CREDIT: ISTOCK (ANDREYPOPOV)
The Passport to Wellness Program is a series offered by Fanshawe to educate and encourage a balanced lifestyle. The program focuses on physical, mental, spiritual, and community aspects of health.

The Passport to Wellness Program is a series offered by Fanshawe to educate and encourage a balanced lifestyle. The program focuses on physical, mental, spiritual, and community aspects of health.

Students can use the program to initiate and support their personal wellness plan and can have their Passport Plan assessed and verified to earn co-curricular credit.

The program offers a variety of workshops, sessions and activities for students to attend either by drop-in or by registering in advance.

“Some groups are aimed at specific populations, to build skills, or create community opportunities,” Kristin Kumpf, a personal/ academic/career counsellor at Fanshawe, said.

Below are some of the groups people can participate in.

BE Well: Skills for Emotional Wellbeing:

“The BE Well group is sort of an all-purpose group for learning skills to support emotional well-being,” Kumpf said. Modules in this workshop include ‘BE Mindful’, ‘BE Balanced’, ‘BE calm skills’.

This program runs Tuesdays 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with new sessions beginning March 5 and March 26. The program also runs Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. with new sessions starting March 13.

Knitwell Circle for Students and Staff:

Knitting helps to ease stress, relax, and promote creativity and a sense of community. “The Knitwell group focuses on just having some light community connection while knitting which has been found to be relaxing and meditative… a great stress buster,” Kumpf said.

These sessions are designed for new and experienced knitters alike. Drop-in sessions run from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. until April 17.

Healthy Relationships and Communication:

This is a new workshop designed to develop essential skills involved in relationship building.

“The Healthy Relationships and Communication Group used to be a component of the Be Well group but was split off from that this year and the material expanded and changed,” Kumpf said.

Sessions run either Monday at 12 p.m. or Thursdays at 1 p.m., with new sessions beginning soon.

Presentation Anxiety Workshop:

This one-hour session is aimed to help students with presenting in front of individuals or groups, equipping students with education, strategies, and tools to reduce presentation- related anxiety.

The next session will be running March 13 from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m.

Let’s Talk Thursdays:

The purpose of these sessions is to improve mental health and wellness for those who may be experiencing depression or depressive symptoms. The sessions are dropin and occur between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, until April 11 in Room D2030 (Spirituality Centre).

Additional programming, including the Autism Spectrum Disorder Social Group, a community- specific event and the Drumming Circle Events:

“The Drumming events can have an emotional, community, and for some people spiritual aspect to it. It’s also pretty physical… again a great stress buster,” said Kumpf.

There are more resources available to students on campus to enhance personal wellness. “The Wellness Centre also offers physical fitness and meditation classes,” Kumpf said.

Students can register for programming or find out more information by calling 519-452-4282, visiting Counselling and Accessibility Services, Room F2010 or Fanshawec.ca and search for Passport to Wellness.