McMaster Student Wellness Centre

12/24/2019

Holiday Closure Notice - Student Wellness Centre

The SWC is closed from December 24 @12pm until January 2 @8:45am for the holidays. Check out resources available here https://wellness.mcmaster.ca/holiday-closure-notice/

The Student Wellness Centre will close for the holidays beginning Dec 24, 2019 at 12:00pm. We will reopen on Jan 2, 2020 at 8:45am. The hours on January 2 and 3, will be 8:45 – 4:30pm. We will resume our regular hours with evenings beginning January 6. If you are dealing with a medical or [...]Rea...

12/04/2019

It’s that time of year again, Marauders! Exam season is right around the corner and SWC’s Exam Challenge Contest is back. Starting Friday Dec 6th until the last day of exams, we will be giving out daily prizes. The best part? Just participate in the Exam Challenge question on Instagram to enter. You can follow us at www.instagram.com/mcmasterswc/

Check Instagram daily to take part in the challenge and visit wellness.mcmaster.ca/program/exam-wellness-challenge/ for all details including prize information!

12/03/2019

Take a look at this post by the McMaster Student Success Centre to see what resources, supports, and programs are taking place for students during exam time.

As you get ready for exams, remember, you're not alone. Here are some resources and supports available at Mac to support your success:

McMaster University Library:
• Extended hours at all locations.
• Note: Mills and Thode are open 24/7.

Student Accessibility Services (SAS) McMaster:
• MSU Maccess and Student Accessibility Services (SAS) will be hosting an Exam Destress Event. Make your own personalized exam de-stress care package, with everything you need to make it through exam season. Happening on Wednesday: https://www.facebook.com/events/511338029463644/

McMaster Recreation:
• Stress Less Spin Day. Free spin classes for most of Thursday!
• Exam Stress Relief. Free drop-in yoga throughout the month.

McMaster Student Success Centre:
• Exam Tip Sheets available in GH 110 and on our website: http://bit.ly/ssctips
• Cheer Week: Happening from Wednesday, December 4 until Tuesday, December 10. Full details are on the website: https://studentsuccess.mcmaster.ca/events/cheer-week/

Some Cheer Week (Dec 4-10) highlights include:
• Wednesday, Drop-in December Dinner and De-stressor (Transfer and First-Gen Students): https://www.oscarplusmcmaster.ca/publicEventsController.htm?eventId=30932
• Thursday, Sponsored Study Space + Prizes, 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., MUSC
• Friday, First Day of Exams Boost, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., GH 110. Stop by the SSC to grab a beverage (smoothies, coffee and tea).
• Sunday, Bring the Cheer: Toronto Raptors Viewing, Doors open at 5:30 p.m., GH 110.
• Monday, Unwind at the SSC, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., GH 110. Low-key activities in the SSC.
• Tuesday, Pro-craft-ination, 11:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., GH 110. Crafts include beading bookmarks and ugly sweater (bring your own sweater)/hat decorating (while supplies last).

McMaster Student Wellness Centre:
• Exam Wellness Challenge: Every day of exams, the SWC will pose a wellness-related question on its Facebook or Instagram (@McMasterSWC for both). Respond to daily posts to be entered in a draw for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate.
• Brown Bag Breakfast: Stop by the wellness lounge (now located in PGCLL 201) each weekday of exams for breakfast starting at 9:30 a.m. While quantities last! it.
• Walk in Nature: Drop in at the Wellness Lounge (now located in PGCLL 201) on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. for a walk through Cootes Paradise (runs all year).

11/30/2019

A beautiful reflection on self-care, especially important as we move into one of the most stressful times of the academic year.
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Note, the writer calls the use of liquor “self-sabotage,” which we feel is an oversimplification for those living with trauma and addictions.

“Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing.

It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.

It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.

A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.

And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.

It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t.

It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.

If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.

It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place.

It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people.

It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it.”
-Brianna Wiest

[Illustration: Yaoyao Ma]

11/25/2019

Drop by for Wii games on November 26 from 1-3pm or register for a beginner yoga class happening from 1:15 - 2:00 pm. There will be hot chocolate, free snacks and multiple chances for you to enter into a contest to win a #MacMoves prize pack.

