Stories for the Future: Celebrating Wellbeing Strategies and Approaches

you know, as I was coming onto the campus today, you know, just um having that conversation with the territory, having that conversation with the lands here, just thinking of how grateful we are to work on this beautiful territory, on these beautiful lands, and just being really grateful to those that have come before us for taking care of these territories, for taking care of these lands. and you know how we come into these spaces being mindful of those that have yet to come. Also, as I was uh coming into into work today, I was thinking of a of a story of um I was in my home territory in Law. That's uh the background that I have here is in Law in Statium Territory. And I was visiting my family and one of my favorite things to do with my family is to, you know, we'll jump in our trucks and we'll go up the mountains and we'll drive around on the dirt roads and just, you know, kind of cruise around and collect medicines and offer the tobacco and let the ancestors know our intentions and how we're going to utilize that medicine. And, you know, when we're picking berries, just making sure that we're not taking too much and just taking what we need. and you know just being with family, being with ancestors, being on the land, being with community. And there's this one stop at the very top of the mountain where you can look down on the territories. And I remember just being at the top of the hill and looking down and just being in awe, just like in this emotional state of being in awe, just like looking at my at my reservation of 20 and a half homes. It's always been about 20 homes, but now it's like about 20 and a half right now. It It's funny. It's always been like that. And I was standing there just, you know, just feeling really good and looking at my reserve at my where I grew up and my mom came and stood beside me and she was like, "You know, we didn't always live here. Our people were nomadic like the bears." And I was like, "What do you mean, mom?" And she said, "Our people were nomadic like the bears. They would um they wouldn't stay in one place. You know, when it was hunting season, the community would pack up and they would move to the different territories to go hunting. And when it was fishing season, the community would pack up and they would move to the river. And when it was time for harvesting the medicines and for picking berries and whatnot and the vegetables, we would pack up and move to the different section. So, it really made me think of, you know, how our people were nomadic like the bears and how they would just up and go with the different seasons, with the different medicines, with the different foods and, you know, how they would move about. And it wasn't just on that that little reserve that was in my mind and in my heart at that time. And it really got me into thinking of that power, that beautiful power that comes with community. You know, I was just thinking like, how do you pack up? You know, I hate moving. You know, when you have to move to a new place and you just like packing up all the boxes and it's just like, oh man, what a pain in the butt. So, I was just thinking like, oh man, I hate moving. And then I just thought like, you know what? I'm just imagining in my in my in my head of how that would look. packing up a whole community where the elders, you know, they're not able to carry too much, but I imagine they would be helpful with, you know, kind of like hurting the children and taking care of them and, you know, just making sure that they stay with the family and maybe the other community members that are able to that they would carry some of the heavier things if they were able to. and those that were not. You know, it would be that equitable approach of doing what you can and, you know, lifting up that community member to acknowledge what they're able to do for that community and just imagining that community coming together and lifting lifting each other up and packing up camp and going on to the next place to go harvesting to go fishing and to go hunting. I'm a Statly and Chapetmuk woman and I understand well-being as a as community and being rooted in relationships with one another, with the land, and with our ancestors. These are my ancestors in the background here. I love this picture so much. You know, holistic approaches to wellness and well-being remind us that caring for community is inseparable from caring for ourselves. You know, it's about our communities. It's not about just ourselves. It's our communities in these spaces in these university spaces. This calls for a shift towards decolonizing strategies that break down silos and barriers and instead center connection. You know that connection that we have with our communities that connection that we have with our families, you know, their families that create that we create within these universities. Be mindful of reciprocity and shared responsibility. True well-being emerges when we create space for land-based learning and take time for the knowledge of elders and take time for the knowledge of matriarchs and take time to be on the land. These ways of knowing have sustained our community since time in memorial. And you know, you hear a lot about reconciliation and decolonization. that it's not only about acknowledging past harms, but restoring and uplifting the holistic practices that have long supported thriving and strong communities such as my communities that I talk about now. So, by moving together rather than by individuals, we build environments where everyone everyone can belong, everybody can heal and pack up pack up our camps and move as a community. So those are the words that I had on my mind this morning and I just wanted to share that as we're moving into this work and I appreciate you all sharing your time and sharing your space and it's just good to be here. Thank you Paula. >> Thank you so much Naomi. That was such a beautiful way to start this event for stories for the future by recognizing where we're coming from and uh building community towards flourishing. Um I wanted to just give a little bit of a shout out before I get started with my remarks the uh for uh Dr. B. Brigitty who from the center for educational excellence who put together this grant that made this event possible. And so thank you BC campus. Thank you B. Thank you all of the partners and organizers um at C um for for helping us get here. Um we're I'm just going to give you a little bit of a brief overview of the agenda and then I'll tell you a little bit about um why we're here. Um we're going to have uh a keynote by uh Dr. Matt D from UBC and then we're going to be going into some storytelling um to highlight some of the amazing work that's happened over the last decade since the beginnings of our work um around the implementation of the Okonogan charter. Um, and we're going to be hearing from Langera, SFU, and UBC. Then we're going to have a short break and then we're going to be going into the I think the really exciting work uh that we're going to be uh focused on today um about those future stories um and uh really giving everyone that's here an opportunity to create that and to really use our imagination um to think about what are the ways in which we need to um come together as a community and uh build that future that we all want to see. Um and then we're going to have the close after that. Um, and I just wanted to say that for myself, I I was thinking about my remarks earlier and about 20 years ago, I started writing this uh policy paper um that was used for the National Mental Health Commission. Um, and it was called Towards Flourishing for All. I had just finished grad school and um this is where my this is where my um brain was at that moment. towards flourishing for all. And 20 years later, I'm still here towards flourishing for all. Um, thinking about my role now at the university because I'm at that intersection between the um, equity and the well-being work where we've launched um, an SFU communitywide well-being plan. Um, and this work has just been really building on the incredible work that happened through our colleagues at the health promotion team um, over the last decade since the beginning um, when we were hosting and had the opportunity to to host and to develop the Okonagan charter along with our partners at UBC and many others who were present um, at that very special event that really launched us into this vision of we can't continue to do this work if are only focusing on individual behaviors or trying to change um the way that we're operating at maybe a department level without actually thinking about systems without thinking about how we are embedding these principles throughout our different programs, policies and practices. And I have to say that when I stop to reflect