As I was feeling stuck regarding whom to contact to
potentially supervise my thesis, I decided to get some advice from my course
instructor, Katie, at the beginning of this week. Since I want to look at how
mental wellness information is currently being communicated by the university
and how it can be improved, Katie recommended that I first get in touch with
Counselling Services, or perhaps the Student Success Office, and find out who
is involved in that particular job. That way, they can tell me what is being
done and whether they’re looking for any improvements, and I can propose to
them how I may be able to help. Then, I can contact a potential supervisor once
I’ve narrowed down my aims for the project.
She also suggested that I take a closer look at what these
services’ websites have to offer; this would give me a better idea of the areas
that may need improvement. One thing that I found during this investigation was
that the Counselling Services website can inform students of a lot of resources
available to them; however, there are so many different links to look through
and students may not be able to quickly find what they need. More importantly,
students may not know what they need
in the first place. The website has two main “categories” of resources – the
services provided by Counselling Services itself (“Our Services”) and resources
of other services (“Resources”). Under “Resources” is a list of links to
“Campus Resources”, “Community Resources”, “Emergency Contacts”, “Student
Groups and Other Resources”, and “President’s Office”. “Student Groups and
Other Resources” links to self-help information, including help for individuals
with mental health disorders as well as other students. What concerns me is how
a student to (a) know to go to the Counselling Services website for information
about self-help when they don’t believe they are experiencing serious mental
health challenges, (b) find this information, and (c) decide that the advice is
worthy of exploring.
I sent an email to Counselling Services on Wednesday, and I hope to hear from them soon. If not, I may have to go directly to them, as time is running out before I have to submit advisor information to Katie. A week from today, October 9, is the due date. I’ll have to consider also contacting the SSO, though I do think their website is generally much better organized than CS’s is. What I would likely target then is students’ attitudes towards the information the SSO shares and whether they are incorporating it. Do students use the tips they provide, or do they end up just going with the flow? Lots of possible research questions to consider…
I sent an email to Counselling Services on Wednesday, and I hope to hear from them soon. If not, I may have to go directly to them, as time is running out before I have to submit advisor information to Katie. A week from today, October 9, is the due date. I’ll have to consider also contacting the SSO, though I do think their website is generally much better organized than CS’s is. What I would likely target then is students’ attitudes towards the information the SSO shares and whether they are incorporating it. Do students use the tips they provide, or do they end up just going with the flow? Lots of possible research questions to consider…
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