The Student Health Center hosted Tiger Wellness Week, five days full of engaging programming to connect with students about their health, starting on March 18.
Put together by the Wellness and Health Office, Tiger Wellness Week looks to engage students about the various aspects of their health. Partnering with Campus Life and University Recreation, the health center hosted several events to connect with students on campus, including a partner showcase, free HIV testing and a yoga class at the UREC.
This year, Tiger Wellness Week focused especially on physical, social and emotional wellness.
The health center bases its work off the LSU Wellness Wheel, a holistic approach to student health that features 10 dimensions, such as physical, social, financial, sexual and emotional health. Students can use this wheel to identify the aspects of their health they feel need care.
“I feel like it’s really empowering to say that if I’m paying attention to these things, then my overarching well-being is going to be in a good place,” Director of Wellness and Health Promotion Michael Eberhard said. “I think that’s what all students want.”
READ MORE: A closer look at Louisiana Parole Project amid sweeping parole eliminations
The Wellness and Health Office is one of the units within the health center. They are focused on outreach and education relative to the issues the health center emphasizes. Some of the direct patient care the Wellness and Health Office provides includes wellness coaching, nutrition counseling and case management.
To promote student wellness, the health center organized a full week of activities. On March 18, the center hosted the Wellness Affair Kickoff Event, where its campus partners were brought together in a showcase for students.
March 19, there was a Spring Equinox Flow yoga class at the UREC from 7–8 p.m. During the day, mental health providers from the health center met with students at the “Let’s Talk Mental Health” event, hosted at the African American Cultural Center. These events tried to reach students who are unfamiliar with the mental health services the center provides.
“It’s just a conversation with a therapist,” Eberhard said. “It’s not like a formal therapy session, but they’re kind of getting to know the therapist or talking through a challenge that they are having, and potentially finding an opening to maybe coming to the health center if they found that helpful.”
The health center hosts these events several times a month. The next “Let’s Talk” event is scheduled for March 27 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Art and Design Building. All students are welcome. Eberhard also said students can come to the health center at any time and receive mental health services the same day.
MORE HEALTH: LSU kinesiology professor leads effort to combat childhood obesity in Louisiana
“The goal is just to be in that space and then to hope that students happen to find them and just engage in a passive conversation,” Eberhard said. “I think that’s the goal. Try to be where the students are and hopefully from that interaction they’ll be more likely to access the service.”
Students pay for the medical services offered by the Medical and Sexual Health and GYN clinic, and most major insurance providers are accepted. If students are unsure about their health insurance, there is a case manager at the health center who can help. The rest of the services the health center offers are included in students’ tuition.
“There’s no out-of-pocket cost for students to come see a therapist or a wellness coach or a dietician,” Eberhard said.
On Tower Drive March 20, the health center hosted “Kneaux Your Status,” an event with free HIV and STI testing. Students can come to the health center for free HIV tests at any point. The health center also hosted Connection Stations on Wednesday to engage with students. Partnering with Campus Life, Eberhard hopes to combat loneliness on campus, an issue he said is prevalent.
“They’re really just trying to create opportunities to connect students socially, and create a sense of belonging,” Eberhard said. “. . .[Loneliness] is a big focus in general. It can lead to students feeling disengaged when they don’t have a social circle, or they don’t have a sense of belonging on campus. It’s a big risk to their academic success.”
On March 20, students could receive an “emotional support plant” in the quad from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. at “Planting Positivity.” This event centers on positive psychology and self-care, paralleling students’ needs with that of their plant.
On March 22 from 10 a.m. to noon students could pick up a free donut at “Dieticians Eat Donuts” at Free Speech Alley. This event promoted healthy relationships with food.
“The message of that event is: ‘all foods can fit,’” Eberhard said. “That’s really one of the key messages that our dietitian practices. Not labeling foods as good or bad, just talking through good nutritional education. We tend to demonize certain foods, and so it’s kind of a play on that. Even someone who is really highly trained in nutrition eats donuts.”
Eberhard hoped Tiger Wellness Week would share with students a glimpse of what services the center provides.
“My goal and my vision is to create an entry point for a conversation for students to develop self-awareness, to develop awareness about some of these concepts we are trying to educate about,” Eberhard said. “And then, for students that feel like they can take that concept themselves, that’s amazing.”
And for students who need help with these needs, Eberhard said the health center and the LSU community are here to support them.
“From that perspective, helping students connect the dots about how intersectional wellness is,” Eberhard said. “It’s not just about coming to see a therapist to improve your mental health … A lot of different campus services can help meet that need that a student is finding that they are struggling with.”