about that, I think the fact that we are doing this work as a community during these times because our universities are only, you know, and our colleges are only a microcosm of what's happening in the world. And if we think about what's happening in the world today, um you know, I think about the genocides, I think about the war, I think about the devastating climate impacts that are happening because of climate change. I think about um the increased um you know inequities and uh the unfortunate situation where we we are today around the breakdown of global cooperation as we have seen over the last you know months especially um it makes me think about our ancestors our educational ancestors and I'm thinking particularly in this moment of bell hooks and Paulo Frera are thinking that what we're doing I think that they might agree with me that we're actually involved in a revolutionary act with the work that we're doing of lifting well-being in our campuses and in our learning environments. And I say that not lightly. I say that because I think that what we are doing is revolutionary because we are doing it um because of love. We love um this work. We love our students. We love our community. And I think that that is such a powerful force right now that we need to hang on to as we build these um stories for the future and as we come together and find new ways to to continue this work given the constraints that we have right now in the post-secondary environment. Um I also want to say that um because this is all about well-being, I would really um love for you all to take care of yourselves in this um conversation. And that means that if you're wanting to engage and have your camera on, by all means do so if you need to have it off. Um, and also please would be wonderful if you could share your pronouns in your institution in your name um so that you can um also participate and we also can enjoy the conversations together. I think that's um all I have time for and it's 9:16 so I've over I'm over by one minute. Um, but I just wanted to encourage you all to listen to each other, to have respectful conversations that are generative and loving today. Um, and that, um, you know, we really set the tone for what this community can look like for the future together here. And, um, it is my pleasure to, um, please turn it over to Dr. Matt Dolph, who is the director of the office of well-being strategy at UBC. I'm sure that he's not a stranger to you all. And um Matt um has been really leading some very important work not only at UBC um which I think that you the office is called sort of like the backbone of the university around the well-being work and I love that concept um Matt because I think that you're um you're doing so much work um in terms of influencing and building networks and partnerships and Matt has done that not only in the Canadian context but he's been leading also um the international um uh network for healthpromoting universities and colleges and I think that Matt might share a little bit about that work. Um we had the pleasure of being together at a conference um around this topic in um June uh last year and um I was just really encouraged to see how um Matt's work has really been fostering more knowledge um exchange between institutions that has really led to some really incredible developments. So um I thought it would be wonderful to have Matt here talk a little bit about um what his uh vision is collectively of course with all the different partners um that he is working with at the international stage that might help um also set the tone for this conversation about what we are creating for the future. So over to Matt. >> Thanks Paula. Thanks everyone. It's so great to be here and to see all of you. Um, I'll just see if I can get my slides going and then jump into my my presentation. Um, yeah, it's such a pleasure to be here and to uh it's always such a privilege to talk about this important work about embedding well-being and health promotion in higher education and it's great to see all of you come together to be talking about that and inspiring each other, sharing stories about how to do this work. So I'll share some reflections on what I've learned in my time doing this work and um you know bringing thought leaders together, passionate people together that have been really generous about sharing knowledge and ideas across BC, Canada and across the globe. So um thank you Pala and Naomi for setting us up in a thoughtful way. Um I think that was really important grounding and I similarly wanted to acknowledge where I'm joining from today and that's on Muscuam Squamisho and Slaveat um traditional ancestral and unseated lands and living here I also feel a responsibility to learn about indigenous knowledge and reflect on our colonial ways of thinking and one of my learnings as Naomi talked about is the importance of thinking about connection to land and family in how we work and how we live. um which you know is often not what we do. We usually put our work identities first which reveals our priorities. So I thought I'd start this presentation by sharing a picture of my family. Um my name's Matt Dolph and I'm born to parents of Swiss, Scottish and English ancestry. And you see a picture here of my French Canadian wife and my 10-year-old daughter. And this picture is from Haidaguay where we went on vacation recently. And it was one of those moments where I really felt a sense of profound well-being. And the picture um on the right is us in front of a thousand-year-old Sa Spruce in probably the most pristine old growth for left in BC. And the one on the left is my daughter gasping because she's looking at the depth of moss which is about as thick as a mattress. And when you're in that space, it's almost like you don't hear any sound. it's just completely um unique in terms of uh being present in the space. So yeah, that was that was a moment where I felt well-being and I I like sharing this because people often ask how you define well-being and and there's a lot of disagreement about one, you know, one simple definition that defines it. There's many different um perspectives and and academic disciplines that look at this, but to me at a fundamental level, you know it when you feel it. And I feel it when I'm connected to people, to nature, to my senses, to my values, and having a sense of purpose. And so I try to think about that as I do my work and and live in this beautiful place. Um so then I thought I was thinking about this a couple days ago. Okay. So, what makes me think about well-being on my campus? And so, here's an example of a moment where I felt well-being. And that this is my um these are my two supervisors on the day of me defending my PhD dissertation at UBC uh a while ago. And it wasn't just the moment which was happy and celebratory, but it was actually a moment where I recognized that I'd been extremely well supported by my by Bob and Ganilla, my supervisors, and was lucky enough to have a really supportive and meaningful journey um with my faculty and at UBC. Not not all the time and to different degrees of course, but um you know, this was a moment where I felt no, I really was supported and did something important. So I know that all students don't feel that to this degree and that's part of our challenge is to think about how we can create those journeys to be as supported and positive as we can and I know many of you are are focused on that. So, I thought maybe we could just take a minute and think, try to reflect, put yourself in a a state of thinking. What is a time or a place where you felt well-being on your campus? I'm hoping everybody was able to come up with something or that's something that we can think about. Um, and I hope we can also share the goal that we should try to create these moments for all of our campus community members as often as possible on our beautiful campus lands and beyond. So in this talk I'll I'll share a few nuggets and ingredients that I hope will help us get there. But I'll be honest, it's a a long and complicated journey and none of us have it completely figured out. So the important of sharing our collective perspectives is um is critical to this journey. So, one of the reflections that's important to to look back on is um the healthy settings movement. And this goes back to the 1986 Ottawa charter. