Ways to Flourish

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of suicide and self-harm.

Suicide Prevention Week 2022 is September 4 to September 10, right in the middle of Suicide Prevention Month. This episode is posted in the midst of various initiatives the Wellness Center has planned for this week. In today's episode, we have a valuable conversation with Dr. Kevin Clancey, Assistant Director of Clinical Services at W&M, about what can cause a person to become suicidal, what common misconceptions exist about suicide and suicide prevention, and how William & Mary addresses crisis situations in the short-term and long-term.

Resources:
988 is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (for emergencies, call 911)
W&M Counseling Center: 757-221-3620 (available 24/7)
W&M Police: 911 or 757-221-4596
More about Suicide Prevention Month/Week 

Everyone at William & Mary knows about Student Transition Engagement Programs (STEP), and every student went through STEP's Orientation program when they were new to the school. No matter how important one thinks STEP may be for the school, it's probably more vital than they think. We talk to Lauren Garrett, Director of STEP, about what she organizes, why college transitions are specifically so difficult sometimes, and what advice we have for college freshmen. Have a wonderful FDOC!

Resources:
STEP website

Going to college is one of life's biggest changes. We meet new people, learn new things, and have experiences we never would have imagined before. But transitioning from one phase of life to another can be hard. Today, we welcome back Dr. Kelly Crace, Associate VP for W&M Health & Wellness, to talk about why college transitions are difficult, why it's so hard to navigate change in general, and how to shift our mindset to be more healthy and manageable.

Resources:
W&M Health & Wellness website
W&M Student Affairs website

Welcome back to Ways to Flourish! We are booting up the fifth season of the podcast and our 81st episode with a smaller, but still familiar team. We're kicking off the season by talking about things we've learned in the past, advice we have for incoming freshmen, and resources that might help you kick off the year. Stay tuned every Wednesday to listen to our episodes on Buzzsprout, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts. We can't wait to get started!

It's the Season 4 finale! The entire Ways to Flourish team sits down to talk about the last couple of years, during which this campus and this team have seen many shifts and changes. Lindsay, Ginny, Ben, Daria, and Calder have loved producing the podcast this season, and although we bid farewell to Ben and Daria, we also look forward to what Season 5 has to bring. Thank you for a wonderful semester, and we'll see you back here in the fall!

It's finals season, and that means we're all looking for ways to destress. The Climbing Wall at the Rec Center is a great way to do just that! Today, we talk to Claire Hutcheson, a Climbing Wall Attendant and TAP Leader, about how to access the Climbing Wall, how rock climbing is beneficial physically and mentally, and what jobs are available for the Climbing Wall.

Resources:
Climbing Wall webpage
Rec Center Employment Opportunities
Tribe Adventure Program (TAP) webpage

Wellness Rocks is an initiative began by Wellness Ambassador Marissa Del Zingaro to help connect and destress the W&M community. Today, we talk to Marissa about how Wellness Rocks work, what benefits this initiative can have on our well-being, and what other projects the WAs are working on at the moment.

Resources
Upcoming May 2 Wellness Rocks Signup

For our Q&A episode a few weeks ago, we received a question after recording that we did not get the chance to address. Even though COVID-19 isn't over, getting back into the "flow" of socialization is a problem that all of us have been experiencing. Today, the entire Ways to Flourish team comes together to talk about how social anxiety can affect our day-to-day interactions, how COVID has changed our approach to socialization, and what steps we can take to find our place in such a vibrant, bustling community.

William & Mary gives students the opportunity to join a wide variety of dance groups on campus, even if they have no previous experience. Today, we talk to Shriya Pothireddy of W&M Afsana, Meeran Khan of Griffin Bhangra, and Heidi Zmick of W&M Heritage Dancers about their respective cultural dance groups. We discuss how they got involved in their groups, how dance has helped them maintain their physical well-being, and how their groups have contributed to their sense of identity on campus.

Resources:
Afsana email: [email protected]
Afsana Instagram
Heritage Dancers email: [email protected]
Heritage Dancers Facebook Group
Bhangra Instagram
Bhangra Venmo: GriffinBhangra

Discrimination in health care is unfortunately still very present, and LGBTQ+-identifying people often experience unique challenges in seeking medical care. Today, we are joined by Vincent SheaBerry, President of the Rainbow Coalition, to discuss what obstacles queer individuals face in health care, how we can increase equity at our school and wider health care industry, and what events the Rainbow Coalition has planned in the next few weeks. W&M Pride Week 2022 is April 10-17!

Resources:
Get in contact with Vincent at [email protected]
Rainbow Coalition Instagram
Tribe Card Form
Virginia Transgender Resource and Referral List on the W&M Wellness website
The Trevor Project website contains even more resources for LGBTQ+ individuals