Your Voices Were Heard: Wellness Initiative Ready to Kick Off Fall

From mindful eating to a squat challenge, the wellness programming available to faculty and staff this fall is diverse, robust and responsive to the results of the June 2022 wellness survey. About 800 survey participants provided valuable feedback on topics of interest, virtual vs. in-person programming, best timeframe for participation and more.

“One of the things we learned from the survey is that virtual programming is here to stay; however, we were also happy to see that some faculty and staff are ready to attend workshops in-person again,” says Gail Grozalis, executive director, Wellness Initiative for faculty and staff.

“We are really looking forward to connecting in-person after a long pause of virtual-only programming,” she says. “Consistent with the preferences expressed in the survey, we will continue with a hybrid approach—virtual, on-demand recordings and in-person—so we can reach faculty and staff in different locations, with various schedules, needs and preferences.”

The results of the survey showed that stress management and resilience, physical activity, sleep, healthy cooking and eating, back care, and mindful eating were the topics with the highest interest. In addition, faculty and staff indicated that 30-45 minutes was the sweet spot in terms of length of wellness programming, with a noon-1 p.m. timeframe preference.

“We are grateful for the feedback from the survey. It helped guide our fall planning to meet the needs, areas of interest and preferences of our faculty and staff,” says Kim DeStefano, senior health and wellness specialist for faculty and staff. “We are excited for the fall lineup and cannot wait for faculty and staff to participate in the wellness offerings.”

The wellness team will continue to be responsive to the changing needs of faculty and staff.

“We build new programs around the preferences of our staff and faculty, and we will continue to reach out and respond to their interests and their needs,” says Grozalis. Fall semester wellness programming kicks off the week of Sept. 12. Check out what’s new.

Some highlights for the fall semester include the following:

• Focus on Movement: Squatember, a 10-day squat challenge and Back in Balance, a small group, interactive series to learn the Alexander Technique, featuring instructor Kathy Miranda.
• Food for Thought: Nutrition workshops on supplements and fueling young athletes, featuring nutrition professor Dr. Jessica Garay and healthy holiday food demos.
• Health Talks: Webinars covering a variety of health topics from healthy aging to back care to self-care during the holidays.
• Video library: Featuring previously recorded webinars, including cooking demos, physical activity, resilience and bone health.
• eM Life Mindfulness Solutions: On-demand access to hundreds of hours of content on topics like sleep, anxiety, financial stress, eating and more.
• Feel Like a Million: A board game-themed program to increase energy and help you feel your best with energy-boosting activities and virtual dollars.

Kira McCrary won the gift basket put together by the Wellness Initiative team for a wellness survey participant.

For those taking the wellness survey, the Wellness Initiative team put together a gift basket for a randomly selected survey participant. Kira McCrary, in the Office of Student Outreach and Retention, was the winner.