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this, but it was the uh seinal document that set out the blueprint for health promotion. Um, and uh, I'm seeing lots of comments come in around how where you feel well on campus, which is great. And so this document, it goes back to 1986. It was created by the World Health Organization and it set out the important statement, health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life where they learn, work, play, and love. And further, it's created by ensuring that everyone in society um is part of creating conditions that allow for attainment of health by all of its members. And the there's some important framing in there around prerequisites for health and strategies and five action areas. And you'll see that language show up in the Okonogan charter as well. the need for building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action for health, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services. I think that all still holds true and is very much how we try to frame this work in a holistic way. So, healthy settings um has been a a strong movement for decades. World Health Organizations and others support numerous um initiatives including healthy schools which focuses on K to2, healthy cities which has um hundreds of cities around the world that work together to think about this and then healthy universities and um since the conference that Pala was talking about that happened in Limmerch last summer in Ireland um World Health Organization has really engaged re-engaged strongly um in supporting healthy universities as a setting and um are now working in particular across um Middle East and Africa to provide capacities and resources to support um collective work in those areas and the easing with other um parts of the world where we've been working on this for decades. We sort of for decades have been doing this work and not really getting the visibility recognition and and now we're really seeing hundreds of universities across the world um working together to to sh advance this movement and um a metaphor that I can't seem to get away from sharing because people always love it. So, if any of you haven't seen it, hopefully it helps as a way to picture what we mean by taking a settings-based or as Paula also mentioned, a systemsbased approach to the work that we do on our campus. And this was shared by Dan Rice from Ubec. If the frogs in a pond started behaving strangely, our first reaction would not be to punish them or even treat them. Instinctively, we'd wonder what's going on in the pond. And so, you know, similarly, we seem to often take a kind of crisis focused uh reactionary approach to supporting individual health on our campuses with where we put our time and resources. And we really need to think about the pond and the setting and what else is going on around our campus community members um to cause some of the symptoms. And and so health promotion is all about saying we need to start thinking upstream. Think about what the settings, policies, built environments, campus master plans, the way we teach and learn other things that support student mental health and wellbeing among other things. So, if nothing else, feel free to use this slide and this metaphor. I know many of us use it and it really does seem to um engage with people because it's an easy way. We actually we're doing some um engagement work at UBC right now. We're re refreshing our um well-being strategic framework this year and talking to students. We created little frog stickers and we wanted to see if this metaphor would get them away from just talking about some of the sort of immediate wellness things that they tend to bring up and it really worked and they were ran out of frog stickers I think in the first day. They just loved that. So feel free to um use this one. So um how else are are campuses well positioned to become settings for health? Uh I find the frames of campuses as living labs and campuses of agents for change is really powerful frames and the sustainability um sustainable campuses network has been using this for decades. Um and it's very similar to the two calls of action in the Okonogan charter. But the idea of camps as living labs is we are uniquely set up to be places where we can promote health, well-being, sustainability, equity of our people and of our environments by leveraging our teaching, learning, research assets as well as our incredible built natural environments um in places that aren't going anywhere. We we you know have this incredible infrastructure that we can leverage and do teaching learning research and then be able to take that innovation and work with the community and share that out with the community for broader good in society and that's part of our mandate and that's where the agents of change piece comes in the ability to co-create transfer knowledge and in this space around health and wellbeing I find it's incredible how everybody's willing to just share freely we just we love getting together sharing our best practices and inspiring each other to do more of this work. So, I hope that's another uh outcome of today and of all your conversations that we can continue to find ways to um move this forward. And I guess I should do a shameless plug on the right. We recently, a number of us pulled together a book on healthpromoting universities where we have um about a dozen chapters of some thinkers that tried to summarize what this movement is all about, some history, some context, and some different perspectives. So, if you're interested in um having a look at this book, I think it'll it's a good way to dive a bit deeper. All right. And I just wanted to share UBC is an example of you know how unique of and large of a setting we are in terms of being influential in this apply. I know we're one of the bigger campuses but I think all of us can think about the fact that we have a huge student and employee population living on and off our campuses. We have in UBC's case over 500 buildings and you know over 1500 hectares of land amasium in Okonogan sealed nation land um and huge budgets and you know we're not going anywhere for a long time so that allows us a unique opportunity but also responsibility to think about what our role is in in the region and internationally in support being the campuses the living labs I was talking about um you know we're influencing transportation solutions for the region we're graduating tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of students every year that can go on to um bring their thinking forward into the world so we really are a unique opportunity to influence things on and off our campuses and although we you know our research has incredible transformation potential I don't think we've leveraged our operational areas much or the integration of the two and saying we can actually test and try things that we can then you know bring out as well and so a lot of people are doing some more research on this now so I guess I needed to to get into the Okonogan charter a little bit that was part of the frame and I I hope most of you are familiar with it I won't go through it in detail I'm trying to just pull out some of the nuggets and and pieces as I talk through this presentation but if you haven't read it I encourage enrage you to go read it. It's an easy read, very accessible read and a very powerful um frame that guides this work. It's been a guiding document for um over a decade now for universities across the world. We did a count recently where we talked to um countries that have formal health burning university networks and we came up with over 600 universities that are implementing the Okonogan charter in some formal way. There are 40 countries that have a national or regional network that brings university thinkers together around the Okonogan charter. Um, and this document was created by 85 institutions with support of the World Health Organization, the Panama Health Organization, UNESCO, and numerous other leading um, NGO and government groups. So, it's been rigorously vetted and I think what a strength of it is is that it actually ended up being boiled down to a pretty simple set of um calls to action and principles. Um I think its vision is is strong is that health promoting universities and colleges transform the health and sustainability of our current and future societies, strengthen communities, contribute to well-being of people, places and planet. And the two calls to action are about embedding health and well-being on our campuses throughout and then leading um action beyond our campus boundaries in collaboration. So it is helpful I find in all of our work uh to try to synthesize our thinking and our calls to action into um you know a simple document that builds shared understanding and shared language. Uh so that and so you know on our campuses as well having a simple um strategic plan or framework or one pager around our commitments or approach and socializing that as much as possible I find really helps bring everybody together. Um 10 years later which was last summer we had uh the conference in Limmerch Ireland that created the Limrich framework for action. It doesn't replace the Okonogan charter. it builds on the Okonogan charter. Um, and we chose not to use the word charter carefully because it was felt that that