3 students walking outside on VIU Nanaimo Campus

Resources for VIU employees

Need help Now? Crisis and Emergency

As a member of the VIU community you have the opportunity to support students who may be struggling with issues that affect their mental health, academic success, and well-being. Counselling Services supports faculty and staff in a number of ways.

Learn how to respond to students in distress. There are additional tools and information on workshops and the Resource Request and Referral Forms system as noted below.

  • The Resource Request and Referral Form can be submitted by faculty, staff and students.
    • Use if there is no immediate threat
    • Can link student with useful resources to address their situation as they may need extra support or intervention
    • Does not go on any student record

We understand that it can be a stressful time for all parties involved when supporting a student in distress. We encourage employees to use Homewood Health and/or their extended health benefits. For more information, see the Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) page. 

  • Please share our counselling website with your students to introduce them to counselling services.
  • You can also invite a counsellor to your class for a brief orientation to our services.

Contact us at 250.740.6416

  • to discuss a concern about a particular student
  • to debrief about any incidents with students involving mental health

Have you ever noticed signs of distress in students and wondered what to do? Have you ever been in a situation where you have had to deal with a student who was very distressed? Have you ever received an alarming email or had students express thoughts of self-harm or suicide? This is an opportunity to gain confidence in dealing with difficult situations before they arise. 

Supporting Students in Distress + Supporting Life: Suicide Awareness Workshop

  • Learn to recognize signs of distress, respond effectively and refer students to appropriate resources.
  • Combined with suicide awareness.
  • For more information or to book one of the workshops, please email the counselling department at HWCconfirm@viu.ca.

Can't attend a synchronous or in-person workshop? Asynchronous Capacity to Connect is now available!

In this training you will learn to recognize signs of distress, to respond effectively and empathically, and to refer students to appropriate resources. Our goal is to increase your confidence in responding to students in distress when you find yourself in these situations.

Working through the videos and associated reflections will take approximately one hour in total, and you can learn bit by bit as time allows.

Can't attend one of our Capacity to Connect workshops? 

Access the More Feet On The Ground half-hour online workshop developed by the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health to learn how to recognize, respond and refer students experiencing mental health issues on campus. This is also a great refresher after taking one of our VIU workshops.

  • The Health and Wellness Centre (Counselling and Medical Clinic) occasionally receives requests from students for letters to facilitate a late withdrawal application, medical notes for missed classes, or to support requests regarding academic accommodations such as extensions on due dates. We take these requests seriously and use our professional judgment to discern whether a student is experiencing challenges with mental/physical health and well-being that interferes with their academic success.
  • We can best make judgments about requests for letters when we have an ongoing clinical relationship with the student. Should a student request a letter during an initial visit to the Health and Wellness Centre, it is possible that this request may be declined on the basis of a lack of clinical information.
  • When possible, we encourage students to advocate on their own behalf and communicate with instructors directly. In many cases, instructors can make valid evaluations of a students’ circumstances and the resulting impact on academics without having to refer to the Health and Wellness Centre, e.g. absences due to flu/illness, major loss/grief, difficulty with basic needs such as housing, or other life stressors that arise for students.
  • The Registrar’s website hosts information about the late withdrawal application process.
  • The Accessibility Services site has information about the accommodation process.
  • We appreciate your understanding and support. Should you have any questions about the Health and Wellness Centre and the services provided, please feel free to contact Counselling Services, or the Director of Student Services.

Conduct or student behaviours that disrupt the learning environment may include

  • yelling
  • inappropriate language
  • sending numerous emails or phone calls with inappropriate content
  • refusing to follow directions
  • threats 

Please contact:

You can also fill out the Resource Request and Referral Form

  • Use if there is no immediate threat
  • Can link student with useful resources to address their situation as they may need extra support or intervention
  • Does not go on any student record

There is so much being done at VIU related to wellbeing, but we also wanted to share some excellent resources SFU has. Stay tuned for more.

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health offers links to other resources and useful information such as Canada's legal requirements to support mental health.