Health & Wellness Steering Committee

The Health and Wellness Steering Committee (HWSC) oversees a campus-wide, coordinated and comprehensive effort to support student health and wellness on campus.

The HWSC considers the physical, socio-cultural, intellectual/academic, spiritual and environmental aspects of the student experience and development as it seeks to advance health and wellness across the campus.

The HWSC will be supported in this activity by the input of three separate but complementary working groups on safety, mental health and alcohol, and advances recommendations from these working groups on best practices in policies, procedures and practices to promote and enhance the health and wellness of individual students and the campus community. 

Ultimately, the HWSC drives the strategic direction and vision for a campus devoted to enhancing health and wellness, provides high-level guidance for policies and programs developed by its working groups and approves major decisions for campus initiatives promoting a vibrant, collaborative and supportive campus environment.

Guiding Principles:

The Health and Wellness Steering Committee will consider the following guiding principles in its operations and in the development of policies, programs and services for the Queen’s community.

1. The policies, programs and services available should meet a standard consistent with best practices in health care elsewhere, particularly that offered within comparable university contexts.
2. Health and Wellness initiatives and supports for students must meet the needs of the specific and diverse student population attending Queen’s University.
3. Health and wellness initiatives for students should be based on a facilitative rather than authoritarian approach and should recognize the basic rights of students to make decisions and take responsibility for their wellbeing while attending university.
4. Health and Wellness initiatives should take into account the specific nature of the Queen’s University context, including the resources available to develop appropriate programs and services.
5. Documented policies and procedures related to Health and Wellness matters are living documents and must be revisited and revised to adapt to a changing environment.