the core content of the Okonogan charter still holds true, but there were some 2025 context pieces that everybody felt um could be strengthened around how we could do an increased call to action for campuses. And so it's a longer document, but it's a bit more maybe a bit more focused on practitioners um and gives some really nice language and examples of implementation areas. They have 10 calls to action that are built out a little bit further. Um add some areas of emphasis that maybe could have been strengthened in the Okonogan charter like the need to um leverage student voice and engagement. Um it has strong language around the connection to um planet and sustainability and equity as well as um indigenous perspectives and rights um and recognizes how you know fast changing this world is. So both of these documents are complimentary and I encourage you to go have a look at both of them and think about how they can resonate and inform your work. It was also developed through an 18-month process involving um hundreds of universities and countries. And I think that's actually the strength. You you come out with these lovely documents, but really the power is in creating spaces for this conversation to happen. We were lucky to have a number of faculty members and a PhD student lead the process. So they were really thoughtful about creating a strong methodology and engagement process and thinking about how we balance different voices and global perspectives and creating conversations to advance it because there there really isn't one sizefits-all solution for all our respective campuses big and small and different parts of the world. So um again a lot of this is just creating this these networks of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Um I also wanted to mention the importance of um thinking about the global agendas and that's what the Okanogan charter and limmerick framework for action do. They remind us that when we talk about healthy people, healthy place, healthy planet and the importance of equity, we need to think about how they support sustainable development goals and other global agendas and recognize that these are intersectional intersectoral areas of work. You can't really think of these separately. And that's maybe one of the challenges with sustainable development goals. They really shouldn't be thought of as separate. Really, you can't tackle any of them without thinking about health, sustainability, equity, um, and climate change. So, I think that's an opportunity for CAPS as well is to think about how we bring these different groups of people working on similar things but under different areas or different mandates and think about being more intersectional with this work. So, I thought I'd give an example of um some of the areas that you how UBC's implemented um this work. Over 10 years ago, we created UBC well-being as our universitywide collaborative um effort to to work towards being a health and well-being promoting institution. And we also put at the center of that frame the importance of people, places, and communities flourishing. So we recently celebrated 10 years of doing this work and um had a grad student, a former student create this lovely art piece that celebrated that sort of garden that flourished after having all these conversations and doing this work and um you know showing that it takes many things to create these conditions of growth from the charter to universitywide initiatives in mental health and physical activity um affordability and food security to workplace well-being policies you name it and I also really like the sort of windmills and flowers that talk to what I was just just saying around thinking carefully about other enabling structures like sustainability equity indigenity um and thinking to being you know places of care collaboration and having shared values and doing this work so I think a reflection here is that you really hard to create a 10-point action plan to do this effectively I think you really just need to create conversations, bring different perspectives together, hopefully mobilize a movement, and then looking back, you'll see incredible things you didn't anticipate flourish, just like a garden. So, it really um uh I think that's what I continue to learn. You never know what conversation will spark an incredible initiative somewhere in our campus led by a student, faculty, or staff member. That's hard to predict. So we're, you know, it is messy work and that is partly because we're trying to break down silos and create collaboration across our different units and different groups and that's really really hard to do especially maybe even harder in bigger organizations like UBC that are so large and complex. Um our Okonogan campus which is a lot smaller sometimes seems to be a lot more nimble in how they all get together for coffee and and move things forward. Um the other thing that we did at UBC was was to try to embed well-being into the university system. So it's embedded in the university strategic plan um as a priority and it and it is we're constantly trying to think how do we you know elevate the pillars of the mandate of the university of research excellence um teaching and learning workplace well-being um community engagement. It's not about, you know, one discrete area of health services for students, which is where a lot of campuses start. And that's of course a key ingredient to this work. But really, this is about shifting our our whole system, our policies, thinking about staff, student, faculty, and the broader community. And so that means you need to find some mechanisms and structures that that can connect across the system. Um it's been wonderful in the last couple years to see a lot more leadership coming out of our faculties. They're building it into their strategic plans and uh you're also seeing faculties work with each other across the country. Faculty medicine's been a great example where they made a five-year commitment to promote um health and well-being in all faculties of medicine. And they do it at the level of the senior dean's office where it's now a requirement embedded into all their planning and reporting processes for the whole faculty. And their main um emphasis has been shifting from the culture of of um well-being of faculties. They recognize how burnt out and stressed a lot of the the faculty were especially coming out of COVID. So it sounds nice and easy, but as Paula said, it's uh actually really uh transformative and visionary and hard to do if we're honest. So you find those opportunities where you can't embed in the system. Um I'm going to skip ahead a little bit. I'll share a couple other nuggets before um we're out of time here. One is the multisolving flower. I love this tool as a resource to think about different frames when we tackle any project. This comes from the multis-olving um um organization that focus on system change. And it's a very simple exercise. You come up with your project or initiative and then you just think how are we also advancing climate action, advancing student employee experience, advancing equity, inclusion, health and well-being, whatever your pedals are that you think need to be incorporated. Come up with at least one way to do that and then you get into this multiselving mindset which brings people together and brings it's often more integrated um way of tackling initiatives. So, this is a resource we often use when we're building plans and initiatives. Um, and I thought I'd share a concrete example of why this is important. This is an image that was taken, excuse me, from the doorstep of our Okonogan campus when a couple of summers ago we had wildfires come right up to the doorstep and threatened to burn the campus in the city of Colona down. And so you really can't say well this is a you know sustainability office is in charge of these things. Obviously not this affects everything. It affects the existence of the university. So when um uh you know you're we need to think about about the impact on our community on their health on you know long-term solutions. Um, and sorry, I think my slides got out of Yeah, there we go. This is what I wanted to come to. And also think about a new way of of tackling these things. When you see an image like that, certainly I get a reaction of doom and gloom and fear. I mean, it's scary to see those images and also not terribly empowering. So I really uh like to reframe how we go about some of these you know major areas of work into a strength-based approach rather than focusing on just taking in needs and deficits and problem frame um you know like global warming or you know mental health crisis. Could we instead try to engage our community in a way that's strength-based and um what we call solutenic or regenerative thinking about net positive change to achieve those and so