Grief counselling available to Loyalist students

By Tiffany McEwen

Losing someone is never easy, but Loyalist College has programs in place to help its students through tough times.

Missing school is a natural part of dealing with a grief situation, Jane Harrison, dean of media studies at Loyalist College, helps students stay on track.

“As a rule of thumb, we use what human resources would use if it was to happen to one of us, which is normally you are given up to five days leave for bereavement,” said Harrison.

While five days is a normal amount of time to miss, Harrison said there are circumstances in which a student may miss more school than that.

“Some people sublimate things, they keep it to themselves, so that they may not be ready to come back, but then come back anyway and then they spin out of control because they tried to come back too quickly. Other people just have such a hard time with something that they find overwhelming that they need longer.”

Loyalist offers its students several options to keep up their studies.

“In some courses we put remedials in place, which means that after the semester is over, we go back to the significant outcomes,” said Harrison. “As long as you’re in good standing everywhere else, we go back to those outcomes that were missed. We make sure you get them to try to move on to a career, or to second or third year.

“Normally we try to put in an individualized learning plan together with the student so that both parties understand what they need to do to be successful.” said Harrison.

She said speaking to faculty is the best course of action for a student who has missed a period of school.

“Listen first and then act appropriately and give all the supports possible to the students who are in need.”

Adam Gosney, a counselor from Loyalist College, said that cooperation and a well-developed understanding between the faculty and departments ensures that students get the help they need.

“Often what will happen is that a student will either self-identify, and come up to the student success HUB, and say ‘I would like to meet with a counselor’ or they will reach out to their faculty,” said Gosney.

“Some students are very self aware, very assertive and very quick to come and say this is what’s happened to me and I’d like some additional support.”

Gosney said that while some students are quick to see a counselor, others are not due to a variety of reasons, which can include gender, family origins or personal beliefs. He said it is usually on the suggestion of a friend or faculty member that they eventually see someone.

“As with any other issue, there can be people who wait longer then they probably should to see a counselor.”

Some students do not seek a counselor, said Gosney, because they have a preconceived notion about counseling as a psycho-therapeutic session in which a person sits on a couch and talks about their problems, a method which he said is “old-school and antiquated.”

“Counselling is what the student wants it to be. We start where the student wants to start, and we practice from a solution-focused model, which is the current best practice in college counseling, which suggests that students have internal strengths and skills that they are able to utilize that they are just not recognizing because of the emotional pain or the weight of whatever mental health difficulty they are going through at this time.”

Along with free counseling services and academic recourse, the school offers financial assistance to it’s students.

“Usually it’s just transportation to get home because they don’t have the train ticket or flight, depending on where home is, or help them fill up their gas tank, because they’re going back and forth because someone is sick in another city, Kingston, Toronto, wherever, and the gas is really eating up their pocketbook. That is usually the kind of help,” said Pearl Vani-Hill, the financial aid officer at Loyalist College.

“We do have some what I call quick cash money. Somebody comes in and they need $20, or the hydro is going to be shut off and maybe they only need $100. We do have some quick cash money for dire emergencies.”

While a small amount of money is available for emergencies, Vani-Hill suggests applying for a financial need bursary, which is usually between $500 and $1,000 and is made available to students through a portion of tuition.

Vani-Hill said that while there is some money available, they do run out, and so suggests budgeting for emergencies.

“Budget before you come to school. If you realize you’re running out, put the brakes on. Or come see me before you run out,” said Vani-hill. “I tell all students if they don’t ask they’ll never know.”