In the spring of 2020, the stressors of the pandemic, the impending election, and movements to eradicate racial injustice mounted and challenged every institution of higher education to respond swiftly and meaningfully to support students as well as the hard-working professionals who support students. The Advising Network at Boston University, a standing committee of over 1,100 staff and faculty advisors, leveraged its regular professional development meetings as a touch point for checking in with faculty and staff, and the resulting Pause for Wellness series has become a notable, replicable program for enhancing vocational, social, and emotional wellbeing as well as community and connection.
Pause for Wellness is an invitation to unplug and step away from the demands of work to recharge, connect with colleagues, build community, and possibly explore ways to meaningfully build wellness practices into your day, life, and work.
The vision for the Pause for Wellness series at BU started when founding partners Laura Johnson, Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Advising and Taryn Andrea, professional academic advisor and chair of one of the Advising Network Subcommittees, and professional academic advisor and Jeff Sierra invited the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, a world-renowned center for training and service organization housed at BU, to facilitate a conversation with the meeting group on the topic of balance. Founding partners and presenters Courtney Joly-Lowdermilk and Juan Leon Parra, College Mental Health Programming leadership at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, turned to their roots in academic resilience and emotional agility and rolled out the first session of Pause for Wellness with an exercise focused on personal satisfaction across the eight domains of wellbeing. In just one hour, the group of advisors created an unprecedented space for sharing and connecting, and the self-reflection and support they offered one another was astounding.
The pillars of resilience – strong relationships and support networks, self-awareness and self-care, and purpose and meaning – as well as feedback and program evaluation data gathered through an anonymous survey at the end of the session, informed the topics for the 2021 series. Themes included “Making Time for Your Wellness,” “Fostering Hope,” and “Navigating a New Normal.”
The promising program evaluation data confirmed high interest and investment as well as longing for connection and community:
“We do work that can be emotionally draining at the best of times, and I welcome more chances for us to share things with one another. It was just nice to hear that other people are having a hard time as well. Not that I want anyone to have a hard time, but it’s helpful to know that we’re not alone.”
Ultimately, the listening sessions are well-facilitated spaces for sharing, thinking, feeling, and responding. Advisors, after all, create these spaces for students all year long. Pause for Wellness is their opportunity to process and grow with the support of peers, and regardless of the theme, the outcomes across the sessions are the same: organizational growth and development, idea generation across disciplines, and exploration of wellness in the workplace and beyond. Pausing for wellness cultivates personal and organization-wide resilience and excellence.
If you are interested in bringing Pause for Wellness to your campus, contact Courtney Joly-Lowdermilk at [email protected] or call 617-483-3827.