Visit our event page: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/yoga-the-wellness-lounge-tickets-83249955859

11/25/2019

MSU McMaster Students Union

Health Services Survey is available now at msumcmaster.ca/healthsurvey

If you would like to give feedback about Student Wellness Centre services at any time, you can fill out our anonymous survey on our website: wellness.mcmaster.ca/survey/

The purpose of this survey is to better understand student interactions of students with the medical and professional services offered by with four health services provided at McMaster University: The Student Wellness Centre (SWC), The Student Wellness Lounge, Student Accessibility Services (SAS), a...

11/25/2019

Flu Clinics | City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Missed our two flu shot clinics? You can still get your flu shot by checking out the City of Hamilton website.

Make sure to bring your health card or UHIP card, or call 905-546-2489 if you don't have a card to see how you can access the shot.

2018/19 Hamilton flu shot clinic locations Free flu shots are available for everyone who lives, works or attends school in Ontario. Six months of age and older? Get a flu shot from your doctor or at a clinic Five years of age and older? You can also get a flu shot from your pharmacist Call pharmacy....

11/19/2019

Learn strategies to pay attention to the present moment for reduction of stress and anxiety.

For more information, visit https://wellness.mcmaster.ca/program/mindfulness-meditation/

11/18/2019

Get your flu shot tomorrow, November 19 at the Student Wellness Centre Clinic (PGCLL 210) from 9am – 12pm. No appointment necessary but remember to bring your student ID and health card or UHIP card for international students.

For more information, visit https://wellness.mcmaster.ca/program/flu-shot-clinic/ for more information

11/18/2019

MSU Women and Gender Equity Network - WGEN has a week of trans-focused programming and events in honour of Trans Awareness Week.

Check out their calendar of events below, or read more about being an ally to trans people here: https://www.glaad.org/amp/beginners-guide-being-ally-to-trans-people?fbclid=IwAR1tE4uK0L-JZxXSiy2Jv_Nh8vsms53G9B1Mqs1oeIRj_crngk6vaFM2GHI

Check out all of the events we have planned for next week 🏳️‍⚧

Visit the event page here for more info ⬇️
https://www.facebook.com/events/2240158539429170/

11/15/2019

When living a double life takes a mental health toll | The Star

"Living a double life is a common experience for the children of immigrants, but it can have dramatic consequences for mental health."

Being unable to be truthful to others and thus true to yourself can manifest in depression, anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders and self-harm

11/11/2019

MacSecrets - Student Wellness Centre

We wish we knew if people around us are going through the same situations. Submit a secret from Nov 4 to Nov 18 and help us start a conversation about mental health.

https://wellness.mcmaster.ca/program/macsecrets/

MacSecrets is an online submission form that allows students to share common struggles, thoughts, emotions, fears, regrets, and ways to practice self-care. The form will be active from November 4 – 18, 2019. During the MacSecrets De-Stressor Event on Thursday, November 28th (5:30-8 pm) at PGCLL 20...

11/08/2019

Get your flu shot on Tuesday, November 12 at the Student Wellness Centre Clinic (PGCLL 210) from 9am – 4:30pm. No appointment necessary but remember to bring your student ID and health card or UHIP card for international students.

https://facebook.com/events/567793630647765/?ti=icl

11/08/2019

Need to change your name or gender marker? Drop-in to Hamilton Community Legal Clinic Saturday, November 16 from 12 - 2 PM

11/05/2019

SWC Moving Notice - Student Wellness Centre

Come by to our new space located at Peter George Centre for Living & Learning (PGCLL) 210. All programs and services are now operating out of this location. Click on the article for more information.

https://wellness.mcmaster.ca/move/

We are excited to announce that as of October 28, the Student Wellness Centre (SWC) will be located in the new Peter George Centre for Living and Learning (PGCLL). Our new location is PGCLL 210.

11/04/2019

Register for this upcoming workshop with Indigenous Student Services and SWC counsellor, Brittany.

Wellness Series Workshop #2: Embody Peace

Spaces still available. See post for how to register!

11/02/2019

Great new space for students registered with Library Accessibility Services or Student Accessibility Services.

Looking for a quiet space to study or for a few moments of solace? Check out Library Accessibility Services! #Maccessibility #ADIU2019.

• Library Accessibility Services (LAS) opened their doors to the Campus Accessible Tech Space (CATS) in 2018.
• CATS is a quiet hub in the Mills Library that is available for students who are registered with Library Accessibility Services (LAS) or Student Accessibility Services (SAS).
• The space includes adjustable height tables, two private workspaces, an area with low light, an area for group work, and a lounge area.
• Technological aspects of the room include assistive tech for laptops, keyboards, magnifying glasses, microphones, and headphones, as well as other fun activities that can be signed out from the CATS service desk.

