A Grad Student’s Case for Voting in the SGPS Referendum

Image Credit: envato.com

Graduate school has a way of shrinking your world to whatever is due next: the paper draft, the lab run, the conference abstract, the TA marking pile that multiplies when you blink. In that mode, it is easy to see campus services as “nice-to-haves” you will think about later, until your health, or someone else’s, becomes the thing that makes everything else harder.

This piece is written from a graduate student perspective, and it is a direct encouragement to other graduate students to vote in the upcoming. I have had the chance to work alongside Student Wellness through a work-study opportunity, I have benefited from the services and programs personally, and I have watched other students, including graduate students, get real value from supports like food programs and wellness resources. When the impact is visible up close, the decision stops feeling abstract. It becomes a question of whether the campus will continue to sustain the infrastructure that keeps people functioning. 

Voting is happening on January 29 and 30.  Even if you are undecided, graduate student participation matters because the outcome affects services many students rely on, and graduate students’ needs are too often invisible unless graduate students show up. 

Why graduate students should care 

Graduate students sit in an in-between space. Graduate students are students, and graduate students are also researchers, instructors, and often the people keeping labs, tutorials, and projects moving. That in-between status comes with pressures that do not always fit neatly into an undergraduate calendar: long timelines, funding stress, professional expectations, isolation, and the quiet feeling that you should be able to handle it all because you are “supposed to be capable.” 

Capability does not cancel out biology. People get sick. Stress accumulates. Sleep breaks. Anxiety spikes. Chronic conditions flare. When that happens, work does not pause politely. That is where accessible, campus-based care and support can make a meaningful difference. 

 

What Student Wellness covers and why it matters for graduate students 

Student Wellness is not just “wellness tips.” It includes the practical, clinical supports that keep school and life from quietly going off the rails: physician appointments, nursing and nurse practitioner care, and occupational therapy, plus help with the unglamorous but essential parts of health care like getting a diagnosis, managing an illness or injury, accessing prescriptions, and staying on top of preventive care. Student Wellness can also help students navigate the healthcare system and connect students to next steps, including internal pathways such as medication consults or assessments, and referrals to community care when specialized services are needed.   

This is not abstract support. It is the kind of care that can keep a minor issue from turning into a major disruption. For graduate students, disruption has a different cost structure. A missed week can snowball into delayed milestones, funding stress, publication timelines slipping, and a loop where health problems create academic problems, which then create more health problems. 

 

Mental health support that recognizes reality 

One thing worth emphasizing is that mental health support is not treated as a single narrow pathway. Different students need different kinds of support, and not everyone needs support in the same format. 

The services described include therapy appointments, therapist-led groups, self-directed online modules, and referrals to longer-term support, including specialized and embedded therapists. There’s even a mental health therapist embedded in graduate studies.  There are also options for pre-booked or same-day support for concerns like stress, low mood, relationship issues, anxiety, overwhelm, and managing intense emotions.  That mix matters. Some graduate students need a short appointment to triage stress and build a plan. Some benefit from skills-based groups. Some need longer-term care. Multiple entry points mean more chances to get the right fit at the right time. 

Practical health promotion, including food supports

Health promotion sometimes gets dismissed as “nice ideas,” but it can be deeply practical when it is designed around student reality. The services described include one-on-one wellness coaching that supports health behaviour goals, with coaching streams that can focus on physical activity, sleep, nutrition, and substance use.  

There are also mindfulness appointments using a guided meditation app and a MUSE biofeedback headband, with real-time audio feedback on attention and focus.  This can be especially relevant for graduate student life, where stress and cognitive load can make it difficult to regulate attention and settle the nervous system.

Student-led initiatives matter too. Programs like Mason Jar Meals and Fresh Food Boxes are included as part of the health promotion ecosystem.  As a graduate student, I have seen how food programs reduce a very real stressor: food access when money, time, or bandwidth are tight. Nutrition is not only a lifestyle goal. It is a stability tool. When people can reliably eat, everything else becomes more doable.

There is another layer here that is easy to overlook. As someone who writes wellness content, I have seen how campus wellness information can change a student’s week. A strong, accessible article or resource guide can be the nudge to book an appointment, try a coping tool, show up to a program, or realize that the struggle is not personal failure. Those are small shifts with compounding effects.

COR: harm reduction, student safety, and easing pressure on emergency care

The Campus Observation Room (COR) is one of the campus services that often goes unnoticed until someone needs it. COR is a harm reduction service that supports student health and helps ease local hospital strain. COR provides a safer option for students who need monitoring and support, and it does so in a way that is practical, barrier-free, and student-centred. 

COR has requested the same $0.50 fee since 2005. In the past year, over 100 students accessed the service. COR also provides tailored alcohol safety education across campus, offers barrier-free access, and provides free transportation to its on-campus location. COR creates paid and volunteer opportunities, including opportunities for graduate students. 

The systems-level impact matters. COR supports students while also easing pressure on a strained emergency system. When students can be safely monitored in COR instead of going to the ER, it helps preserve emergency resources for people who truly need urgent care. This matters in Kingston, it matters in winter, and it matters in any community where emergency care capacity is under stress. 

Does this affect graduate students directly? 

Yes, for at least three reasons. 

• First, graduate students use these services too. Health needs do not disappear because someone is in year three of a doctorate or juggling research and teaching. 

• Second, graduate students support other students. If you teach, TA, supervise, or mentor, your ability to show up matters. A campus with stronger health supports is a campus where more people can function, learn, and participate. 

• Third, graduate students benefit from student roles and placements connected to this work. The services include practicum placements and volunteer or paid opportunities connected to Student Wellness.  COR also highlights paid and volunteer opportunities for graduate students.  As someone who has benefited from work connected to Student Wellness, I can say these roles are meaningful. They build skills, expand networks, and strengthen support system students genuinely rely on. 

  
  

A direct ask: vote 

Whether you are leaning yes, leaning no, or still undecided, please vote. The voting window is January 29 and 30.   

If you are leaning yes, it can be because you value: 

• Accessible on-campus medical care and referrals   

• Mental health supports with multiple formats and pathways   

• Health promotion that includes practical supports like wellness coaching, mindfulness with MUSE biofeedback, and food programs   

• Harm reduction and student safety supports like COR, with a long-standing low fee and real campus impact

If you are undecided, voting still matters because graduate students deserve a voice in how graduate student fees support campus services, especially when those services shape health, safety, and day-to-day functioning. 

Not voting does not keep someone neutral. It hands influence to whoever shows up.