rather than so you know we've done that around mental health I think quite successfully and saying this is about promoting mental health for everyone not just students in distress and that's a much broader frame more ambitious frame um same with climate and that's why I was going to get to this slide which I thought was just a fabulous example of getting students, faculty, and staff to work together in a positive frame. We fund um 11 different departments to do climate and well-being education grants for students and faculty, come up with ways to not only learn about health and climate, but also think about how they do this in their pedagogy, how they can um talk about these things in a way that that brings a positive action focused frame. So, this is a neat initiative that's in the second pilot year. um engages 3,500 students every year now and um feel free to connect with the folks doing this work. They're really being thoughtful about the the content and pedagogy for this work. Okay, I'm coming up on the end here. Um a couple other quick examples. We seem to it's also very ambitious but um I don't know somehow we we use the net positive frame more often at UBC with our buildings and our spaces. So this is an example of our green building action plan where we're trying to build net positive buildings um and think about health and well-being in their design. So a challenge for us would be can we do this for people as well? Could we try to think about designing campus systems environments where our people are happier and healthier than when they arrived when they leave and and throughout their lives? That would be a wonderful aspirational goal I think. And to give one more example, um this was shared to me by some of my colleagues in human resources. They are doing an amazing job at integrating this into the systems and processes across the university. So the healthy workplace workplace well-being team um embeds health and well-being in so many different aspects of our of human resources and our workplaces supports and tools. So we have it in our onboarding orientations. We have it in um coaching programs in our leadership training programs. We have traveling health fairs in partnership with faculty. Uh we have a required mental health training for all managers at UBC. Increasingly, we're doing more around recognition and um uh recognition events for staff and faculty, but mainly it's around just having people begin to kind of connect the dots of work they're all doing separately and go all of us are actually trying to achieve the same thing and we can we can work more effectively together around this. So, I thought this was another neat example to share. And then lastly, one that we're excited that we just launched as a pilot um is our well-being fellows program. And this is to support faculty members at UBC to lead well-being projects that can build healthier classrooms and academic workplaces across UBC. So it's a a grant program where we give $20,000 for two years for up to five projects to support a faculty member to lead this work. And it's fairly blank canvas. have some recommended themes, but it's really around come supporting faculty to think of some ideas that they can bring forward and work as a cohort over a couple years to drive change. So, I'm really excited to continue to think about more opportunities for faculty to take leadership and and support this work. So, I'll end there. Um, we were just a couple months ago, we pulled together a five-year look back of some of the work that we've done at UBC to promote health and well-being and implement our well-being strategic framework. So, if you'd like to go and have a look, there's some wonderful stories and examples. Um, you know, proud of all of the work that many people across UBC have done. My small backbone team really works to connect, coordinate, storytell, and engage. Um but it's it's many people in many parts of the university that work together and there's obviously still a long long way to go but I think you know that what we're really doing is building an internal conversation and movement around this and um I'll end there. This is actually I was going to tell a little story which I'll I can save for another time but this is um my time living in Kmandu Nepal where my father worked on bridge building projects and he would continually tell me how what was powerful for him was not imposing solutions but working with the communities to have them come up with their own solutions and design decide where a bridge was actually needed and what purpose it would serve and give them the tools and resources to do that. And so, um, I think last year he was excited to say they've now built 10,000 of these bridges across the country and they've really transformed the way the country works. And so, that was my my final call to to all of us is to think about the bridges that we can build within our campuses and then between our campuses and some of the conversations that we can have and ways we can share our ideas. So, I will stop there and see if there's any other questions or comments. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Matt. Um it's incredible to see the the depth and the breadth of the work um that you are leading at UBC along as you say with many other teams, colleagues and champions. Um I think both at the UBC level, at the national level, and of course internationally. Um so thank you so much for for being so generous and sharing um that work. I think that I have benefited myself personally from many conversations with Matt as we are shaping our SFU community. well-being plan and and just to learn and be inspired by by so much of the work that you've done. So, I wanted to give um folks here today uh we have about 10 minutes. Matt, are you okay to stay for 10 minutes to just do a little quick Q&A? Is that okay? >> Great. So, we'll just open it up for folks >> um and uh any questions that you may have for Matt at this point or comments, please. and you can just raise your virtual hand. Okay, I see um is it Carolyn Brooks from UBC? >> It's Carolyn actually. >> Carolyn. Okay, >> no worries. Thank you. Um Matt, um it's great to read about this, but I was a wellness ambassador for um the workplace wellness ambassadors program and uh I just found that um there's a lot of red tape. And um the second thing that I found kind of difficult about it was that um you know I mean a lot of red tape for a program that the pro that what we decided to do was yoga classes and so you know it's hiring someone from UBC to come to UBC you know what I mean so it just seems like quite a lot and the second thing that was really um you know that I found was a big issue about it was that um they expected the department to um eventually step up and do you know the funding for this and that wasn't going to happen. So, you know, so so just that kind of thing that you put a lot of time into it and then it dwindles away and so you don't really build anything like the first year you can fund it for most of the year, the second year you can fund it for half the year and the third year it's like well enjoy that moment of wellness that you had, right? Uh yes that is that is a challenge you know in big complicated places and I actually find sometimes our wins when we have them are are it's not even an incredible idea it's just when you get the right mix of people ideas capacity break down a couple silos and then you have a process way where you go oh okay we found a way to partner and do something together that has some some legs and some energy and momentum. So, uh, you know, we you do throw lots of things at the wall and see what sticks. But I, you know, that's to me going back to the strengthbased piece. We often will focus on where is their energy, where are their champions, where can a little bit of capacity unlock some work that is really powerful between some partners. Um, you know, funny enough, I actually find we're, I think, all experiencing more resource constrained times right now in our institutions financially, and those are sometimes the best times for collaboration because we try to do more with less and and get into mode of trying to find those ways of working together. So, um, yeah, I don't have an, you know, a solution for you other than that's an ongoing challenge that we all experience. I guess my question is just how can we reduce the red tape to make this more sustainable for the people who do want to do it. >> Yeah. >> And anybody who has an answer for that can can chime in. Julie, I see you have your hand up. >> I did not raise my hand to answer it. >> Okay. >> I just want to be clear. I mean, I wish I had an answer. Um, I was just thinking um, a lot as you were speaking about the the most direct um, wellness I think work well-being uh, work that I do right now is with graduate students. Um, and uh, we