Guide to Wellness Resources
For links to the services listed, please see the tabs below.
Links to Specific Services
Counselling and peer support
Distress
Health
Academic/career
Finance
Legal aid
BIPOC
LGBTQ+
Eating disorder resources
Asian
Other
Counselling and peer support
- Office of Medical Learner Affairs 1:1 counselling
- Medical and Dental Peer Support Network – book a session
- Med & dent students with training in peer support. You’ll be matched with a peer supporter and have a confidential and non-judgmental space to speak with a peer from MDCM or DMD.
- You can also reach out directly to the VP Wellness (msw.mss@mail.mcgill.ca) for more information or to set up a session.
- Peer Support Centre by SSMU
- Sessions with student volunteers to provide empathetic, empowering, and non-judgmental peer support
- Option for BIPOC support
- Office of Medical Learner Affairs support groups
- Various focuses: LGBTQ+, Docs with Tots, BIPOC students
- Refer to the Office of Medical Learner Affairs ressources
Distress
- Dial 9-1-1
- The Office of Medical Learner Affairs’s complete list of emergency resources
- Suicide Action Montreal (← their website, or call 1-866-277-3553)
- Emergency lifeline to support you when struggling with suicidal thoughts or if you are worried about a peer or loved one
- Tracom (← their website, or call 514-384-3033)
- Psychosocial crisis intervention
- Free, professional, bilingual, 24/7
- PAMQ (← their website, or call 514-397-0888)
- Quebec helpline specifically for doctors, residents, and medical students
- The Office of Medical Learner Affairs can accommodate semi-urgent appointments for situations of acute distress
- Contact the The Office of Medical Learner Affairs directly at https://www.mcgill.ca/schoolofmedicine-learneraffairs/book-appointment
Health
- McGill Wellness Hub
- Physical and mental health services (access to physicians, dentists, nurses, lab work, psychiatrists, psychologists)
- Access remote services
- Program for eating disorders available
- Clic Santé
- Government of Quebec’s website to access quick health appointments/resources, available even if you have no family doctor
Academic/career
- WELL Office academic advisor (1:1 career advising)
- McGill Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD)
- Resources/accommodations for students with disabilities, mental health issues, chronic health conditions, or other impairments
- Appointments available with access to services advisors
- MSS Academic Peer Support (MAPS) program
- The MAPS program is a 1:1 peer tutoring program for students in remedial situations
Finance
- Government aid for Quebec, out-of-province, and international students
- Scholarships and Student Aid by McGill Student Services
- The Frugal Scholar’s Path to Financial Wellness
- A comprehensive program designed to help you budget effectively and graduate with manageable debt
- Estimating resources, calculating costs, building budgets, managing debt, preparing taxes
- McGill scholarships and aid
- Merit-based awards, need-based awards, tuition payment deferral
- Links:
- Special funding
- Includes: Indigenous students, students with disabilities, athletes, students going on exchanges, etc.
