Counselling & Development Services

Academic Counselling
Aiding Students to Enhance Study Skills and Retention
VWCM offers academic skills assistance services to students’ development of study skills, retention strategies, and overall academic habits to ensure their success in medical school and beyond. Our academic skills counselors provide answers to day-to-day questions about academics and help with study habits. VWCM believes it is central to the health of the student-institution relationship to maintain confidentiality with regard to these sessions and provides no records of them.

Services
The services of academic skills counselors are available on demand throughout all academic sessions (i.e. every semester and summer session). These services include:

• Study Skill Enhancement
  VWCM believes that all study skills revolve around a few core principles. In this vein, we aim to help students develop study schedules, tactics for memorization, methods to improve concentration, reading comprehension practice, time management strategies, aid with organization skills, and help setting goals.

• Exam Preparation
  Although test-taking does not entirely define a student, nor does it outline the potential success of any practitioner, it does play a significant role in the assessment of medical profession candidates. VWCM aims to help its students succeed in this facet of training by offering test preparation, assistance with test-taking strategies, ways to deal with test anxiety and manage stress brought about by these seemingly high-stakes assessments.

• Learning Skill Development
  In order to study successfully and excel in tests, it is important to understand how each student learns. This serves to benefit educators and students alike. Academic skills counselors help students better understand their learning styles, and complementary note-taking and meta-learning skills.

• Construction of Medical Science Knowledge Base
  The administration and faculty at VWCM understand that students come in with varying familiarity with medical science concepts. In light of this reality, VWCM and, more specifically, the academic skills counselors aim to help students stay ahead of the curve by aiding students on how to understand medical science courses, literature, concepts, and their relationships with each other. Our counselors even go a step further by recognizing the need to help students integrate these skills into a clinical setting, and consequently aiding in correlating medical science and clinical materials.

Wellness Counselling
Ensuring the wellness of VWCM students
VWCM recognizes the immense stress that sometimes accompanies the rigorous education associated with medical school. VWCM’s wellness counseling offers services to assist students in managing issues related to homesickness, anxiety, and other psychological concerns related to the academic setting or even life in general. VWCM is dedicated to providing confidentiality to protect its students at school and as they move into a professional environment.

Wellness Counseling Services to Students
The Wellness Counselor will work with every student individually to assess the type of help required. Please note that a medical referral may be necessary for some services. The Office aims to be as prepared as possible for any issue that may arise.

Contact Information:
For information on our Counselling and Development Services or to Schedule an Appointment, please send us an email to