do a semesterly uh, writing retreat for graduate students which sounds fancier than it is. We don't go anywhere but um, it's it's still pretty fancy. And um one of I I've also been recently reading um Babel and a lot of like RF Quang's work which is I don't know if people are familiar but she talks she writes so much in those books about like grad school as suffering um and suffering as rigor um and and I just find that that that's also a piece that we need to work through is just the association that to be academic is to be rigorous is to suffer is to be unwell. Well, um I find her work really speaks to it in in quite a powerful way consistently cuz so clearly she had not a great grad school experience. But um often when I work with graduate students I we are first starting at trying to say it's okay to care about this um and it's okay for us to make space for it and and we're met often with quite a bit of resistance or or suspicion. Um, so I don't know if that's a question, but just also I think a piece of that sustainability that Krillin was pointing out is like how do we even just dispel the sense that like to care about well-being is to somehow be unacademic. >> It's not a question, just saying. >> Yeah. No, I I would agree. I mean, it's just foundational to everything that we do. And I we actually recently were really lucky to have um Clara Hughes, the former um multi-al Olympian, come and talk about her experiences of high performance and mental health and how, you know, those things aren't separate. You you can achieve high performance and do things that are really hard um and see stress as a and resilience as something that you can, you know, train and build up and it's not just about making things easy. And so that was really great to have her talk about some of the skills and strategies that she's used. And I've I've seen some I remember as faculty law I think we've had some deans that really tried to help reframe that conversation and say this is about um you know achieving excellence and doing hard work but supporting each other to do that with the right tools and resources. Um so yeah I think even a few words like that to shift frame shift the frame and the way we talk about these things can have a really important impact. Um, any other comments or questions in the last few minutes that we have with Matt here? >> I think it's Katherine. >> Katherine. >> Um, just just briefly just a huge congratulations. Um I think um sometimes we have these conversations as as faculty and and sort of trying to um work and try to meet the needs of our students and um work with each other and um the uh heroic effort that staff have made um at both campuses and across um in in the university's communities trying to come together and do this work. Um, and I I just would make the plea that we connect more closely and I'd love to see these initiatives um having faculty and staff work more closely together, but I would love to desenter the privileging of faculty and make sure that staff are on equal ground when it comes to good ideas and good energies because they really are building the foundation upon which we can all stand. Um, and faculty are pretty siloed. Um, even though we we talk a good game about collaboration, I would really love us to take more of that leadership and and work together in a in a good, clear, honest way. So, congratulations on the work so far. And here's to more. >> Thank you, Katherine. I'm seeing some of my other staff colleagues jump in the comments and add some thoughts. And, um, it's great that they're all here, too, because there's some wonderful resources to tap into. It's really not just me. There are so many incredible people working across um our students portfolio, our human resources, our campus planning, many faculties. This really is about getting those voices and ideas from staff, students and faculty across our institutions. >> Yeah. And I also wanted to add that um I think the example of UBC if you just go back to the moment like 10 11 years now with the Okonogan charter there was a real commitment at UBC um to actually resource this work and I think that that's really key to a lot of you know what we see flourishing today. Um, and you know, in some places it it's it's been less uh less so that and I think that um it really does show in terms of the I guess like what I said earlier about the breadth and the depth of the work that UBC has been able to lead. I also just want to recognize that um a lot of um other campuses um had had really been focusing on the student side, you know, like really understanding that in order to to, you know, support student um mental health and well-being, there needed to be a range of services and supports. And I think what we're doing now is shifting uh at least at um at SFU in terms of thinking like we actually cannot support students if we're not supporting staff and faculty. And so for us here at the university there is a shift to move towards that and um and that you know brings a lot of challenges and red tape but I think also um what we're seeing is that there's also a commitment um understanding now that SFU has um put this well-being plan in our academic plan and that for us it's a it's like it's might seem like a really small baby step um but I think that um it's really aimed to to ensure that we are you you know, valuing this work, as Julia was saying, like we have to actually value it and make a commitment towards it because it's not going to be one office or one person. It really does take the the collective efforts um across our university. Uh I think we might have two minutes just to wrap up. Matt, if there's anything that you would like to wrap up with. >> I think No, I'm good. It's been great to hear some of the ideas and to see all of you here. I mean, what a great collective resource to tap into. So, I'm hoping that there's other ways to sort of keep engaged and hear what comes out of your conversations. And please reach out anytime if you're um wanting to follow up on things or I can help you find people that are doing work in on different projects that might be interesting for you at UBC um or at other campuses. So, reach out anytime. Yeah, it's been great. Thank you for the opportunity. >> Really appreciate you being here and thank you everybody for um participating. I think that um we are going to move towards the second or third portion. Um and I it's my honor to uh introduce uh Dr. James Martin from Langera. And uh James, I'm I'm passing the torch over to you so that you can lead and uh set up this next part of the the morning. Thanks for being here. >> Thank you. Thanks to to Paula and to Naomi and to Matt for uh setting us off on a great direction with the the work today. And I wanted to especially thank uh Bee for reaching out in the first place and contacting myself and Zoe from UBC and coming up with this idea to get together to talk about well-being. I've known be for quite some time and uh something that goes back is she is intensely she cares for the students and cares from the students from a holistic viewpoint not just from the classroom perspective and what she can teach and offer but how she can support different uh initiatives and so I really appreciated Matt bringing up the multi-solving p uh flower there that's a great sort of visual metaphor for this way of thinking about uh well-being not just for the students but for all of us in this project together at universities and colleges. Special thanks go out to BC campus as one of those spaces that can bring us together. Um it's just an amazing organization where we actually get the time to and the funding sometimes too to uh put these events on and bring people together to have these conversations and we should be having those these conversations. So, uh, at Langanger, we're very aware that a lot of our students go on to SFU and UBC for their further university careers, and yet we don't often think, well, how do we reach out to SFU? How do we reach out to colleagues at UBC and figure out what's going on besides the normal channels, articulation committees, and things like that for faculty? So, it's great that we're having these conversations. I also want to thank all of my colleagues from Langanger who I see here and I really uh see that there's a lot of broad representation from across the college here. It's not just faculty who are here attending. I see colleagues from people and culture. I see colleagues from indigenous education. I see colleagues from mental health initiatives here. So it's it's great to see everyone here and uh I want to thank all the speakers. We're going to share some stories. Part of the idea for this event was really we'll tell you a little problem at Langareth. The problem is that people are siloed. We always say, "Oh, we're always so siloed. We always get our heads down in our own