Students shuffled in and out of an open house at Counselling and Development’s Loyola offices last Thursday, introducing them to the wealth of assistance and services available to them.
“So what exactly is Counselling and Development?” one might ask.
Mary O’Malley, coordinator for Student Learning Services, summed up the role of the Counselling and Development department. “At C&D, we help [students] adapt to university as a new student,” she said, “as well as meet the learning demands of different courses, finding the right program and career, working on personal goals and concerns and, finally, in finding a career or getting into grad school. Students success is our concern.”
Approximately 500 students attended the daylong event, skimming over the many booths, collecting handouts, or just enjoying the free coffee and donuts.
“A lot of students don’t know we exist,” explained Writing Assistant Eric Wood, “so it’s a great idea to have an open house because it tells the students about all the great, free services available to them.”
Wood is one of the twenty or so writing assistants who offer personal tutoring to students looking to improve their writing ability. Often, ESL students are the main ones using the service, though it is open to all Concordia students.
“The unique thing about us is that we are one-on-one. We adapt to the student’s individual need at any stage of their writing,” said Wood.
Student Learning Services is C&D’s branch that offers the writing assistance service. They also offer Talk Times and Lunch & Learn, which give non-English speaking students a chance to practice their conversational skills, and they help students prepare for the University Writing Test, learn effective study habits and improve in areas like time management and problem solving.
C&D also includes the Student Success Centre, a program that matches students with peer mentors who offer guidance and support. They can help a student plan and organize their workload, as well help connect students with other groups and activities on campus.
Other services include CAPS, Concordia’s Career and Placement service that helps graduating students find employment in their field. They have a career resource centre, offer resume and cover letter workshops, and host recruitment campaigns with industry leaders and companies.
Counselling and Development also offer health services, psychological counselling and more, at both the downtown and Loyola campuses.
For more information, visit the C&D website, http://cdev.concordia.ca.
