Student Counselling Services Event Support Guidelines and Request Form

Please read the form in its entirety before submitting the request to counselling@nipissingu.ca. Please note that only the completion of Part One is necessary to determine SCS’ capacity for your request to be approved. If specific date and times are unknown at this stage of the planning process, please provide approximations to the best of your ability. The remainder of this form is meant to be used as a working document thereafter.

Part One - Request
Type
Please select one of the following
Part Two - Responsibilities of Event Planning

Immediately after approval is received, it will be the responsibility of the department who is making this request to book the room and/or organize and schedule the most appropriate online platform. Once completed, this information is to be communicated to the assigned team member(s) listed above. Please note that it is important that the SCS team member know as soon as possible, as in presentation/webinar cases, they will be responsible for bringing the necessary technology or reformatting a presentation to best suit the online platform.

Location
(Zoom, Teams, Blackboard, etc.)

Other Considerations for Organizers

If distress support is requested, additional rooms might be required to be booked for risk assessment/de-escalating, depending on when and where the main event is being held (i.e. if event is afterhours, SDS office might not be open or in reasonable proximity for students to be brought to counsellors’ offices)
If required, organizers will be responsible to find a way that counsellors can be easily identifiable to students, (i.e. signs, t-shirts)
Are there resources that you would like the SCS team member to bring? (i.e. SCS information, brochures, community resources, etc.).
Would it be helpful to schedule a meeting with the team members who are supporting your event prior to the event itself?
Part Three - Guidelines for Day of Event
  • SCS team member(s) will arrive 15 minutes before the event begins (unless otherwise requested)
  • It has been helpful in the past if organizers of the event remind students/community members of counsellors’ presence and communicate how they can be accessed, while still respecting their potential need for space. Consider the following script (which may be modified as you see fit) to be said as part of the event’s introductions:

    "Given some of the topics of today's event, we want to remind everyone that there is support in the room for anyone who may need it. Counsellors are ____ [in this circle, located at the back of the room, under the sign/or wearing the ____ coloured t-shirts]. If anybody feels triggered or in distress and wishes to speak to one of the counsellors during or shortly after today's event, feel free to approach them at anytime and they will leave the space with you to do so. We want to encourage you to do what you need to do to take care of yourself and if that involves moving around or leaving this event space at anytime, please feel free to do so. We just ask that if you do not want a counsellor to follow you out and check in with you to make sure that you're okay, please give them a "Thumbs Up" as you leave the room, otherwise they will discreetly follow you out."
     
  • If able, SCS team member will help with any required clean up
  • Please note that if you would like feedback on the event, SCS team members will be happy to share, but must respect the confidentiality of the students first and foremost, unless consent is received otherwise