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Sherri Darrow is director of wellness education services, part of the Student Wellness Team in the Division of Student Affairs.
How do you define "wellness"?
We define health and
wellness within an ecological framework. That is, our definition of
health and wellness incorporates a comprehensive view of health—one that
speaks to one's well being and dignity, and one's potential to improve
and strengthen the health of the community. We find health in the
relationships, interactions and structures that bind/separate,
support/undermine, strengthen/weaken members of the university and
expands the responsibility for health beyond the individual to the
community and environment. So, for example we don't believe that health
is just "owned" by student Health Services. Instead, we call for the
entire university community to provide a healthy environment and the
necessary leadership to allow our students to maintain and improve their
health.
What is the mission of Student Wellness Services? How does it fit
in with the rest of the Student Wellness Team?
The mission of
Wellness Education Services (WES) is to improve the health of students
in the broadest sense: To reduce risk for injury and illness, to
increase academic success and personal satisfaction, and to work toward
the genuine health of the whole campus community. Our mission grows out
of our role on the Student Wellness Team (SWT); we are the health
promotions branch of the SWT, providing leadership for campus health
initiatives based on data, student demand, university priorities and
best practices.
What services do you offer?
WES programs are open to all UB students. On both
campuses, students participate in our programs and help us to create and
implement new programs to reach more diverse students. Our services
include peer education internships, late-night activities, classroom
lectures, residence hall programs, Life & Learning Workshops, outdoor
adventures, a health and wellness resource suite located in the Student
Union, and media campaigns. The professional staff of Wellness Education
Services is available for classroom lectures, classroom projects, campus
health research and health-related internships. The topics that are the
main focus areas for our campus health promotion efforts are alcohol and
other drugs; nutrition and physical activity; rape/sexual assault and
violence prevention; sexual health; stress management; and tobacco
control .
Why is it important for a university to promote wellness among its
students?
Learning, as it has historically been understood, is,
like health, included in a much larger context that requires
consideration of what students know, who they are, what their values and
behavior patterns are, and how they see themselves contributing to and
participating in the world in which they live. So, from an ecological
and public-health perspective, building health and wellness is an
opportunity: Health and wellness supports and enhances academic
achievement and student success, and sustains strong social and learning
environments and supports retention. In addition, advancing health is an
opportunity for campus leadership.
What role does Wellness Education Services play in increasing
alcohol and drug awareness on campus?
Since one of our primary
health-promotion areas is alcohol and other drug education, a
considerable amount of our resources focus on this area. Among our major
efforts:
Rejuvenated a popular program for parents held during summer orientation on "How to talk to your son or daughter about alcohol and other drugs."
Expanded the number of sections offered each semester of the Student Education Program for Alcohol and Other Drugs, a harm-reduction educational program that seeks to identify high-risk students in need of further intervention.
A Resident Advisor Training Program, featuring small group sessions designed to empower RAs to assist and intervene with students regarding choices in alcohol and drug use by students.
Promoting a number of alcohol-free events for students on campus.
Working in partnership with the Town of Amherst Task Force to expand healthy-community work to address the gaps in prevention and education for students as they transition from high school to college.
Designing a campus media campaign focused on health promotion.
The Wellness Resource Suite and the administrative offices for
Wellness Education Services recently moved. Where are you located now
and why did you change the name from the Living Well Center?
Our
new offices, including the very popular Resource Suite, are located in
114 Student Union. The Resource Suite provides a quiet space for
students to enjoy free tea, massage chairs, a media lending library and
access to our newest events and alternative activities. The Living Well
Center's name was changed to Wellness Education Services for two main
reasons. When we became the Student Wellness Team, we had several
discussions related to "center" vs. "services" as it applied to the
three units' names. We wanted to be known as services that were highly
linked together, rather than three individual, isolated centers. The
Health Center became Health Services, the Counseling Center became
Counseling Services and Living Well Center became Wellness Education
Services. In addition, as the team was formed, the mission of WES was
changing as well. There was a push to align the name with this "new"
mission-being the health and wellness promotion arm of the team. Living
Well Center did not seem to describe the idea that the services offered
through there would be based on data, and would include educating
students on a variety of wellness, counseling and health topics. The
name change was to give a visible "face" to a potentially invisible
mission change.
What experience and expertise do you bring to the Student Wellness
Team?
I am a UB graduate, with a Ph.D. in epidemiology and 15
years experience in health promotions. For 10 years, I worked at Roswell
Park Cancer Institute for the National Cancer Institute as director of a
statewide public information program called the Cancer Information
Service. I was hired as director for Wellness Education Services in
January of this year to lead the program in our shift to a
health-promotion unit. That is, we are less about activities and more
about leadership and data-driven program design, implementation and
evaluation. In the spring of 2006, I will oversee the implementation of
the National College Health Survey among a random sample of our
undergraduate students. This will be the first time UB will participate
in the NCHA survey of student health behaviors, beliefs and perceptions,
and the data we gather will provide a benchmark of campus health and
wellness, allowing us to target our efforts and prioritize our resources,
and measure outcomes over time.