little corner of the college." And we're much smaller than SFU and UBC. And it's so easy not to reach out and see what's going on in other units. And so, it's always encouraging for me. I feel a sense of well-being when I actually reach out across and I reach out to someone at a different department or a different staff unit and talk about an issue or problem and I see the same care that motivates me in my work for the students and their well-being is also there in everyone else's work. So it's it's always sort of that uh reassuring moment that you're you're hearing from people across the college actually what's motivating them to is not just what's best for their unit or their initiatives or their their budget and their bottom line. It's really the sense of what's best for the students and how do we provide that sort of holistic support and care for the students in our in our work as educators. So I wanted to thank all of the storytellers who are going to uh uh share their stories. This is the great way to hear. This is part of the problem when you think about that silization. You get so busy with your own work that you don't hear the stories out there. People are doing great things across the the university or the college and you don't really get to hear the stories. So we've asked identified several sort of our champions of well-being to to tell us stories from sort of their specific areas. And often what's interesting for me is not just sort of the the framework and and reference for it that those are uh interesting and great principles to have but also to hear the practical details of how it works out in reality and can can can we hear a little bit about that how these initiatives are going and what are the success stories there what worked what didn't work what do you want to take forward uh to continue the work so I just wanted to give quick introductions and I hope I get everyone's names correctly we have Vicky Vogle from Langanger representing the Langera student success course. We have Aaron Wilkins from Langera. Also representing the department of recreation management. We have Kevin Lamb from SFU representing department of biological sciences. Anna Christina Arnold representing the department of biomed physiology and kinesiology. Uh Gail Hammond representing food nutrition and health from UBC. and Katherine Gretzinger representing school of journalism, writing and media from UBC. So we always like to hear those stories from the individual areas and share the uh what's going on. And so I welcome my colleague Sarah who is going to be doing some of the facilitation making sure everyone stays on time. We've asked speakers to stick to a strict five minutes and just have a few slides and so I'll pass it over to Sarah. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much, James. And I just echo all your thanks and and just a real appreciation too for our s storytellers to come forward. Um we are, as James mentioned, we just want to make sure that we have time for all of our story sharers. So, uh I have the ownorous task today, maybe the hardest task, um of sometimes just popping in and giving a gentle reminder that time has come to an end. So, I'll just be popping in. Uh but right now I would love to turn it over to Vicky Vogle uh an instructor at Langera who's going to be talking about the Langera student success course. Vicki I turn it over to you. Thank you very much Sarah and thank you for everyone um in setting a great space for us today. And I'm just going to launch right in uh because I have five minutes. Um, so my name is Vicki Vojel and I'm an instructor with the LSSC or Langanger Student Success Course. Um, and if we can move to the next slide, I just want to give you some context on what is the LSSC. Um, we're a holistic training miniourse uh for students transitioning to post-secary education. And at Langanger, we have many students who transition directly from high school, be it locally or abroad. But we also have many students who have taken a gap year who have many years of work experience and they're transitioning into a new culture, the academic culture at Langanger. We also know that many of our students are first generation in Canada. Many are also first generation in their family to attend postsecary education. So these students face additional challenges because they're navigating this new landscape without supports like students have who have siblings or parents who have attended college or university in Canada. So what exactly is the LSSC? Well, we're an academic foundations miniourse. We're delivered online asynchronous. There are nine modules and it's free for all students at Langera College and it takes about 5 to 7 hours to complete. Um and in the LSSC we intentionally incorporate principles of UDL and accessibility into our course design. So at in the LSSC we identify four plus pillars. Um the first one is well-being which I'm going to talk about a little bit more in detail in the next slide. The other pillar is our strategies for postsecary education, academic skills and academic student and support services. And then our plus is our peer-to-peer engagement. And this idea of peer-to-peer support, we have a leadership program that's connected to the LSSC. And the idea is that our peers hold online drop-in session and they host pop-up tables around the campus to provide not only information about the LSSC, but maybe more importantly to create that welcoming environment, that sense of community that Naomi talked a little bit about where students can come and ask questions and they can share and learn from lived experience of other students because we know that that having that sense of belonging, reducing a sense of isolation uh is an important part of well-being and we know that well-being and we've heard this from other speakers is a real cornerstone for pe students to be able to actually focus on their studies and what they came to the institution for. So if we can move to this next slide um I want to talk a little bit about one of those pillars of well-being and I'm going to focus on resilience uh that we have in the LSSC. So you'll notice that little icon of the three trees next to resilience. And this icon is interwoven throughout the course. Every time there's something in the course on another topic where students can reflect on resilience and bring their experience or what they would do that's kind of there as a little reminder. So they're building that skill. They're kind of building that muscle throughout the course. Um so in the module we start with if you look at the photo there's um Nikko who's our elder at Langera and Nikko created a short video for us introducing her indigenous perspective of resilience and having this is fundamental not only in bringing that indigenous voice into the LSSC uh but also it broadens students perspective of what resilience can look like. Um next week provide a definition of resilience and then if you look on that right hand column um we introduce some characteristics of resilience people and the idea behind this is to get students to begin to recognize and identify some strategies and characteristics that they maybe have or use. So to think about what they already do uh and what they can build upon to develop resilience. Then if you notice that little icon um that says social engagement, self-awareness and self-care, attention and focus. And these are kind of four categories and they we dive deeper into them each of them into the course where students can begin to think about how can I build that muscle of resilience? How can I build my networks and things that I can do to develop a more resilient and maybe a little bit of a growth mindset when it comes to resilience and facing challenges. The next slide I want to just get back to very quickly and again this is how we incorporate that peer-to-peer support which is an important part of the LSSC and we do that if you look at that preparing for academic success. These are stories that we call student voices that we have had our leaders share their lived experience. And in this particular module, we have three stories by three different student leaders related to resilience. Uh one related to struggling in a course, another failing an exam and another dealing with a very challenging family situation. And in order to enhance that learning and make sure there's active listening, um if you look at the right hand side, we have the situation analysis. So we've created an activity where students they listen to the video they identify the situation the problem the actions that the students took and the results achieved. So this model helps students the idea is then they have tools that they can work through their own challenging situations. So where are we going from here? We're launching a peer coaching program this summer. uh and we all continuously work with our leaders for sources of course revisions and just opportunities of how we can reach students better and really help that develop that sense of well-being to empower students so they they know what they can do to kind of help themselves develop agency and where they can go if they need a little help. