Announcing the Conflict Resolution Centre for Graduate Students (PDAD&C #33)

We are very pleased to announce the official launch of the Conflict Resolution Centre (CRC) for Graduate Students at U of T this term. The CRC was envisioned and developed in partnership between the School of Graduate Studies, Student Life, and the Graduate Students’ Union, in response to recommendations highlighted in the Mental Health Framework and extensive research into and consideration of support programs and conflict resolution models at other universities.

The CRC is a pilot project that aims to support the University in working towards graduate student success, through the development of:

• a trained peer team to provide informal and confidential support to graduate students specific to relational conflict concerns, graduate student roles and responsibilities, and referral to appropriate campus resources;
• a training program to support local units/departments in supporting and referring students;
• an advisory committee to guide and assess the direction of the service.

It should be emphasized that the CRC is intended as a resource for best practices in early and effective conflict resolution for the graduate community and not as a counselling, advocacy, or complaints centre.

As a major component of this pilot project, a graduate-to-graduate peer team, referred to as the G2G Peer Advisor team, has engaged in 40 hours of extensive training in preparation for advising their peers on how they might try to prevent, resolve, or manage disputes during their graduate studies. The G2G Peer Advisor team has broad representation including students from all 3 campuses, as well as students in both Masters and Doctoral programs. These students will be available for one-on-one conversations and will also be providing workshops and other outreach to graduate students.

For more information on the Grad CRC, please visit our website at www.gradcrc.utoronto.ca or contact:
Heather McGhee Peggs
Manager, Conflict Resolution Centre
heather.mcgheepeggs@utoronto.ca