Last week, I participated in the table talk discussing Health and Wellness for students on Cornell’s campus. We discussed how even if students, want to pursue help there are not many channels that allow for such help to happen. For example, Gannett schedules future appointments instead of same-day appointments for counseling or psychological advising. For a person who feels stressed at that moment in time, being told that they can not meet with someone is something that is problematic. So a possible solution was to hire more specialists especially since they are expanding the building. Another idea that we felt would decrease stress, would be to have scheduled amusement every week. Having inflatables, hayrides, face-painting, cotton candy, bringing these things to students would help create a nostalgic feeling which in turn decreases stress levels. This would also inspire people socializing with their friends. Having some of the activities like orientation week, every week would improve health and wellness at Cornell. On a smaller scale, I feel that Rose could also have more stress relieving focused activities. My suggestion was to have free 10-15 minutes massages for all residents from professional masseuses. This would create a great turnout. This also would allow people to take the time out of their day to have a moment of relaxation. More ideas like this would create a healthier campus for everyone.
I really like your ideas for creating a healthier campus! I think having scheduled amusements to de-stress each week is a great idea. While there are usually lots of de-stressing activities scheduled for finals week, I know for a lot of us stress levels are high all throughout the semester. Frequent reminders to relax could be very beneficial!
I also think these ideas are great! I really like that your suggestions for de-stressing prioritize community support, be that on the scale of individuals in friend groups or in larger communities like Rose House. I also agree that expanding the personnel in CAPS is vital. Having been a patient at CAPS before, I know firsthand how absurd (and honestly dangerous) waiting that long for appointments is. That said, I always feel like mental health initiatives at Cornell focus more on treating symptoms than actually getting at the root of the problem. I certainly don’t have answers and I don’t mean to say that initiatives that focus on de-stressing are not important, just that I wonder if it is possible to decrease what causes these mental health challenges in the first place, at least on Cornell’s end.