Stay tuned as our 2018-2019 Accessibility and Disability Inclusion Update will be electronically published on December 3rd #InternationalDayOfPersonsWithDisabilities

#Accessibility #Library #McMaster

McMaster University Library Student Accessibility Services (SAS) McMaster

11/01/2019

Where’s the new Student Wellness Centre?!?!

11/01/2019

TED

Create moments that allow people to truly come together

This is how you turn parties, meetings, and family holidays into moments where people can truly come together.

Watch the full TED Talk here: http://t.ted.com/UcvY52N

10/30/2019

TODAY at 12:30pm in MUSC Marketplace, come by to grab a free fanny pack that you can fill with supplies for a safer Halloween weekend. Limited supplies, so come early to avoid disappointment!

https://www.facebook.com/events/2692809157407448/

10/29/2019

We have the perfect addition to your Halloween costume! Head to the MUSC marketplace from 12:30pm tomorrow to get a fanny pack that you can fill yourself to party smarter this Halloween weekend.

wellness.mcmaster.ca/spooksacks

10/28/2019

Need to change your name or gender marker? Drop-in to Hamilton Community Legal Clinic Wednesday, November 6 from 5 - 7 PM.

10/25/2019

Open Circle is offering a 5-week course focusing on developing resilience from October 28 to November 28. Register at http://www.opencircle.mcmaster.ca/bys

10/23/2019

Moving Notice :
As of Monday, November 4, all medical services, counselling services, and wellness education (including the new lounge space) will be located on the second level of PGCLL. To book a medical or cousnelling appointment, please call 905-525-9140 ext 27700, or visit reception in PGCLL 210.

10/12/2019

Equity and Inclusion Office, McMaster University

Equity and Inclusion Office, McMaster University

We are excited to announce the relaunch of the Accessibility Hub website as we head into the long weekend - please check out this updated and streamlined resource for access to accessibility, disability and inclusion training, resources, support, communities, contacts and more!
#AccessMac #EIO #MAC #DigitalAccessibility #AccessHub

10/11/2019

Whether or not you are “out” on this National Coming Out Day, your identity is valid. You know who it’s safe to be out to; your wellness comes first.

Whether or not you are “out” on this National Coming Out Day, your identity is valid. You know who it’s safe to be out to; your wellness comes first.

10/11/2019

It's #WorldMentalHealthDay, a day to honour the importance of mental health. How are you taking care of yourself and your community today and everyday?

For mental health resources, visit wellness.mcmaster.ca/resources
For wellness programs and events, visit wellness.mcmaster.ca/programs

Good morning!
It’s 10/10, and it’s World Mental Health Day.

Help us make this day count: In your country, but also globally. Give this message a push, so the agenda will be top of mind when they wake up in other parts of the world.

10/10/2019

We are excited to announce that as of October 28, the Student Wellness Centre will be located in the new Peter George Centre for Living and Learning (PGCLL). Our new location is PGCLL 210.

https://wellness.mcmaster.ca/move/

10/08/2019

Drop in for an art based group to expand your understanding of self on Thursdays from 1:30 - 3:30 PM MUSC B118.

10/07/2019

We're looking forward to participating in this 2SLGBTQ+ Celebration and Information Fair on Thursday at the Pride crosswalks alongside some great campus and community organizations. Come say hi!

The EIO Presents: 2SLGBTQ+ Celebration and Information Fair!
Last year, there were two incidents of vandalism to the Queer and Trans Pride Crosswalks at the entrance to campus. On October 10th, in honour of National Coming Out Day, come out to celebrate and reclaim the crosswalks with 2SLGBTQ+ students, staff and faculty at McMaster and the broader Hamilton community.

Lots of community and campus 2SLGBTQ+ organizations will be on hand to share information and resources. Everyone Welcome!

Date: Thursday, October 10, 2019

Time: 12 pm – 2 pm

Location: Outside L.R. Wilson Hall near the Pride Crosswalks at the Sterling & Forsyth Street entrance to McMaster campus. (Rain Location: Lobby of LR Wilson Hall.)

For questions and/or accessibility requirements, contact Vilma Rossi at [email protected].

Sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Working Group of the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community.
MSU Campus Events, MSU Pride Community Centre - PCC, MSU Women and Gender Equity Network - WGEN, MSU Maccess