How long has your team been working as a collaborative Buckeye Wellness Innovator group?
More than two years
Approximately how many people are in your department, unit, building, or college?
There are 70 in ASC Technology Services and about 900 in ASC.
Regarding your department or unit's wellness efforts, which of the nine dimensions of wellness has your team addressed?
- Physical
- Emotional
- Social
- Creative
- Spiritual
Describe one successful activity that your team planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
For the past 10 months, I have been working with volunteer yoga instructors to facilitate lunchtime yoga classes for OSU employees. My role has been to coordinate the space though working with other BWIs and to promote the classes. Due to COVID-19 we have moved the classes online and I am continuing to promote them at http://u.osu.edu/yoga and on the YP4H calendar at https://yp4h.osu.edu/events/.
Our teacher, Geetha Sampathkumar, works at OSU in the College of Engineering. She is also a certified yoga instructor who is authentic and incredibly gifted. We've had about 8-10 people in attendance at our recent yoga sessions, which occur 3 times a week at noon. Everyone there is supporting each other. It's amazing!
Describe another successful activity that you’ve planned around the nine dimensions of wellness
I was encouraged by other Buckeye Wellness Innovators to set up Open Mic at Work. It was kind of a spin-off of the ASC talent show that Eric Drake helped to organize for Campus Campaign. Eric led something similar for our own internal group but I wanted to bring it to the university so we could meet new people and have easier access to the real stage.
It was basically like an open mic at a coffee shop but at a stage in the Music School. I promoted it in the OSU email newsletter and it was great to meet other people who are into jamming on instruments at lunch. A professional musician who works here (Aaron Minnick) came and played a phenomenal set of ragtime standards, adapted for ukulele. The rest of us took sharing some of our favorite songs on acoustic guitar.
I was able to promote the event it the main OSU newsletter and have it featured on the YP4H events calendar, thanks to some helpful advice from Buckeye Wellness Program Manager, Lauren Battista.
It was a great way to connect to other people with similar interests, and to demonstrate that there is a lot more to wellness than just dieting and sports. Social and creative outlets for wellness are sometimes hard to find at work and he success of this little event proved that there is a demand for artistic things too. We're hoping to run the event on a more consistent basis this summer while there is less demand for the stage, so keep an eye out for that when we go back to campus.
If your team has kept track of participation rates for your activities, what is your approximate average attendance?
we have around 7 people attend our yoga sessions.
If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator, what would your dream be?
My dream is to work with other BWIs to create a sustainable yoga community at OSU, with daily offerings for yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises. Everyone is stressed because of COVID-19 and I want to help them relax.
Describe how a manager or supervisor in your unit/department/building/college has shown support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team.
My manager, Brian Smith, was very supportive of my BWI grant implementation. I received a $500 grant for yoga mats and equipment and he let me have some meeting time at our monthly IT meeting to talk about yoga and Buckeye Wellness in front of a lot of our people.
What has your lead administrator/dean/vice president/department chair specifically done to show support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team?
Mike Kaylor has been consistently supportive of my efforts in ASC Technology Services. He and the others on our leadership team have allowed me to place a flyer promoting yoga in the main break room in Mendenhall, and let me have some space in the mail room to store extra mats in case people wanted to use them during lunch or after work.
In the past, leadership has been supportive of everything I've done with Buckeye Wellness and we have been allowed to use departmental funds for wellness initiatives to supplement wellness grant funding.
Please share how your team has overcome barriers to engaging your colleagues and/or students in your wellness efforts.
At first, it was really awkward to be the "wellness guy" at work. Somebody else was kind of doing this stuff but she left. I organized a lot of little events and not many people came to them. This led me to collaborate with others to run larger events and promote them to all employees instead of just limiting it to people in my own unit.
Jay Smith - Support Manager
College of Arts and Sciences
How long has your team been working as a collaborative Buckeye Wellness Innovator group?
More than two years
Approximately how many people are in your department, unit, building, or college?
There are 70 in ASC Technology Services and about 900 in ASC.
Regarding your department or unit's wellness efforts, which of the nine dimensions of wellness has your team addressed?
- Physical
- Emotional
- Social
- Creative
- Spiritual
Describe one successful activity that your team planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
For the past 10 months, I have been working with volunteer yoga instructors to facilitate lunchtime yoga classes for OSU employees. My role has been to coordinate the space though working with other BWIs and to promote the classes. Due to COVID-19 we have moved the classes online and I am continuing to promote them at http://u.osu.edu/yoga and on the YP4H calendar at https://yp4h.osu.edu/events/.
Our teacher, Geetha Sampathkumar, works at OSU in the College of Engineering. She is also a certified yoga instructor who is authentic and incredibly gifted. We've had about 8-10 people in attendance at our recent yoga sessions, which occur 3 times a week at noon. Everyone there is supporting each other. It's amazing!
Describe another successful activity that you’ve planned around the nine dimensions of wellness
I was encouraged by other Buckeye Wellness Innovators to set up Open Mic at Work. It was kind of a spin-off of the ASC talent show that Eric Drake helped to organize for Campus Campaign. Eric led something similar for our own internal group but I wanted to bring it to the university so we could meet new people and have easier access to the real stage.
It was basically like an open mic at a coffee shop but at a stage in the Music School. I promoted it in the OSU email newsletter and it was great to meet other people who are into jamming on instruments at lunch. A professional musician who works here (Aaron Minnick) came and played a phenomenal set of ragtime standards, adapted for ukulele. The rest of us took sharing some of our favorite songs on acoustic guitar.
I was able to promote the event it the main OSU newsletter and have it featured on the YP4H events calendar, thanks to some helpful advice from Buckeye Wellness Program Manager, Lauren Battista.
It was a great way to connect to other people with similar interests, and to demonstrate that there is a lot more to wellness than just dieting and sports. Social and creative outlets for wellness are sometimes hard to find at work and he success of this little event proved that there is a demand for artistic things too. We're hoping to run the event on a more consistent basis this summer while there is less demand for the stage, so keep an eye out for that when we go back to campus.
If your team has kept track of participation rates for your activities, what is your approximate average attendance?
we have around 7 people attend our yoga sessions.
If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator, what would your dream be?
My dream is to work with other BWIs to create a sustainable yoga community at OSU, with daily offerings for yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises. Everyone is stressed because of COVID-19 and I want to help them relax.
Describe how a manager or supervisor in your unit/department/building/college has shown support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team.
My manager, Brian Smith, was very supportive of my BWI grant implementation. I received a $500 grant for yoga mats and equipment and he let me have some meeting time at our monthly IT meeting to talk about yoga and Buckeye Wellness in front of a lot of our people.
What has your lead administrator/dean/vice president/department chair specifically done to show support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team?
Mike Kaylor has been consistently supportive of my efforts in ASC Technology Services. He and the others on our leadership team have allowed me to place a flyer promoting yoga in the main break room in Mendenhall, and let me have some space in the mail room to store extra mats in case people wanted to use them during lunch or after work.
In the past, leadership has been supportive of everything I've done with Buckeye Wellness and we have been allowed to use departmental funds for wellness initiatives to supplement wellness grant funding.
Please share how your team has overcome barriers to engaging your colleagues and/or students in your wellness efforts.
At first, it was really awkward to be the "wellness guy" at work. Somebody else was kind of doing this stuff but she left. I organized a lot of little events and not many people came to them. This led me to collaborate with others to run larger events and promote them to all employees instead of just limiting it to people in my own unit.
