This post was originally published on this site
The mission of the Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Well-Being is to promote and enhance the science and practice of mindfulness and well-being for students, faculty, staff, and surrounding communities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the center began its task of transitioning with an initial focus on faculty and staff such as offering its previously on-campus yoga classes in an online format.
UW-Superior’s Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Well-Being, which opened in 2018, has become a gathering hub on campus providing mindfulness and well-being resources and expertise, educational projects, and personal and professional development activities.
Yet in March, the once buzzing space became silent and empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic and requirements for social distancing.
As the campus quickly transitioned to move on-campus classes to alternative delivery methods, the Pruitt Center also began adapting its resources and services.
“During these difficult times when there are a lot of changes, transitions and an increase in stress and anxiety, one of the first things that tends to go for people is their self-care,” said Randy Barker MSE, LPC , interim director for health, counseling & well-being. “This is the time that we need this more than ever – for people to give themselves the permission to take 20-minutes to do a mindfulness exercise. We also know that science shows that can be extremely beneficial for their social, emotional, psychological well-being. We know that by doing so, they’re more creative, productive and better problem-solvers. This is so important, more now than ever.”
The center began its task of transitioning with an initial focus on faculty and staff.
“The first thing was that we wanted to make sure that we created some opportunities for faculty and staff,” said Barker. “The first few weeks we offered three mindfulness experience opportunities daily. We also created a daily Connecting with Colleagues, which allowed staff to come together, connect and talk about some of the things that are taking place on campus and in the world.”
Made possible through a generous UW-Superior Foundation gift with support from Becky and Doug Pruitt, the mission of the center is to promote and enhance the science and practice of mindfulness and well-being for students, faculty, staff, and surrounding communities.
“What we also continued to do was provide yoga twice a week, only now online rather than in-person” said Barker. “We had been doing this for quite a while, but we thought
Continue to read this article on the UW-Superior Website.
