This November was the University of New Haven’s first 30 Days of Wellness program. All who boarded the wellness wagon were given the chance to meet new friends, go off campus, and connect with faculty and staff.
“We wanted to work with students to answer questions, concerns, and stressors of being a full time student,” said Rebecca Kitchell, Associate Director of Residential Life. For Residential Education, “we saw a need to address issues beyond academics.”
How does one define wellness? Does it just mean you are not sick? How can one truly be well? Well, there are seven factors that all play a role in overall health and wellness. Spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical, social, environmental and financial factors are the pieces of the puzzle, or technically pie chart (see photo).
For the month of November, the Office of Residential Life teamed up with faculty and staff to help students balance their Wellness Wheel. Various workshops and events were held each day, for 30 days to promote each individual category within the wheel.
In order to balance one’s individual wellness, each section of the wheel must be equal. To help students address problems in each area, they were assigned to fill out a card attached in an email that allotted for one event per section. As an added incentive besides finding their wellness, students could hand in the card upon completion for a chance to win prizes. Fun and relaxing events were held every day by different faculty and staff to challenge students in each category of wellness.
“Our goal was to develop students as a whole person,” Kitchell added. It was a way for students to step out of their shells and connect with others, learn about on-campus resources, and for professors to reach out to students they wanted to help but just did not know how.
This is the university’s first month of wellness, but since it has been a success so far, it is going to be planned annually for the month of November. Kitchell explained November is the most stressful; its mid-year where people are worried about money for the holidays, and they just ate a lot of Thanksgiving treats so they feel they need to work out. Finals are also approaching, so it is helpful to stay well and balanced. The wellness events getting pushed back because of Hurricane Sandy also raised stress levels.
“I would say the biggest struggle to improve on would be getting the word out,” said Kitchell. “However when the word did spread, faculty and staff members were eager with suggestions for activities to sponsor. We reached out to the campus for different areas I wasn’t that familiar with to address a wider variety of students.”
Some of the events included Learn to Crochet with the UNH Sewing Circle, which addressed the social and intellectual sections of the wheel, Speed Friending which would address the social, Library Info Sessions which would address the intellectual, and Don’t Let the Flu Get You! which addressed physical.
There were various others including APA Format: Cracking the Code, Pre-Advising Registration, Is There a Doctor in the House?, Council of Science Editors (CSE) Documentation and Format, Tea Time With Mina, Interventions to Reduce Sugar Consumption, Pasta with Purpose, Sharpen Your Exam Prep and Test-Taking Skills, More Than A Bystander, Training For the Race of Your Life, What Do Your Dreams Really Mean? Commas for Clarity: Use them for a Good Cause, UNH Thanksgiving Celebration, Strategies for Solving Word Problems, Write Love on Her Arms, Make Your Own Soap, Catholic Mass, Ways to Fight the Freshmen 15, Brush Those Pearly Whites, Interracial Relationships, Check out these cool iPhone apps to help you Budget on Black Friday, Check out these Great apps on you Android, Follow the Dalai Lama on Twitter!, There’s an app for That, Eco-Lovely, Get Back on Track from Thanksgiving Eating with Zumba, How Resilient are You?, Check Out These Sites on Sleep, Argument and the Evidence to Support It, Feng Shui Tips for Your Room; and Your Life, Living Large on a Small Dime, What is Plagiarism?, How do I avoid it?, Writing Research Reports un the Biological Sciences, Wellbeing; The 5 Essential Elements, Using Excel Effectively in Your Bussiness program, Stop Counting Sheep!, Basic Self-Defense, Develop a Game Plan for Final Exams, Post Secret Kick Off!, or Go Green! All of the events and their time and locations were sent out to students weekly in an email.
