With the stress of pressing deadlines, being away from home and major life changes, college weighs heavily on your mental health. However, West Virginia University is doing all it can to help you carry that weight. Here is a rundown of a few of those services here on the WVU campus.
Carruth Center
The Carruth Center is located on the Evansdale Campus and are open Monday through Friday with ‘drop-in’ hours from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. where students can stop by the Center for a counseling session. The Center strives to offer other counseling services as well as including individual, group, couples and drug and alcohol. No matter what you are struggling with in life, the Carruth Center will strive to meet your needs through counseling, psychiatry and training professionals in the field.
The Center also created the Life Hacks Series and the Wellness Workshops. The Life Hacks Series focuses on easing the transition to WVU by hosting a series of talks centered on various topics, from self-care to college hacks and academic success. The Wellness Workshops focus on stress management and goal setting. The Center’s website includes a list of health providers in the area and a self-help resource focused on first-generation college students and students who experience the death of someone close to them.
“Your time at WVU may be filled with transitions, self-exploration and change,” according to the Center’s website. “Our services and programs are designated to support you through these experiences, help you succeed in college and guide you toward a more fulfilling life. We strive to provide these services in an atmosphere that is welcoming, comfortable and multiculturally sensitive for all students, faculty and staff.”
Contact the Carruth Center at (304)293-4431 or schedule an appointment.
WELLWVU
The WELLWVU Office of Wellness and Health Promotion was created in 2009 to deliver wellness education to all WVU students, while encouraging students to ‘live healthy, happy and productive lives.’ The program provides services in assessment, evaluation and treatment of student’s well being, emotional and social needs, while also promoting healthy lifestyles and behaviors. WELLWVU also provides advocacy of health care issues and fosters ongoing research relating to health and wellness.
WELLWVU also offers various events from meditation, employee wellness, the CHOICES toolkit to promote healthy drinking and peer education, while hosting the Wellbeing programs, which include alcohol and drug prevention, sexual health, stress management, nutrition, sleep and exercise programs.
To further promote health and wellness on campus, the team at WELLWVU created the leadWELL peer mentor training program to identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors in all aspects of a typical college student’s lifestyle, including stress, sleep, sex and drug use. The WELLAWARE program is a 90-minute interactive, bystander training program where students learn how to intervene in high-risk situations with their peers.
“The mission of WELLWVU, is to foster the complete well being of our students through education, promotion and related services,” according to its website. “Our wellbeing programs teach students how to create healthy lifestyles and provide them with leadership skills related to positive health habits while spreading the message of health and wellness across campus.”
Contact WELLWVU at (304)293-5054.
WVU Collegiate Recovery Program
The WVU Collegiate Recovery Program, housed in the Serenity Place, provides support for students in recovery from substance use disorders, eating disorders and other behavioral health conditions. The Serenity Place, open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., is a ‘safe space’ on campus, located in Arnold Hall, where students can go to relax with other students that are also in recovery.
During the school year, the program hosts yoga sessions, arts and craft hours, meditation sessions, sober tailgates and many more. The program also has its own student organization, Mountaineers for Recovery (M4R), which offers peer support. For those recovering, the Collegiate Recovery Program offers many different treatment and recovery options, as well as support groups. There is also a minor, which WVU students can take to study addiction recovery. Through all of these events and programs, the WVU Collegiate Recovery Program is doing a lot to support those struggling and inform the community about addiction recovery.