A Home Away from Home
By: Jill Royston, Manager
Student Wellness Resource Center
My colleague’s daughter is starting college this fall and she’s excited, but nervous for her. For 18 years she has created a safe haven at home for her daughter; a place she can come back to at the end of her day and rest, reflect, and be loved unconditionally for who she is and is becoming. When your child heads off to college, who will provide that for them now? Where is that safe haven, the place he/she feels cared for, welcome, heard? At Gonzaga, I believe we strive to build that type of community here on campus for all students; and I have the privilege of working in a center that prides itself on being that for many of our students. We are part of the Student Wellness Resource Center!
Together with the students of Gonzaga University, the professional staff of the Student Wellness Resource Center (SWRC) provides our community with a student centered, harm reduction approach to living a healthy and balanced life style. Our mission is to empower students to make choices in support of their personal goals. We do this by challenging and supporting our students in the areas of alcohol and other drug awareness, violence prevention, physical and mental wellbeing, and peer educator leadership development. Guided by our own personal mission statements, the mission of Gonzaga University and the vision of the Division of Student Development, the SWRC prides itself in collaboration efforts, building genuine and authentic relationships, and impacting the wider community through our work. Our vision is to meaningfully influence the culture to intentionally develop students who live a holistically balanced and healthy lifestyle and who empower others to do the same.
One of our strengths, we believe, is that we have the greatest opportunity to meet students where they are and provide resources for the context in which we meet them. As a department (with both professionals and student employees – undergraduate and graduate) we, and our work, are/is relevant, authentic, flexible, evolving, proactive and intentional. Our goal is to provide education, resources, opportunities, referrals, and experiences that allow each individual to make the best choice for them in whatever aspect of their life needs attention. Sound familiar as a parent? The majority of our services are free and accessible when needed. When students walk in the door, we drop everything and assist the best we can!
I, myself, have two daughters. Both are a few years away from college, however, trust that I will be looking at their respective universities for a center like ours….that soft place to land; their home away from home – and make sure they know where it is!!
If you would like to know more about the SWRC, please check us out online at:
http://www.gonzaga.edu/Student-Life/SWRC