Multidimensional approach seen as key to improving health of UB community

UB’s core student wellness and recreation units see increasing collaboration and cross-campus integration of programs, policies and practices as key to achieving greater health equity, eliminating disparities and improving the health of the entire campus community.

Counseling Services, Health Promotion, Health Services and Recreation are focused on changing campus environments to enhance quality of life at UB, improve delivery of services and embed a culture of well-being across the university.

“Increased collaboration will lead to greater opportunities to enhance faculty, staff and student wellness, as well as individual capacity for health and resilience,” says Susan Snyder, director of health services.

“Everyone has a role to play in creating a supportive campus community,” Snyder says. “This is about taking positive actions and creating conditions for well-being.”

Utilizing a public health approach to care to achieve the university’s mission, UB is committed to the health of the community as well as the individual, cultural competence, a social justice framework and respect for diversity, empowerment and self-determination.

A university task force has begun a study to form recommendations supporting a unified wellness experience for students and the campus community, with emphasis on flexible facilities, holistic programming and integration of wellness and recreation.

“The World Health Organization views health holistically, as ‘a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being,’ says Sharon Sanford, associate athletic director. “Recreation serves to engage the physical aspect of wellness.”

Sanford says physical activity can improve coping mechanisms that are often challenged in collegiate settings.

“We develop partnerships across campus,” she says. “I am excited having the opportunity to work together with faculty and staff groups, as well as students, to offer ways to include exercise and recreation in their lives. There are important connections between exercise and mental health, and well-being and academic performance.”

Faculty and staff can also participate in a variety of activities including group fitness classes like yoga, spin and Zumba, as well as volleyball, basketball, and intramural sports for a nominal fee.

“We are focused on increasing opportunities for all UB community members to take part in active participation programs to encourage cultivating the mind, body and spirit connection, as well as skills that carry over into everyday life,” she says.

Recreation is one of many integrated services and resources that UB wellness services plan to organize and provide through a stepped care model, in which individual health and wellness needs are placed at the forefront.

“A stepped care model allows UB’s wellness professionals to match the intervention to fit the need, from the promotion of healthy behaviors to learning harm reduction strategies to clinical medical and mental health intervention,” says Sharon Mitchell, senior director of student wellness and director of counseling services.

For students, Mitchell describes the stepped care model as a multi-tier system of programs that meets each individual where they are in the change process, while promoting autonomy and empowerment.

“A student’s readiness to change is integral to the interventions recommended,” she says. “The stepped care model is not linear, meaning at any time an individual may enter any step and then transition as needed.

“We are building our own stepped care model at UB. This is focused on increasing collaboration between the four units, and facilitate working together.”

Mitchell says it is important to note that vital actions and behaviors contributing to wellness happen outside of health care providers' offices. This is called self-care: when values, choices and opportunities are aligned, we are practicing self-care. 

“Achieving and increasing student wellness at UB includes promotion of self-care, which includes lifestyles and how we relate to others and our world,” says Marla McBride, director of health promotion.

“While my office is focused on student wellness,” McBride says, “we are also trying to change the campus culture as far as learning what constitutes overall comprehensive health and well-being.

“Working to change the environment across the university helps faculty and staff become more aware of their options for achieving optimum health.”

McBride says Health Promotion sees encouraging campus stakeholders to engage in partnership programs as helping to build a higher level of wellness for everyone at UB.

“For example, our collaboration with UB Human Resources in Wellness and Work/Life Balance helps raise awareness and deliver messaging to the entire campus,” she says. “Their programs are very popular, so they are a great platform to share health and wellness priorities with.   

“Campus partnerships are effective ways to promote ideas and methods for embracing lifelong habits of health and well-being. At UB, we are all on the same page.”