Social work students collaborate for Wellness Week
MINOT, N.D. – Collaboration is an important aspect of social work, and students in SWK 427: Social Work Methods III are putting those skills to work for Minot State’s Wellness Week.
“Our ultimate goal is to give something to all the students on campus,” said Jodi Magnuson. “We want to get people involved, and we want to give people a lot of opportunities to learn about wellness and how to take care of themselves.”
“We have worked on putting together Wellness Week, and the goal is to promote the importance of mental health and also incorporating the Wellness Wheel,” said Hanna Candrian. “The week has many different events.”
The Wellness Wheel promotes a holistic approach to wellness and healthy living on campus by focusing on eight dimensions in wellness: emotional, environmental, intellectual, multicultural, occupation, physical, social, and spiritual.
“Each day is focusing on a different part of the Wellness Wheel so every day has a different theme,” said Hannah Heisler.
“On Tuesday, we are promoting the physical wellness part of it. We’re offering gift bags with snacks, a Nutrition Addiction shake card, and other items inside, so it’s a Fuel Your Path theme,” said Jenna Metcalf. “We’re also promoting emotional health with an interactive board where students can write positive affirmations or just something they need to get off their mind.”
While Wellness Week is taking place now, work leading up to the event started long before November.
“We’ve talked a lot about this in class, how we thought this was going to start as this small thing, but it has grown and evolved into have different parts and different organizations on campus being involved,” said Candrian. “We had the ultimate goal of giving something to campus, but it’s almost become campus giving to us, which is really cool.”
“Every big dream we’ve had, Aaron (Aaron Hughes, student activities coordinator) has made it come true,” said Shelby Stuckey. “Everything we’ve wanted, it’s all happening because of her and her connections. It’s been a great partnership.”
The class of senior social work students are piloting the collaborative project and getting experience in an important part of their future professions.
“It’s everything we’ve learned throughout our coursework and getting to be hands on with everything,” said Kajia DeCoteau. “We get to see what it’s like to be a future social worker.”
“At the end of this, we will talk about what worked, what didn’t work,” said Lacey Corneliusen, Minot State assistant professor of social work. “They’ll then take the concepts they’ve learned and apply it in their own service learning projects.
“It’s not volunteering, it’s implementing a process. Networking in social work is so important, and we have a class that’s really connected. That’s where that cohesiveness happens.”
About Minot State University
Minot State University is a public university dedicated to excellence in education, scholarship, and community engagement achieved through
rigorous academic experiences, active learning environments, commitment to public service, and a vibrant campus life.
Published: 11/02/21
