Identity & Community

Our diverse identities, cultures, diasporas, and transnationalism connects to our feelings of belonging, support, and community.  Learn more about intersectionality.

Below is a list of resources that may support individual and collective identities.This list is not all-encompassing of the identities and experiences affecting people’s lives, and each resource list is not all-inclusive. 

This list is continuously updated as we build to our identity-based resources on and off campus. What ideas do you have for how SFU could better support and enhance your well-being? Please share both systemic factors and concrete ideas for programming.

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Campus Support Options

General

  • Counselling Services are available to all SFU students. Learn more about counselling, the team, and how to book an appointment here.
  • Access Case Managers can provide a same-day 30 minute appointment and answer your questions about our services. They provide mental health support and resources, and can refer you to appropriate services on or off campus. They can also answer general questions over LiveChat.
  • SFU and FIC students can connect with My SSP and request to make an appointment with a culturally relevant counsellor. My SSP is available 24/7 worldwide, by phone or chat, and has multiple language options available.
  • A Healing Space is a safe and confidential space for racialized students to share their stories of witnessing or experiencing racism.
  • Garden Therapy for Racialized Students meets once a week through the summer term to connect with the earth around topics related to stress, growth, and more.

Race

  • The Desi Diaries is a support group that aims to bring folks together from the South Asian Diaspora community to discuss relevant topics in a supportive and confidential space.
  • SFU students can also connect with My SSP and request to make an appointment with a culturally relevant counsellor. My SSP is available 24/7 by phone or chat through the app and is accessible worldwide. Multiple language options are available.

Indigenous

Black & African Diaspora

Gender, Gender Expression & Sexual Orientation

LGBTQIA2S+

  • 2SLGBTQIA+ Questioning Group (Fall 2022) includes folks who are anywhere along a questioning process. Diversity of identities and experiences are welcome as this group aims to be a collaborative space where community comes together to support and learn from each other.
  • Out On Campus (OOC) is SFU's LGBTQIA2S+ centre, brought to you by the SFSS with further support from the GSS. OOC provides a safer space for people of all genders and sexuality.
  • Find trauma informed and gender-affirming care with doctors and nurses at Health & Counselling Medical Clinics. Students can call to book an appointment with Registered Nurse, Barb Chick for initial consultation/questions about care.
  • Transitioning students can learn to self-inject in a supportive environment, talk about chest binding or about other concerns with the nurse, and receive a referral for top/bottom surgery (both now done locally) after discussing the process with a doctor. Book an appointment with Registered Nurse, Barb, or connect with an Access Case Manager to book.
  • Sexual Violence Support & Prevention office (SVSPO) is a welcoming space where you can share your experience without judgment or assumptions. The office works from a survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach that empowers survivors to choose what their support needs are. Regardless of when or where the incident occurred, you can receive assistance.

Women

  • The SFU Women’s Centre is a safe space for women to build community on campus. Home to a resource area for folks of all genders and a 24/7 lounge for self-identified women, the Centre is an anti-oppressive space for celebration and healing on campus.
  • Sexual Violence Support & Prevention office (SVSPO) is a welcoming space where you can share your experience without judgment or assumptions. The office works from a survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach that empowers survivors to choose what their support needs are. Regardless of when or where the incident occurred, you can receive assistance.

Disability & Neurodivergent

Religion / Spirituality

  • The Multifaith Centres offer services (over 116 weekly group meetings), support (one-one chaplain support) and provides space for students, staff and faculty of faith or those interested to practice, develop, question, integrate and mature in faith while attending SFU.
  • SFU students can connect with My SSP and request to make an appointment with a counsellor who has a shared religion or cultural identity, or similar lived experience. My SSP is available 24/7 by phone or chat through the app and is accessible worldwide. Multiple language options are available.

International Students

  • Transition Case Manager is available for individual support with managing school stress, finding housing, understanding documents, or understanding Canadian services.
  • SFU and FIC students can connect with My SSP and request to make an appointment with a culturally relevant counsellor with similar lived experience. My SSP is available 24/7 by phone or chat and is accessible worldwide, with multiple language options available.
  • International Services for Students (ISS) is a welcoming and professional one-stop support for international resources, agency and services for all students, including international and exchange students, refugee and new Canadian students, students planning learning abroad, as well as faculty and staff leading international and intercultural learning activities. 
  • International Student Advising and Programs provides various options for advising for those with confidential questions about immigration-related or other personal matters (International Student Advisors/Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants). 
  • The Global Student Center Lounge is a place to study, hang out with friends or simply take a break. 
  • If you are in self-isolation or need to self-isolate, connect with the SFU COVID Assistance and Remote Engagement Support (CARES) Program.

COVID-19 and our Communities

Our various identities may cause us to experience the challenges of COVID-19 differently. When people associate COVID-19 with a specific group, ethnic community or nationality, stigma and discrimination occurs.  

It’s important for all of us to stand up and refute these narratives. As the SFU community, we have the opportunity to come together and support each other. View the language guide