Peer Support Centre Volunteer

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Peer Support Centre for the 2025/2026 academic year! 
Please apply through this link only! Applications will be accepted until May 18, 2025.
To learn more about our service and the position please see below:
The Peer Support Centre is a Students’ Union service that offers non-judgemental support in a safe, and confidential space to students and the campus community. We recognize that our clients are the experts of their situation, so we aim to empower our clients and refrain from offering advice. We strive to provide our service in a professional, and inclusive manner - and to do no harm. We are committed to collaborating with other campus services to increase campus community, reduce the stigma of mental health, and increase campus discussion of a variety of mental health issues. We are also committed to providing volunteers with opportunities with personal and professional growth. We aim to provide support for students, by students.

Our amazing volunteers are the face, heart and soul of the PSC. After over 70 hours of supportive listening and crisis intervention training over the summer, volunteers support members of our campus community in a one-on-one setting. This training involves education and skill training using a Supportive Listening Model for interpersonal interventions, suicide and crisis intervention techniques, and grief coping mechanisms. Other skills to be developed include socratic questioning, perception checks, and other soft people skills.

As a part of this training it is asked that you attend the following in-person, day-long, training dates:

• July 26th
• August 9th
• August 24th
• September 6th
• September 7th

If you are unable to make these dates for any reason, please reach out to psc@uasu.caQualifications for the role:

• No prior supportive listening experience is required
• Our volunteers all share the following attributes: compassion, humbleness, assertiveness, non judgement, genuine, empowering
• Enthusiasm for helping people, the ability to integrate a busy PSC schedule into their lives and interest in mental health advocacy on campus. These characteristics help our volunteers excel in their positions, and create a positive atmosphere for clients coming into the centre.
• Willingness to non-judgmentally support a client who is undergoing a difficult time in their life. They need to be able to ignore their own personal biases and experiences in order to focus on the clients matter at hand, and follow the rules and regulations that have been meticulously researched to provide optimal client sessions.
• It's important to also practice humility with any previous training you may have received, as the limits to our centre can vary greatly with any previous experience you have.

After successful completion of summer training volunteers go on to commit three hours of shift room time/week, 8 hours/month contributing to internal community or outreach events, and two role plays for ongoing skills practice/semester.We highly encourage you to visit our website to learn about what being a supportive listening volunteer with the PSC looks like before completing this application. When considering your capacity to dedicate yourself to this role, please keep in mind that we require in-person volunteering and make sure to visit our website to verify you can attend our mandatory training dates.

Should you have any questions or concerns about the Peer Support Centre or your application, please reach out to psc@uasu.ca.