Students at the University of Calgary have a new online resource for their health related concerns.
The Wellness Guide is a website where students can have their questions answered without the embarrassment of asking a parent or worse, a peer. With sections devoted to nutrition, sexual health, stress, fitness and academic success, the guide adds comedy to its message to address common student issues.
The website was the brainchild of Dr. Sharon Crozier, Director of the campus Counseling Center.
“If it’s not fun and it’s not energizing then students won’t use it,” said Crozier, “It’s supposed to be written like a student’s journal, something students can have fun with.”
Crozier enlisted the help of 16 good-humoured students and several faculty members to write the manual based on a similar guide from the University of California in Berkeley. Faculty at both the U of C and Berkeley are excited the guide is on the web, but Dr. Crozier insists that the site, launched during November’s wellness fair, will continue to be renovated.
“It has the potential to keep growing,” said Crozier. “Right now, we’re in a building phase.”
The site will be promoted on Dec. 6 and 7 at De-stress Days sponsored by the Students’ Union and the Wellness and Health Awareness Team. University Health Services’ web site also promotes the guide as a useful tool in beating the university blues.
“University life is a high pressure environment,” said Crozier. “Our hope is that this website will be a valuable tool for people to make better decisions.”