/365 days per year in multiple languages. Graduate students can access Empower Me here.
Office of Support Services & Community Engagement: The Students in Distress section of the CARE support services website contains key information about supporting students in distress.
Green Folder: The Green Folder contains information about identifying and responding to students in distress, as well as contact information for available resources. You are encouraged to print and post the documents for your reference. Access the Green Folder here.
CARE Referral Program: The Queen’s University CARE referral program helps support students by providing early referral to resources. The program relies on campus community members (supervisors, grad assistants and coordinators, academic advisors, program administrators) to refer students who are facing difficulties, either academically or personally.
Steps to Access CARE
- Concern: A faculty or staff member notices a student who is having difficulties or is in distress.
- Refer: The faculty or staff member will identify this concern by submitting a CARE Referral The referrals are reviewed by an Intake Coordinator to help identify an appropriate resource
- Outreach: The CARE Coordinator will reach out to the student and offer support or referrals to resources to support their success.
All leave options and vacation time policies are described in the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs academic calendar.
Leaves of Absence: Without prejudice to their academic standing, graduate student can request and receive a leave of absence from their graduate studies for various reasons (e.g., maternity and parental, medical, compassionate, gender affirmation).
Leaves, Time-to-Completion, & Funding: A leave that changes a graduate student’s registration status to "inactive", stops the clock for the period of time for which the leave has been granted. In other words, the terms spent inactive are not counted in the number of terms taken to complete the degree. Eligibility for financial support through the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs will be extended by the period of time taken for the leave since awards from internal sources are suspended during the period of the leave.
Requesting a Leave: A student requests a Leave of Absence by submitting the online form found on our Forms page under Create, select Graduate Student Leave Request.
For policies and procedures on harassment and discrimination at Queen’s visit Harassment and Discrimination on the University Secretariate and Legal Counsel site.
Students can find non-judgemental sexual violence support and advising at Queen’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Services. Queen’s policy on Sexual Violence can be found here.
Students concerned about food security can find Food Access Resources at the Office of Student Affairs.
The SGPS Peer Academic Advisor program is available to help graduate and professional students navigate the complexities of academia during their time at Queen’s. This resource is free and confidential. See the page for more information.