It can be hard to be a student. The feeling of being stretched too thin is constant for many Camosun students. But when students pay their fees at the college, that includes counselling and student support services.
Camosun has two student support managers (one for each campus) in the Office of Student Support: Jenny Holder started at Camosun in 2018, and Stephanie Pedneault is new to the college as of this September. Pedneault and Holder’s role is to provide information and support to students who need it.
Holder says that the stress students face can result in bigger issues that can be addressed through counselling.
“We’ve got more students coming into Camosun and we’ve got students coming in with greater social needs given the environment we’re in, with housing and the pressures that students are seeing financially, living in Victoria,” she says. “And that, I think, trickles down into some of the stressors that we’re seeing with our students coming through. In the next couple of years we would like to see an expansion of our services to better serve students.”
Students with mental-health concerns and students who are survivors of sexual assault are also welcome to use the office, says Pedneault.
“If there are students on campus, or off campus, who have done something or behaved in a way that isn’t in line with the [Camosun Student] Conduct Policy, we come in,” says Pedneault. “And oftentimes instructors or others will refer to us, and so we will be able to meet with the student, and come from a place of ‘How do we support that student to have success?’”
Sometimes its job is about figuring out how to get students back on track using internal resources, but the Office of Student Support will also outsource when needed. Students can always be the ones who choose how to move forward with the process, says Pedneault. The office is also responsible for the Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy at the college. Its involvement includes holding workshops on how to respond effectively if a student, faculty member, or staff member discloses abuse. (The dates for these workshops are not yet confirmed.)
“Our office is responsible for being a place where those who have experienced an incident of sexual violence or misconduct can feel, hopefully, safe to come and where they feel that it’ll be safe and they’ll be respected to choose how they want to move forward. That goes for both folks who’ve experienced an incident of sexual violence or misconduct, or somebody who may be a respondent, so someone who has been accused of that,” says Pedneault.
Pedneault stresses that just because the Office of Student Support is part of the college doesn’t mean that confidentiality isn’t of the utmost importance. She adds that it’s important to know that the office is not designed in any way to deal with formal crisis response. If a student comes to the office who, for example, is suicidal, it will be a safe space for them and the office will contact the appropriate organization.
(Students can call campus security’s emergency number at 250-370-3075 if they are on campus and witness a dangerous crisis.)
“We want to be able to respond to students’ needs,” says Pedneault, “but because of the nature of the office and the resources we have, we don’t have the capacity to be in any way a crisis response.”