How long has your team been working as a collaborative Buckeye Wellness Innovator group?
Four years or more
Approximately how many people are in your department, unit, building, or college?
Approximately 1,100 full time staff members and usually over 5,500 student employees.
Regarding your department or unit's wellness efforts, which of the nine dimensions of wellness has your team addressed?
- Physical
- Emotional
- Environmental
- Career
- Social
Describe one successful activity that your team has planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
With the amount of employees we have in the Office of Student Life it is hard to pick just one since different departments have different events, needs and successes. Overall the Student Life wellness innovators have done a great job over the past year determining ways to connect with staff whether in person or virtually. Each innovator has tailored programming to fit the needs of their department and its staff members. For example:
Since Dining Services has many staff on campus they pulled together wellness bags to hand out to staff which included healthy food items to promote nutrition as well as seed packs so they could grow their own vegetables.
Other groups like Disability Services and Marketing who have been virtual most of the time have registered together for virtual fitness classes or spent time during staff meetings completing mediation sessions or sharing what they are thankful for.
If your team has kept track of participation rates for your activities, what is your approximate number?
Prior to COVID- 19 restrictions we were tracking attendance at events which ranged from 5 people to 175 people.
How does your team communicate wellness events and resources to your colleagues?
We communicate via emails, word of mouth and newsletters.
Describe how a manager or supervisor in your unit/department/building/college has shown support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team.
Student Life leadership has shown great support for the BWI program. Prior to COVID, Laura and Aubrie were attending Leadership council meetings regularly to brainstorm ways to involve staff in wellness, develop a wellness scorecard where each department had monthly goals to meet and to encourage Directors to allow their staff members to become BWI’s. We look forward to continuing this partnership with our new AVP of Health and Well-being very soon.
What has your lead administrator/dean/vice president/department chair specifically done to show support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team?
Throughout the pandemic we have tried to find new ways to reach staff members. Our Vice President has been sending out a daily email that talks about things going on in different departments or important updates we should be aware of. We have been able to collaborate with our Senior Vice President to use these messages as “Wellness Wednesday” messages where we targeted each dimension of wellness. We asked different departments to collaborate on writing these so new ideas were always present.
Recently we also just added an AVP of Health and Wellness to our executive team.
Please share how your team has overcome barriers to engaging your colleagues and/or students in your wellness efforts.
We have a Student Life Wellness Strategic team that is made up of senior leaders in the department. We use this team to help brainstorm ideas of events or programs that we could facilitate through the entire department of Student Life. We then engage the BWI to help organize these events as well as asking them to engage their staff in programs specific to their group. We understand that each person has different wellness needs and some programs are not appealing to them. We work hard to develop programs and messages that reach a wide range of staff members.
If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator team, what would your dream be?
Our dream would be to facilitate a wide range of programs so we would have 100% participation across all employees in Student Life.
Office of Student Life
How long has your team been working as a collaborative Buckeye Wellness Innovator group?
Four years or more
Approximately how many people are in your department, unit, building, or college?
Approximately 1,100 full time staff members and usually over 5,500 student employees.
Regarding your department or unit's wellness efforts, which of the nine dimensions of wellness has your team addressed?
- Physical
- Emotional
- Environmental
- Career
- Social
Describe one successful activity that your team has planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
With the amount of employees we have in the Office of Student Life it is hard to pick just one since different departments have different events, needs and successes. Overall the Student Life wellness innovators have done a great job over the past year determining ways to connect with staff whether in person or virtually. Each innovator has tailored programming to fit the needs of their department and its staff members. For example:
Since Dining Services has many staff on campus they pulled together wellness bags to hand out to staff which included healthy food items to promote nutrition as well as seed packs so they could grow their own vegetables.
Other groups like Disability Services and Marketing who have been virtual most of the time have registered together for virtual fitness classes or spent time during staff meetings completing mediation sessions or sharing what they are thankful for.
If your team has kept track of participation rates for your activities, what is your approximate number?
Prior to COVID- 19 restrictions we were tracking attendance at events which ranged from 5 people to 175 people.
How does your team communicate wellness events and resources to your colleagues?
We communicate via emails, word of mouth and newsletters.
Describe how a manager or supervisor in your unit/department/building/college has shown support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team.
Student Life leadership has shown great support for the BWI program. Prior to COVID, Laura and Aubrie were attending Leadership council meetings regularly to brainstorm ways to involve staff in wellness, develop a wellness scorecard where each department had monthly goals to meet and to encourage Directors to allow their staff members to become BWI’s. We look forward to continuing this partnership with our new AVP of Health and Well-being very soon.
What has your lead administrator/dean/vice president/department chair specifically done to show support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team?
Throughout the pandemic we have tried to find new ways to reach staff members. Our Vice President has been sending out a daily email that talks about things going on in different departments or important updates we should be aware of. We have been able to collaborate with our Senior Vice President to use these messages as “Wellness Wednesday” messages where we targeted each dimension of wellness. We asked different departments to collaborate on writing these so new ideas were always present.
Recently we also just added an AVP of Health and Wellness to our executive team.
Please share how your team has overcome barriers to engaging your colleagues and/or students in your wellness efforts.
We have a Student Life Wellness Strategic team that is made up of senior leaders in the department. We use this team to help brainstorm ideas of events or programs that we could facilitate through the entire department of Student Life. We then engage the BWI to help organize these events as well as asking them to engage their staff in programs specific to their group. We understand that each person has different wellness needs and some programs are not appealing to them. We work hard to develop programs and messages that reach a wide range of staff members.
If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator team, what would your dream be?
Our dream would be to facilitate a wide range of programs so we would have 100% participation across all employees in Student Life.
