Supporting wellbeing in students
Thursday 4 July: Conference day two, 2:15pm – 3:45pm parallel mini-workshop
Venue
Room 10 – 303-B07 Sem
Presenters
Abigail Lewis
Edith Cowan University, Australia
abigail.lewis@ecu.edu.au
Dr Lisa Holmes
Edith Cowan University, Australia
l.holmes@ecu.edu.au
Background
A number of universities have focused on wellbeing for students with a whole of university approach. However, what can individual academics include in their practice? Both Abigail Lewis and Lisa Holmes have been implementing wellbeing activities for different student disciplines (speech pathology students and paramedicine students) for a number of years. We are all familiar with the importance of managing our physical health with daily exercise (‘find 30’), but how do we have conversations with students about managing their mental health? How can we create a safe space for students to explore their own wellbeing and make plans for managing wellbeing throughout their careers? What activities can we use to engage students in a wellness focus? In paramedicine and speech pathology a range of strategies have been embedded to support positive mental health in students. We will share our experiences as well as discuss future directions in this area.
Target audience
Academics who wish to incorporate wellbeing activities (including mindfulness) into their teaching.
Intended outcomes for participants
In this workshop participants will be able to experience a range of interactive, engaging mindfulness and wellness activities, as well as discussing how to implement these in their own programs.
Outline of activities
Each activity will be followed by small group discussion on how to use or adapt the activity for students, alternatives and shared ideas from the group.
- Reflective activity: what does wellbeing mean to you?
- Why is wellbeing important?
- How and why wellbeing is embedded across the speech pathology course and the paramedicine course
- Reflective activity: use of a third thing to explore wellbeing.
- A wellbeing framework
- Mindfulness: how to introduce to students
- An easy introduction to meditation for students
- Further three mindfulness activities
Wrap up – reflection and discussion, how to take the ideas back to your courses.
Presentation topic
Mini-workshop 14
