Student Health & Well-being Conference Helps Students Thrive
Partnerships, resources and a focus on nature were highlighted at the fourth annual Charleston Student Health & Well-being Conference held at the College of Charleston.
Above: Conference attendees were led in an exercise. (Photos by Catie Cleveland)
The Charleston Health & Well-being Consortium, an alliance of the College of Charleston, The Citadel and the Medical University of South Carolina, hosted the fourth annual Charleston Student Health & Well-being Conference on May 19, at the College of Charleston.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Roots of Resilience – Growing Student Well-being Together.” Experts highlighted how to help students thrive and more effectively promote student wellness opportunities.
“We are grateful for strong community partnerships that help us keep the wellbeing of our students front and center,” says Alicia Caudill, executive vice president for student affairs at the College of Charleston. “It was a great day spent sharing ideas to improve wellness resources and communicate them effectively for the benefit of all of our students.”
Susan Johnson, president and CEO of the South Carolina Healthy Business Coalition, delivered the keynote address. She is the founder of Nature at Work, an initiative integrating nature-based approaches into workplace health, environmental stewardship and community wellbeing.
Additional conference speakers included specialists focused on mental health and counseling, basic needs solutions, horticulture therapy, how to help military veterans in crisis and more.
The conference’s closing panel featured the discussion, “What’s the Men’s Equivalent for Yoga? A Conversation about College Men’s Mental Health,” facilitated by Bucky Buchanan, director of the College’s Campus Recreation Services, along with Brian Durbin with the CofC Center for Intentionality, Rico Gabriel with The Citadel and Lee Lewis with MUSC.
The mission of the Charleston Student Health & Well-being Consortium focuses on what institutions are doing on local, state and national levels to promote student wellbeing. Working together, consortium members explore and create opportunities to promote education for students, faculty and staff.
