Three years ago, Cleveland State University (CSU) Campus Rec created its Shine Well wellness initiative. The program exists to “light the way” in optimizing the health of students and faculty, and it’s now beginning to integrate throughout the university.
The initiative is CSU’s own wellness wheel consisting of seven dimensions of wellness. Within each facet is information and resources readily available to guide individuals on their health journey. Shine Well’s seven wellness dimensions are as follows:
- Developmental
- Emotional
- Environmental
- Financial
- Physical
- Social
- Spiritual
Nick Froelich, the director of Campus Recreation Services CENTERS, said the idea for the program came from his time as a NIRSA representative. While there, he saw the organization create its own dimensions of well-being.
CSU Campus Rec then quickly recognized the benefits of a wellness wheel.
“We as a staff sat around and said this is the future of campus rec” said Froelich. “How can we deliver on this well-being initiative? We went through and used these dimensions of wellness as a guide for us.”
Once they settled on their facets of wellness, the department began determining how to improve the program’s accessibility for students and faculty.
Shine Well in Action
When visiting the Shine Well page on CSU’s website, anyone can click on each the seven dimensions represented by colorful light bulbs.
Every light bulb will redirect the user to a page with specific information detailing that facet of wellness. Each page has three keywords, a brief statement, a summary of each dimension and a short companion video.
The light bulbs are also in the department’s program guide. Each program is highlighted with the corresponding light bulb matching the area of wellness that’s tied with each activity. Froelich said they use the bulbs to “prescribe” programs and services to students who need them.
“Someone dealing with anxiety or depression can go to our program guide and easily identify the light bulbs and how they are tied to each of our programs,” said Froelich. “We can now say how we are directly helping someone with each of our programs we create. We want to help you on your mental health journey throughout the rest of your life. It really helps us now drive the boat.”
The Shine Well symbols are in the campus rec center on both digital and physical signage. Froelich said he often takes program pamphlets to meetings with other department heads to spread the initiative throughout the university.
He added while it’s still too early to see the overall effect Shine Well has on students, campus rec is seeing a positive response from scholars within their department.
Lessons and What Lies Ahead
Froelich urged other schools to consider adopting a wellness-wheel approach, starting at a grassroots level first.
“Get a committee together, and get folks from the different areas within,” said Froelich. “Really put a diverse group of individuals in a room, and say you want to create a wellness wheel and be a holistic figure of health on campus. Once you get that established, then start reaching out to other departments on campus.”
The goal moving forward for Shine Well is to spread across different departments on campus. Froelich said they are already having conversations about the program with the office of Student Life, Counseling Services, Student Wellness and Health, and the university’s Care Team.
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“We want to make this a one-stop-shop for the whole campus,” said Froelich. “What started out as a small thing has finally started to move its fingers throughout the university. It’s not just a program for us — it’s a frame of mind as we push our programs out to the campus.”
The ultimate goal he has for Shine Well is for it to be represented on CSU’s main page and embraced by university leadership.
“We know how much anxiety and depression effects students,” said Froelich. “We know even as staff that we can’t keep grinding our own mental health. Now, we have a purpose, and that is to help everybody. In my opinion, any wellness dimension wheel can help college students and counselors.”
