The recent completion of the new Wellness Center is enabling the student-led organization to grow and serve more of the university community. This new location on the north side of the Hart Building, opened last month after a week-long open house and months of construction.
Services offered at the Wellness Center, which include nutrition, cholesterol checks, and the Fit4Life program, are available?to all employees and their spouses. If necessary, the Wellness Center is also?able to refer individuals to other areas?of campus for further assistance.
“We cover all aspects of wellness, not just apples and working out,” LeBlanc said. “When more people come in, we can refer them to other areas of campus like the Health Center, the Counseling Center, or even the Tutoring Center.”
This new space and holistic approach to health, along with the new location, is empowering the Wellness Center and its employees to reach their goals, enabling them to help individuals reach theirs.
“Our goal is to reach out to people across campus and help them feel comfortable in making positive changes in their life,” Taylor said. “We are all about an individual’s success.”
“This Wellness Center used to be a men’s locker room for faculty,” said Elizabeth LeBlanc, a student studying exercise physiology and the director of the Wellness Center. “The whole reason the university decided to create a larger space for the Wellness Center is because of the growing student population.”
According to Jacob Bullecer, a student also studying exercise physiology and?the media promotions and marketing manager for the Wellness Center, this new location has several improvements that make for an overall better experience.
“In comparison to our old center, this space is about three times as big,” Bullecer?said. “This space also allows for more privacy, we have rooms rather than just curtains separating our clients. The rooms are also larger and offer natural light, which is a real benefit for our clients. It gives them an increased sense of security and privacy, which is important to us.”
Another issue the old Wellness Center experienced was scheduling, according to Wellness Center Manager Derik Taylor.
“When we started this semester, we were scheduling appointments two to three weeks out, which wasn’t working for us or those we serve,” Taylor said. “We knew we had to reach people quickly, because many times it is someone who finally gets the courage to make a positive change in their life, and this new space allows us to get them in much quicker, most of the time only two days out.”
Because of the new location, the Wellness Center is not only able to serve its existing clients faster, but it’s also looking to expand its reach.
“These renovations have allowed our students to not only perform their current
Wellness Center roles, but it also allows them to have a growth mentality. We are seeking to reach more and do more because we have more,” said Leon Anderson, activities advisor to the Wellness Center.
The growth mentality Anderson mentioned is manifest in the renewed efforts to talk to students around campus. These include a weekly booth in the Manwaring Center, social media posts, and advertising throughout campus on posters and the Campus Video Network.
“We’re doing everything we can to get our name out there so people will recognize us and use the services we offer,” said Bullecer.
When it comes to serving employees of BYU-Idaho, the Wellness Center and its staff hope to engage more clients.
“We hope to be more engaged with the employees on campus,” Taylor said. “All of our services on campus are available to university employees and their spouses and we hope to reach them.”