Wilfrid Laurier’s bi-annual Thrive Week looked a little different last month, taking place virtually from Oct. 19 to 23 and Oct. 26 to 30.
“We know that this is a busy time for students and feeling disconnected can add more stress to what is already a really challenging situation,” Nathan Reeve, wellness education coordinator
at Laurier’s Student Wellness Centre on the Waterloo campus said in an email statement.
Thrive Week features two weeklong series of free events that are designed to build and foster positive mental health.
Laurier started hosting Thrive Weeks in 2017 and it now runs every October and January on the Waterloo and Brantford campuses.
Events included Zoom workouts, online workshops and Keynote speakers.
Opportunities were also featured that allowed students to connect, but did not require them to log-in to participate, such as a Masterchef Cooking Competition, the “How I Dress is Never a Yes” pop-up gallery and a Spotify playlist curated by the Thrive team at Laurier.
Thrive Week is overseen by Laurier’s Mental Health Advisory Committee, which is a collection of staff from Laurier’s Waterloo campus and is coordinated by the Wellness Education team.
With COVID-19 keeping the majority of students at home and isolated from their typical school year routines, Thrive aimed to be as accommodating as possible for people’s different schedules and comfort levels.
“This year, Thrive Week is focused on expanding our programming to include offerings for students to engage on their own time, as well as to connect with other students and campus professionals virtually to ensure that we can all engage in ways that work for us,” Reeve said.
Students who have any feedback regarding Thrive Week or any other mental health programming at Laurier are encouraged to fill out the Mental Health Suggestion Box online.
Remote work has been difficult for many students to cope with as a result of the pandemic, so being able to balance online workloads while staying connected was a prominent theme for Thrive this fall.
“Throughout the two weeks, we want to ensure students have opportunities to learn how to continue to maintain their mental health, how they can stay well, and stay connected all while studying remotely,” Reeve said.
