Wellness Peer Advocates (WPAs) are helping students tackle stress, find community, and build healthy habits through peer-to-peer support and events.
WPAs are students at Millikin who already have some lived experiences at Millikin and help support other students. They support Millikin students by focusing on the eight dimensions of wellness: social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, and occupational. Their focus is on all of the dimensions to best help stress and create a sense of belonging and overall student success.
“Smart goals are something that’s specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely,” the new Edge Liason Peer Advocate, Nylaia Carter, said. “So setting goals just for one class at a time gets you prepared in life for goal setting.”
Ecila Deransburg-Cooka, a certified student wellness coach who also has a certification in mindfulness-based stress reduction and yoga, helps train students to be WPAs.
“They are ambassadors of wellness,” she said. “They promote a sense of well-being on campus as they relate to the eight dimensions of wellness.”
WPAs move in a week or two early to go through a five-day training to get various certifications. These certificates include ParaPro, Title IX, and Crisis Intervention. WPAs this year have also done a 12-hour Eduology Peer Mentor training through a Title III grant after that, and are now working on receiving 25 hours of face-to-face interaction, which includes one-on-one meetings, group face-to-face meetings, and WPA wellness events, to receive their certification.
While the training prepares students with certifications and practical skills to help Millikin students, Deransburg-Cook emphasized that being a Wellness Peer Advocate is more than just that.
“I look for someone whose expression of their passion about wellness seems authentic and true,” she said, highlighting the importance of Wellness Peer Advocates having a passion for wellness and helping others.
That authenticity becomes clear in the way WPA students relate to their clients’ own struggles while avidly working to help improve their experiences. Wellness Peer Advocates has had seen new WPAs start their first year of being one, including Sophomore Exercise Science major, Nylaia Carter.
In Nylaia Carter’s introduction on WPA’s Instagram page, @wpa_millikin, she introduced herself and explained her decision in becoming a WPA.
“I chose to be a WPA because I understand how having someone in your corner around the clock makes tremendous differences in the outcomes of not only certain situations, but throughout life,” she said.
Another new WPA, Lilly Meeker, a Junior Nursing major, also urges Millikin students to take wellness seriously.
“It’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to reach out,” she said.
If anyone wishes to reach out to Millikin’s Wellness Peer Advocates, you can book an appointment through their Instagram page, on @wpa_millikin’s bio link or scan any WPA flyer QR code.
There are also various upcoming events hosted by Wellness Peer Advocates, including their Sleep Well Station on Wednesday September th from 11:30 am-1:00 pm at the University Common’s tables.
You can learn about the importance of sleep as well as get a free silk pillowcase and sleep eye mask.
There is also the Big Blue Bash on Thursday, September 25 from 6:00-8:00 pm at the UC Banquet Room where there will be a nacho bar, games, and bingo with various gift card prizes. You can also keep posted about future WPA events by following their Instagram at @wpa_millikin.
Millikin’s Wellness Peer Advocates has grown vastly and wishes to continue growing as a resource for all Millikin students. It will continue to have a clearer positive impact on Millikin students by supporting them through challenges and helping foster a stronger sense of community at Millikin.
“Each year, our visibility and awareness about the program grows, and so each year, I’m hearing more talk around campus about the Wellness Peer Advocates,” Deransburg-Cook said.
