Students learning to support other students

While classes may not have officially started, student leaders have already been learning new skills to support incoming students. These leaders include members of the King's University College Students' Council (KUCSC), Sophs, Residence Staff, King's Academic Mentoring Program (KAMP), International Peer Guides, Bridging Assistants and Mature Student Mentors.

The result, says Doreen Vautour, Associate Dean of Students, is that incoming students can be confident that they will be greeted by dedicated student leaders who understand the importance of supporting new students and each other.

“King’s, as a community, wants to help meet our students’ needs in transitioning to university and getting used to a new environment, possibly a new country. We know that can be challenging and we want to make sure they have easy access to student leaders who are ready to have those conversations and make referrals to resources – just reassure those students as they start their time at King’s,” she adds.

While each of the groups will receive different training, there will be a core set of skills that all of King’s student leaders will be trained in, including education around suicide awareness; gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and disclosure; equity, diversity, inclusion and  decolonization (EDID), and emotional intelligence.

“We want our student leaders to understand where students might be coming from, in terms of their self-awareness around emotional intelligence or their ability to manage their emotions. We know that plays out on campus in many ways, both positive and not so positive,” says Vautour.

Vautour says it is important that all student leaders are trained in the same core skills so that students can connect with different leadership groups but still receive the same response. The Residence staff and the Sophs will also have/have had more intensive critical incident training as well as instruction around emergency response, policy enforcement, and de-escalation.

Those taking the training ”are keen to have the knowledge that they need to respond to other students who might be experiencing a difficulty, and can do it with confidence and a sense of how best to serve the student,” says Vautour.

Vautour says the skills they are learning are important for their student roles. “[The student leaders] are the face of King’s. However, she adds that “this is lifelong learning. Skills like suicide awareness, anti-racism training, and others are ones that they’ll carry with them. It doesn’t stop at the boundaries of King’s. These are skills and a knowledge base that student leaders will take with them into their relationships, into their communities.”