New well-being initiative launches

A new University of North Georgia (UNG) health initiative begins Aug. 21, coinciding with the start of the fall semester. The program is called LiveWellUNG and focuses on a total-person approach to wellness.

Eight dimensions of well-being encompass the program and include career, environmental, financial, intellectual, mental, physical, social, and spiritual.

"If any of the dimensions are negatively affected, it can throw off the balance in other dimensions of your well-being, so we're focusing on working towards success in all dimensions by supporting students in areas outside of the academic world through student support services offered through a variety of different departments across campuses," Meri-Leigh Smith, associate director of wellness and health promotion, said.

Nigel Cares focused on mental health and mental well-being, and LiveWellUNG is like an expansion of it since it encompasses seven additional dimensions, Smith said.

The feather allowed us to demonstrate how those things all fit together into one person and one well-being. There's more that we need to be focused on than just the mental health component, so we wanted to really make sure that we were highlighting those eight dimensions and how each of those dimensions can impact the overall well-being of an individual.

Dr. Alyson Paul

UNG associate vice president and dean of students for the Gainesville and Cumming campuses

Paul said the committee wanted to be "thoughtful and strategic about what are the greatest needs of our students and really start addressing those."

Although the focus is on students, the concept, Smith said, is university-wide.

"We would love to be able to incorporate faculty and staff well-being into this model as well, because if our faculty and staff aren't healthy, they won't be here to teach and that bleeds over into the success of our students," Smith said. "It’s a university-wide approach to well-being, making sure that everybody on our campus is looking at their whole well-being."

Smith said the approach will be collaborative with everybody working together to support students where they are, and for what they need, including speaking in classes and to student groups.

"We're working on that, so there are lots of ways for people to get involved in the process and be a part of the change if they would like to be," Smith said.