Thrive_Horz_BlackCan you believe it’s April already?  For our April Dimensions by the Month, we are highlighting Emotional and Environmental Wellbeing.  Much like the other dimensions, these are vast and multifaceted and we attempt to get at them from every angle.

This month we are co-sponsoring events like the Hope for the Hopeless Bike Ride, to raise awareness for suicide prevention, and Thriving Through Exams, with the Office of Personal and Career Development.  To improve your students’ Emotional and Environmental Wellbeing, we will be bringing puppies to campus once a week and providing study smart tools with various activities and prizes.

But how can you help? It’s important that we provide you with valuable information too.  In order to support Emotional Wellbeing, we thought it fitting to partner with the University Counseling Center.  They’ve recently written up a helpful step by step guide on how to use the University Counseling Center services. College is an exciting and scary time with a lot of new and strong emotions, so it’s important to keep conversation open with your students to help them build real emotional skills. The Washington Post has a great article on how and why college students need to build these skills.

Environmental Wellbeing is both your physical surroundings and ways to help the environment.  An easy way to encourage your student’s use of the environment is to take a walk!  Reynolda Gardens is just a short (and beautiful!) walk away.  Another element of Environmental Wellbeing is making sure that they have good sleep hygiene.  Sleep hygiene is making sure that the environment in which your students sleep is actually helping them get a full nights’ rest.  This includes what and when they eat before they sleep, the amount of light and noise, and using their bed primarily for sleep.

Other on-campus resources include Hearn Plaza and the Office of Sustainability.  Hearn Plaza is an outdoor game and recreation space with cafe tables and chairs is modeled after New York City’s Bryant Park.  The Office of Sustainability also has a variety of ways for students to get involved from becoming interns to taking part in their events and lectures.

There is a lot happening on campus all the time.  Encourage your students to stay in touch with offices on their social media, listservs, and by checking events on the University calendar.

We hope this has been helpful in addressing the Emotional and Environmental needs of your Wake Forest students.  If you have any suggestions or questions, please email them to thrive@wfu.edu.

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