- Emergency loans
- 1:1 counselling appointments available (currently remote)
- Help you navigate government loans and bursaries and evaluate eligibility for various bursaries
- See https://www.mcgill.ca/studentaid/finances
- The Frugal Scholar’s Path to Financial Wellness
- Financial wellness resources from the WELL Office, specific to medical students
- Ranges from financial counselling to podcasts on managing finances
Legal aid
- Legal Information Clinic at McGill
- Non-profit, student-run, bilingual and free information service
- Student Advocacy Program – provides free and confidential advice and representation in cases where McGill students are going through disciplinary, grievance, or appeals processes
BIPOC
- Wellness Advisor to support BIPOC students: Melissa Cobbler
- Email melissa.cobbler@gmail.com for 1:1 consultation
- McGill First People’s House
- Provide academic, campus, and cultural support
- Academic programming – new student orientation, monthly workshops, annual conference
- Cultural programming – Pow Wow
- Indigenous Student Alliance by SSMU
- Provides integrative support for indigenous peoples’ attending McGill and helps them connect and share their unique, authentic indigenous ways of knowing with each other and with non-Indigenous peoples within the community
- Black Student Network by SSMU
- Service available to all McGill students who are interested in the affairs of Black students and those of the larger African Diaspora
- Host a range of social and political events by and for Black students, in addition to hosting discussions and providing mentoring and resources
LGBTQ+
- Interligne (← their website, or call 514-866-0103)
- First response call centre that provides help and information online or via call or text to those concerned about sexual orientation or gender diversity
- 24/7; English and French
- The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) by SSMU
- A trans-positive feminist service
- Services include an alternative lending library (with over a thousand titles!), a co-op stocking pay-what-you-can ecologically responsible menstrual products, DIY sex toys, safer sex supplies, and gender empowerment items and a zine library
- Runs trans* 101/allyship and anti-oppression workshops for other organizations and projects, and has a resource binder with information about abortion services, counseling, and queer/trans*-friendly health services in Montreal
- Co-op order form PWYC basis, with a suggested donation (reusable menstrual pads, packers, naloxone kits, and tank top binders)
- Queer McGill by SSMU
- Non-hierarchical social, political, information and support service for queer students and their allies
- Events range from weekly board game nights to workshops about queer-related issues
- Resources available such as books and literature as well as safer sex supplies
- Queer Grad Club
- Resource order form: binders, gaffs, breast forms, menstrual cups, condoms, dental dams, and lube
- Shag Shop by the McGill Student Wellness Hub
- McGill’s safer sex & sexual health boutique
- They sell affordable products including a variety of condoms, lubricants, toys, alternative menstrual products, and pregnancy tests
- Place your Shag Shop order online and pick it up in person at the Student Wellness Hub
- For students with bank accounts linked to their parents, all transactions will appear on bank statements as “McGill Health Promotion”
Eating disorder resources
- Eating Disorder Resources and Support Center by SSMU
- Support groups
- Offered for individuals interested in having a space to discuss their experiences with eating disorders and disordered eating, as well as to hear about the experience of others
- Weekly meeting, 2 hours per session, and facilitated by two trained volunteers
- Drop-in
- Meet with a volunteer with an understanding of eating disorders and trained in non-judgmental support, are able to talk or share a safe space with
Asian
- Offering Free 1:1 Support Listening Sessions
- Asian Mental Health Collective
- Pan-Asian Collective (PAC) by SSMU
- PAC aims to increase meaningful engagement in Asian history and culture in a way that recognizes the diversity of the Asian experiences. They aim to empower and grow the Asian community in Montreal and build a network of support and friendship.
- Here is an EXCELLENT resource document they have made.
- Asian Allies Friendship Facebook group
- A place to ask for someone to walk with you or drive you while traveling around Montreal to feel safer
- Groupe d’Entraide Contre le Racisme Envers les Asiatiques au Québec
- A Facebook group to discuss anti-Asian racism in Quebec, share resources, educate allies, etc.
- Project 1907
- “Through events, programming, education and resources, we explore the nuances of our intersectional experiences as entry points to building collective action and solidarity within, and across, communities experiencing racism. We are moved to action from our histories. We draw upon our lived experiences to advocate for our political, racial and social inclusion and justice.”
- Elimin8hate
- Canadian resource for those who have experienced anti-Asian racism to anonymously report and access public resources
- Hollaback
- A nonprofit organization offering workshops on bystander intervention training
Other
- Keep.meSAFE (info made by PGSS)
- For all students with SSMU & PGSS (free)
- Mental health counselling service that specializes in student mental health support and provides access to:
- Licensed counsellors in Montreal with minimal wait times
- 24/7 access to licensed counsellors through telephone and mobile chat
- Mental health care in over 60 languages
- Counsellors available who speak various languages (e.g. Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog)
- App: To get connected download the MySSP app, available on all mobile devices in the App Store
- Phone: For students in Canada and the US call 1.844.451.9700. If you are in another location please call 1.416.380.6578
- McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (MORSL)
- Offers support to students of various religious identities or no particular religious identity who wish to find meaning beyond academics and to form healthy life habits that invite spiritual well-being, inner peace, and that equip them to live harmoniously in society
- Drop-in centre – interfaith lounge, spiritual and wellness library, meditation and prayer room, light therapy
- Classes and techniques – online workshops, meditation techniques