Recently, NC State has adopted six elements of wellness — purpose, financial, physical, emotional, social and community — in hopes of educating students about ways in which they can actively seek help in any element of wellness.
According to the director of wellness at Wellness and Recreation, Shannon DuPree, wellness is defined on campus as the interdependent and interactive combination of those six elements.
“As you can imagine, when you talk about purpose and financial, social and community, that really touches all the departments on campus, and so it’s a very collaborative approach,” DuPree said.
Wolfpack Wellness and Student Government have joined together in an attempt to spread awareness about how students can maintain all six aspects of wellness; however, in many cases, maintaining wellness is easier in theory.
Loulou Batta, co-director of wellness for Student Government, discussed the different ways in which students may be unaware of the resources available to them if they are seeking help with maintaining wellness on campus.
“I live on Centennial Campus, and it’s very difficult to stay well in all aspects on Centennial Campus,” Batta said. “A lot of people don’t know that there’s actually a counseling center location on Centennial Campus. Student Health has a location on Centennial Campus as well. As compared to the main campus, the resources are just not as strong.”
According to DuPree, the realization that things needed to change on campus came about in 2015, when NC State received its National College Health Assessment data.
“When we received that data, it showed us that students were dealing with higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, sleep-deprivation, internet-use, and cold and flu,” DuPree said.
In addition, Dupree said many of these students surveyed were not getting the American Heart Association’s recommended amount of exercise. They also weren’t consuming the proper amount of fruits and vegetables.
“Taking a step back and looking at that data, our university leadership and our interim vice chancellor worked very closely with our department to really assemble a group to take a look at how can we address these things,” DuPree said.
The main goal right now for Wolfpack Wellness is to promote and bring awareness to students and faculty about ways they can improve their well-being, according to Dupree. To do this, Student Government Co-Director of Wellness Michael Bowen said organizations on campus are working together to promote initiatives such as Wellness Wednesdays, which is an initiative promoting wellness on Centennial Campus, as well as Mental Health Mondays.
“We’re starting a Mental Health Monday campaign on social media,” Bowen said. “It’s starting off on Student Government’s social media, but we hope to expand it into other university social medias. The frequency and how that looks is still up for debate, but we are going to start trying to do that campaign by highlighting counselors, highlighting resources, directing students to appropriate resources and just reminding students how to practice a healthy lifestyle every once in a while.”
In addition to these two initiatives, an ongoing event on campus is the monthly Howl and Chill, which focuses on a different tier of wellness each month. According to DuPree, this is not only an opportunity for students to come together, but an opportunity for students to destress and take time for themselves.
Another available resource for students is the Wellness Coaching program, which aids students with setting goals and allows them to meet with a certified health coach who will hold them accountable. According to Bowen, students can even coach after going through the proper training and meeting certain qualifications.
Dupree said the wellness department and Student Government truly want students to understand there are many resources available to them throughout their time here at NC State.
“When we talk about being a thriving pack, it’s not about perfection, and it’s not about everyone being at the same place at the same time,” DuPree said. “Wellness is a journey.”
For more information on upcoming wellness events or offered resources, visit the Wolfpack Wellness website.
