As crews put the finishing touches on the new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility, campus leaders who will bring their student health and wellness services together under one roof are eagerly anticipating the building’s opening in just a few days.
“I remember this goal being talked about when I was an undergraduate student here at Marquette,” says Bernadette Heitschmidt, director of student wellness and health promotion. “To see this building through to opening and beyond, being able to serve students in their holistic wellness journey as a college student and work alongside some amazing colleagues who share the same mission is truly remarkable.”
New chief wellness officer will guide integration of services
Marquette recently named its first-ever chief wellness officer, Luis de Zengotita, MSW, MBA, who will oversee programmatic elements of the new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility. His direct areas of oversight include the Medical Clinic, Counseling Center, Campus Recreation, and the Student Wellness and Health Promotion Program. Additionally, de Zengotita will partner with Human Resources on faculty and staff wellness programming.
With the opening in sight, Heitschmidt joins fellow leaders from the Marquette Medical Clinic, Counseling Center and Campus Recreation who are all excited to get into the new space. The facility will for the first time bring these areas from their varied corners of campus into one place, allowing Marquette to comprehensively serve students’ well-being.
“I am so excited for our students to use the new facility,” says James Friel, acting director of campus recreation. “With our new space, we will be able to expand our programs and services, offer later hours, and have a space for every student at Marquette. All of these are very important in the overall health of a college student, and we look forward to seeing students flourish.”
“Having the Medical Clinic relocated within the new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility will improve access and visibility of our comprehensive medical services,” adds Keli Wollmer, executive director of the Medical Clinic. “The medical clinic space is a new, much larger, state-of-the-art facility which will allow an increase in utilization, improve efficiency and maintain student confidentiality.”
Not only will Wellness + Helfaer Recreation be an upgrade in terms of accommodations, but it will also expand the services these areas are able to offer.
“The new building provides a larger space with a range of utilization opportunities from a meditation room, lounge area, open programming space to a multipurpose meeting room and kitchen — all that will aid in providing holistic wellness and advocacy services to students,” Heitschmidt says.
In addition to the convenience of centralizing wellness and recreation resources, Brenda Lenz, director of the Counseling Center, notes the co-location will break down barriers to care.
Wellness + Helfaer Recreation opens at 7 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 13
First 500 students receive an
“I opened the Wellness + Helfaer Recreation Center” t-shirt
“I opened the Wellness + Helfaer Recreation Center” stickers, cookies and hot chocolate will also be available.
“I believe the co-location and how we will talk and program around ‘wellness’ will create the opportunity to change the way the campus and students think about ‘wellness,’” Lenz says. “For mental health and substance use services specifically in the Counseling Center, locating them with other wellness services has the potential to decrease the stigma associated with help-seeking and normalize getting care for one’s emotional health as one would for physical health concerns.”
The co-location will also enhance each unit’s ability to collaborate and “foster a holistic wellness approach, integrating services that support physical, mental and emotional well-being,” according to Wollmer.
Lenz agrees: “At the same time, a treatment plan for addressing psychological concerns may include recreation and/or meditation and/or physical health of some sort and all those services are readily accessible. Wellness and prevention services will help students learn the ways they can preserve good mental health and how to identify a problem early and get support.”
Wellness + Helfaer Recreation will certainly be an upgrade in space and services, but Wollmer, Lenz, Friel and Heitschmidt are most excited for the students.
“I am excited to see students engage in this new space and with the range of services that are available to them,” Lenz says. “I am also excited to work more closely with the professionals from the other student wellness units to envision how we can work at all the intersections of our work: health promotion, prevention, outreach, early intervention, treatment and recovery.” Students will get their first look at Wellness + Helfaer Recreation when it opens its doors on Monday, Jan. 13.
