While it’s a concept that gets bandied about with increasing regularity, Lakehead University’s Orillia campus plans to take it to a higher level.
The local school, along with its Thunder Bay parent campus, signed the Okanagan Charter Wednesday as a pledge to ensure the health and wellness of its students, faculty and staff always come first.
Lakehead Orillia athletics and wellness co-ordinator Elana Weber said the word “health” often has negative connotations while “wellness” is meant to be something positive.
“It’s proactive rather than reactive,” she said, noting the local campus established a peer-wellness team three years ago to help those on campus.
“Wellness kind of captures lots of different areas of health. Sometimes students just need that opportunity for escape.”
Lakehead Orillia principal Dean Jobin-Bevans officially signed the pledge following a smudging ceremony led by Ojibwe-Pottawatomi member Trish Monague and Lakehead Aboriginal initiatives co-ordinator Allysha Wassegijig.
Developed during the 2015 International Conference on Health promoting universities and colleges, the charter calls on post-secondary institutions to ensure health and wellness are part of all aspects of campus culture, including the development of policies, procedures and practices.
The commitment is also part of Lakehead’s five-year strategic plan unveiled last year. As part of the charter, Lakehead is also developing a comprehensive, campus-wide wellness strategy.
Jobin-Bevans said the school understands the importance of promoting health and well-being as an essential step in achieving its goal of providing a transformative university experience.
“We will embed health and wellness into all aspects of campus life,” he said, noting the school plans to seek input from all staff and students about how to best develop the initiative and forge ahead with the pledge.
“Today is only the beginning. We encourage all students and faculty to participate.”
As Jobin-Bevans signed the pledge in Orillia, Lakehead president and vice-chancellor Moira McPherson signed a matching document in Thunder Bay.
“Exceptional scholarship and student potential are sustained by the mental and physical health of our people, and a healthy and supportive campus environment,” she said in a release. “We want to embed this notion into all aspects of campus culture and across operations.”
While opening the Orillia portion of the signing, Monague said she’s always impressed by how welcome and positive she feels whenever she visits the local campus.
“I have never been anywhere else in my life where I feel so special,” Monague said. “That’s how awesome this space makes me feel. I’m grateful to be part of this space … I don’t want to call it infrastructure because it’s more than that.”
