The College of Health and Human Services is working to implement an initiative focused around the eight dimensions of wellness in order to help students improve their quality of life.

Physical, emotional, social, financial, occupational, spiritual, intellectual and environmental dimensions make up your total wellness. Healthy practices and lifestyle changes involve each of these dimensions, not just one, because every aspect of your wellness is dependent on the others.

Tania Basta, dean of the College of Health and Human Services, brought the idea to the college and is working with other CHHS staff members to implement it. She saw the effects that COVID-19 isolation had on her family and friends, and she felt that students who have lived within this environment with little social guidance could be helped by a non-academic advisor.

“I was thinking about the fact that my 8th grader is about to be in high school, but there has been nothing normal about school and how they socialize,” Basta said. “I asked what we do differently so that when students come to campus they feel connected. They didn’t have the chance to connect with others pre-pandemic, and I was noticing these things in our students on campus.”

Basta explained that students face an unknown when going into college both socially and academically, and that unknown aspect has only been heightened since the pandemic.

“We felt like we had to figure that out on our own,” Basta said. “The same sort of thing is happening when you are dropped off on campus, and even though we have the tech we still have the same experiences. There’s still that unknown there, but if we could connect students with other students that have the same interests as soon as they get to campus it could be really helpful.”

Basta explained how one method of achieving this is through junior and senior student wellness ambassadors, who will be able to guide underclassmen in navigating wellness services and organizations, as well as introducing them to other people they can talk to.

She also spoke on how people may not view wellness as multiple dimensions, as well as why these multiple dimensions are so vital for CHHS students specifically.

“I think a lot of people with wellness think of physical health, but we lose focus on the other things that make up this wheel that also increase quality of life,” Basta said. “A lot of the time CHHS students are going for these high-stress environments, so they need to understand how to balance their wellness now.”

Basta gave examples of how each dimension of wellness can connect to students. The intellectual side is obvious, seen in the academics of the college. Finding spiritual connections and making sure your environment fits your needs are two aspects of wellness that may be overlooked. The financial and occupational dimensions see heavier impacts on future wellness due to budgeting skills and professional job opportunities.

“If you think about all of those and attend to all of those through different dimensions, with combinations of things like working out, living in an LLC, being in an organization, that will improve wellness,” Basta said. “These navigators will meet with students and show them what matches their interests and what’s important, so that they can have a better experience here and increase quality of life not only here but when they’re going to go out working.”

This is the first time that a college has tried to implement a program like this one, and Basta hopes that students will benefit from this program as they are able to meet with wellness navigators within CHHS. 

“If there are places we can connect, let us know that,” Basta said. “Hopefully, incoming students at TOP will be meeting with the wellness navigators to make sure they get connected immediately once they’re here at WKU. They will also contact their students at least one time per semester, just to ask how everything is going. Hopefully, we’ll have a better understanding of how this goes once it’s implemented.”

News Reporter Alexandria Anderson can be reached at [email protected].