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Two CCU professors create Wellness Circle to promote mindfulness for faculty and staff

As the semester begins and workloads grow heavier, the Wellness Circle invites faculty and staff to destress. During the Spring 2019 semester, the Wellness Circle will meet for monthly on-campus meetings where members focus on positive ways to handle stress and, in turn, improve their work performance. 

 Eugenia Hopper, assistant professor of early childhood education, and Adriane Sheffield, assistant professor of foundations, curriculum and instruction, created the Wellness Circle this semester to help faculty and staff members to pause and reflect, learn the benefits of self-care, and create an action plan for practicing mindfulness techniques. 

 “Just as we have meetings, classes and other activities on our schedule, this is an appointment with ourselves,” said Sheffield. “It is a time to remind ourselves that our mental and emotional health needs to be addressed.”

Whether a participant is well versed in self-care but hasn’t practiced it in a while, or is completely new to the concept of mindfulness, the Wellness Circle is a welcoming environment. Hopper and Sheffield’s goal is to create a supportive community of faculty and staff members who support each other in implementing their self-care goals. 

“If faculty and staff are mindful of when they need to pause and recharge, it will help them to be more effective and efficient,” said Hopper. “I’m hoping that the sessions will also help build a community for faculty and staff who may not have been prompted to build a relationship otherwise.”

Hopper and Sheffield got the idea for the Wellness Center when they attended a professional conference together and participated in a mindfulness session about the benefits of self-care. After considering conversations they have had with faculty and staff members about the pressure they felt as a result of Hurricane Florence, they decided to create a space on campus for reflecting and recharging. 

“I really had to kick my self-care into high gear when the Hurricane hit in order to help the students effectively deal with and heal from the uncertainty and anxiety that they were experiencing,” said Tiffany Hollis, assistant professor of foundations, curriculum and instruction, and contributor to the Wellness Circle. “Hurricane Florence reminded me of the importance to be able to restore so that as a faculty member, I could assist students who were trying to gain and maintain a sense of normalcy after the hurricane."

Tiffany Hollis is well acquainted with self-care practices. When Hollis taught in Charlotte, N.C., she used to give her fellow educators tips for mindfulness and noticed a difference in teacher morale and attitude. When Hopper and Sheffield returned from the conference, they immediately approached Hollis and asked her to collaborate and share ideas to help bring the Wellness Circle to life.

“Sometimes it helps you to be more dedicated to a task if it is a part of your calendar,” said Hopper. “It also helps to participate in a forum where you can share your ideas and glean ideas from others.”

The Wellness Circle is open to all faculty and staff members at CCU. Those who wish to participate can sign up through the Center for Teaching Excellence to Advance Learning (CeTEAL). (Direct link to register is here.)

The introductory session of the Wellness Circle was held on Jan. 25, from 10-11 a.m. in Kearns Room 210. The Wellness Circle will meet on the fourth Friday of each month at 10 a.m. until the last session of the semester on April 26.

Hollis had the idea to host a culminating event called Self-care Saturday for faculty and staff to relish in mindfulness before the stress of final exams begin. While there is no set date or time yet, Self-Care Saturday will most likely take place on April 27.

There will also be a Wellness Center session on June 28. Hopper and Sheffield say they are open to continuing the Wellness Circle in the Fall 2019 semester.
 

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