Navigating Wellness at GVSU
Welcome
At Grand Valley, we believe in taking a holistic approach to supporting the well-being of our students, faculty and staff. Knowing and caring about your individual well-being and your experience as a member of Grand Valley, we invite you to prioritize yourself and your well-being.
What does that mean, exactly?
At GVSU, we define well-being as an optimal and dynamic state that allows people to achieve their full potential (NIRSA, 2022). By focusing on the whole person and the whole community, well-being becomes a shared goal and a shared responsibility. Understanding the 8 dimensions of wellness can help guide your personal well-being during your experience at GVSU, and wherever else you may go.
GVSU Recreation & Wellness has recently updated the 8 Dimensions of Wellness, first introduced at GVSU in 2019, to better align with the needs of our community. At Grand Valley, we believe in taking a holistic approach to supporting the well-being of our students, faculty and staff. Knowing and caring about your individual well-being and your experience as a member of Grand Valley, we invite you to prioritize yourself and your well-being.
Wellness Wheel Background
As of September 2019, the department of Campus Recreation will be known as the department of Recreation & Wellness. This distinction better showcases the strong commitment to student wellness that the department represents, and it also reflects the ways of working that have long been true in the department. The name change is more reflective of professional standards, national practice, university plans, and previous institutional history.
Most recently, the following changes have been made to support this name change:
- Creation of a new student wellness website (gvsu.edu/studentwellness)
- Implementation of the 8 dimensions of wellness model
- Hiring of Student Health Promotions Coordinator
- Collective efforts to identify and implement strategies to improve student well-being
In January 2021, the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) was created with the hiring of Vice President Jenny Hall-Jones. A new commitment to wellbeing was established during this time as evidenced by the hiring of the first ever Director of Student Health Services and Assistant Vice President for Wellbeing and Inclusion within the DSA.
Our Progression
The commitment to wellbeing is further showcased through the GVSU Wellbeing and Inclusion Strategic Plan and the subsequent Wellbeing and Inclusion Strategic Communication 2023-2024 plan. Within the communication plan, the committee determined critical objectives including to “Use the 8 dimensions of wellness as a shared model of well-being.”
In the Fall 2023 semester, a small team from across the university reassessed the 8 dimensions of wellness at GVSU through 1 faculty/staff focus group, 1 student focus group, and a survey sent to faculty, staff and students in which 167 respondents shared their ideas for each dimension of wellness. New definitions in accordance with GVSU community feedback were presented to the DSA Wellbeing and Inclusion Committee in January 2024.
What Lies Ahead
Our well-being work is anchored in equity and justice as depicted in our newest wellness wheel.
By centering equity and justice in all of our academic and professional programs, we prepare students, faculty, and staff for a lifetime of continual learning and growth and contribute to a more just and equitable society.
Equity is a guiding principle at GVSU. It refers to the guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for students, faculty, and staff at every stage of educational and career development. Grand Valley acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations. Every effort is made to identify and eliminate barriers preventing their full participation. In alignment with empowering “people to achieve their full potential,” we adopt equity as an essential component of our wellness framework to ensure all students, faculty and staff are well at GVSU.
Justice: Social justice serves as the conceptual foundation for Grand Valley’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. At GVSU, we must think critically about systems of marginalization and oppression. This includes a deeper understanding of privilege and the need for all in the community to work toward equity and fairness in the pursuit of the transformation of lives, professions, and societies. Our wellness work at GVSU will examine power structures and address unfair treatment in all dimensions of wellness so that all members of the Grand Valley community can achieve optimal wellbeing.
8 Dimensions of Wellness
What are these dimensions we're talking about?
Recreation & Wellness is here to support you on your journey to health and well-being. A model was created that identifies 8 key dimensions of wellness. Learning about the 8 Dimensions of Wellness can help you choose how to make wellness a part of your everyday life. Use this model and the university resources available to help you on your journey to wellbeing.
Each dimension button below helps you understand what they mean by providing definitions and resources within each that will help you on your journey.
Emotional Wellness is accepting a wide range of emotions and effectively coping through challenges.
Environmental Wellness is sustaining safe, clean, and healthy environments where we live, work and play.
Financial Wellness is developing understanding, skills and behaviors to allocate money based on personal necessities and desires.
Intellectual Wellness is developing understanding, skills and behaviors to allocate money based on personal necessities and desires.
Occupational Wellness is exploring opportunities and contributing to society while finding balance and personal satisfaction.
Physical Wellness is knowing your body and providing what it needs for health, healing, and energy
Social Wellness is cultivating supportive relationships and community through genuine connection and belonging.
Spiritual Wellness is discovering a sense of purpose and meaning derived from your personal values and beliefs.
More for Students
Testimonials
Responses from Anonymous Student/Staff Survey
It is important to recognize all 8 dimensions of wellness for students, faculty, and staff because each dimension can impact one's overall wellness in different ways. It is totally possible to be doing really well in one dimension (e.g. social wellness) while also struggling in another dimension such as emotional wellness. Another reason it's important to recognize the 8 dimensions of wellness as a Laker is because it helps us understand each other and be more empathetic towards others. By recognizing the different aspects of wellness, faculty and staff can better support students and students in turn are reminded that their professors and team leaders are human beings with difficulties and wellness journeys of their own.
- "I practice emotional wellness by being self-aware of how I'm feeling and what has caused me to feel this way. For example, when I feel anxious, it's typically because of my course load and the looming pressure of important due dates. When I find myself feeling overwhelmed or anxious by a project, a great strategy that I use is to break down what I need to get done into smaller, more manageable pieces. I also practice emotional wellness by expressing my emotions to my friends and family and leaning on their support during difficult times."
- I work in an environment where wellness and physical activity are highly encouraged! As a staff member, I have access to the recreation center, fitness classes, and intramural sports, which allows me many different options of physical activity on a day-to-day basis.
- "I practice intellectual wellness by reading, which is one of my favorite hobbies. Of course, my educational journey here at GVSU has also supported my intellectual wellness but I have always been an avid reader outside of school. I have found that reading has given me strong critical thinking and evaluation skills. It has also fostered my curiosity because if I read about a topic that I don't have knowledge on, I want to go and learn more about that topic."
- "GVSU supports my wellness in the social and occupational dimensions of wellness through all of the options they provide for student involvement in organizations as well as on-campus employment. My time at GV has been made so much richer by the relationships I've been able to foster and the new experiences I've had all because of my extracurricular activities. Even joining just one student organization in my first year at GV made all the difference in the rest of my college experiences. Having full time classes in addition to working on-campus as well as off-campus has also taught me how to have a healthy work-life balance. Although having to split my time can be difficult, it has taught me how and when to prioritize my needs and the tasks I need to accomplish."
Guides & Brochures
For Faculty & Staff
Recreation & Wellness is a department in the Division of Student Affairs at Grand Valley State University.