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for getting so much in in such a short amount of time. really >> thank you >> those beautiful specific examples of bringing belonging and and building resilience in students. Uh just so everyone knows as well we're just going to work our way through the story sharers and then there'll be a little bit of time at the end for a Q&A that you can direct to each of the individuals. Uh so with that I want to now turn it over to Aaron Wilkins also from Langangera uh and Dr. Erin Wilkins is from the department of recreational management. Erin I turn it over to you. Thank you. Um yeah I teach at Langera in the recreation studies department um as well as the school of management. Um, and I'm joining you today from Kitalano, the Co Salish territory. And every day I am grateful to live and work and play and and love on this beautiful, beautiful land. Um, in alignment with today's topic, um, I I just wanted to share with you some work that I'm doing um, around wellness and well-being. Um, I teach a personal, organizational, and community wellness course um, in the recreation studies department, but I also try to weave aspects of well-being into all of my courses. Um, I also recently completed a a PhD at UIC, um, where my dissertation was focused on post-secary wellness, um, specifically designing and implementing employee wellness frameworks. So, this has been sort of my my realm for quite a while now. Um and to well today I'd like to to share how I intentionally create wellness and well-being in the classroom um through a global collaborative learning project um called COIL virtual exchange. Um if you're not familiar with coil it stands for collaborative online international learning and it connects students from different institutions in different countries um to learn together through shared projects uh in the online environment. Um so for the past 5 years I have uh partnered with the technological university of Dublin in Ireland um and students from their community development and youthwork program. Uh they collaborate um with students in the rec studies program to examine global social issues. Um so students meet virtually through Zoom throughout the semester. Um and they complete a number of synchronous and asynchronous discussions um collaborative digital assignments and presentations. and they examine uh shared global challenges such as housing insecurities, addiction, social inclusion, health inequities um and comparing how these issues appear in their local communities and appear on the the global stage. So rather than learning about these issues in isolation, students engage directly with peers in other countries and and co-construct knowledge through through dialogue and reflection. Um, and what I've found is incorporating coil projects into my online classroom, it doesn't only enhance the learning outcomes, but it significantly um contributes to student well-being because it creates connection um and a sense of purpose in and out of the classroom. Um, and on a side note, I've been writing a chapter on this um or a textbook um that that aligns coil with the Okonogan charter and with the sustainable development goals. So was excited to hear a little bit more about that today. Um, next slide please. Um, so one of the most powerful outcomes of coil is how it supports well-being and belonging. Um, so students often report that connecting with their peers internationally creates a sense of community and shared purpose. And rather than feeling isolated in an online classroom, they become part of a a global learning community. Uh the collaboration encourages empathy and curiosity, open dialogue, all of which support the students social and emotional well-being. Um so research from the students um the reflections from the project shows how how they they move from passive learners to active participants in global conversations about community well-being and social justice. So the coil projects support multiple um dimensions of wellness for students. So their intellectual wellness is strengthened as as they analyze global social issues and connect theory to real world contexts. Um and their social wellness grows through meaningful um relationships with international peers and helping them feel connected to a a broader community. Um their emotional wellness develops uh as they practice empathy and respectful dialogue across cultures. um occupational wellness grows um and is supported because they're learning practical skills that they'll need in their careers such as collaboration and inter intercultural communication and digital teamwork. Um and financial wellness is supported by facilitating an opportunity for students to have uh international learning experiences without the cost of a physical exchange. So overall um COIL provides a a holistic sort of learning environment um where students develop academically um professionally and personally. Um last slide please. Um so yes coil um the coil classroom fosters well-being um through all those strategies that I sort of just went through but um you know that connection the purposeful learning and reflection these experiences can all happen in the classroom through designing meaningful environments where well-being is embedded into learning experience itself. So ultimately when students feel connected and valued and engaged in meaningful work their learning and well-being grow together. So creating these experiences in all of my classrooms is where I'm going to focus my work moving forward. Um and outside the classroom, I'm going to continue to seek out opportunities to um to share knowledge and to engage and support others to make well-being a priority in their classrooms as well. Thank you. I look forward to hearing the rest of the presentations. >> Thank you, Erin, so much. and thank you for for dropping us into the classroom and just really highlighting those really specific ways that that well-being can augment learning in such productive ways. Thank you. Uh we're now going to turn it over to Kevin Lamb uh who is one of my wonderful colleagues here at SFU who uh has been involved with the well-being initiatives here for many many years. Kevin is a senior lecturer in the department of biological sciences and is going to be speaking to his fiveinut things to do before class uh to improve student well-being. Kevin, I turn it over to you. >> Thanks, Sarah. Uh Vicki and Aaron, those projects sound amazing and are super ambitious. I'm going to be on the other end of doing things that are very simple and approachable for regular people like myself. But anyway, so hi, I'm Kevin. Yes, I'm a I've been a biology lecturer since 2012. Uh I tend to teach very large just for context uh very large first and second year courses with about 2 to 400 students, sometimes up to 500, but I also do have time with students in smaller groups and labs in smaller courses as well. So I can kind of stay connected with students to see where they are at uh emotionally and physically and so forth. Um just to tell the story from the beginning like during the first six or seven years in this role, my my main goal was just to be as kind and effective a teacher as I could be. So, I kind of designed the best lesson lessons that I could and also made efforts to be as open and approachable as possible from learning student names to meeting with them one-on-one to discuss their goals and stresses during week one to even sharing my cell phone number to make it clear that I really want them to connect with me when they need anything, which may sound a little crazy to some of you who teach large courses, but I only got maybe like one or two calls or texts a week at most, even for classes with like 400 students in the very first semester at SFU. Um, I did this because I was aware that students can get stressed and I wanted to be there for them. But, um, in terms of my my students well-being was something I kind of addressed whenever it came up because I assumed that I made myself approachable enough that they would feel comfortable asking for help if they needed it. Um, but then next slide, please. Um, early in my first study leave back in 2018, I attended a BC campus festival of learning when I was in Vancouver and I saw some of this data from a 2016 survey and I realized how many students were actually suffering from stress and anxiety and depression and self harm and all those kinds of things as well. And I realized that a lot of them weren't seeking help soon or often enough like that one or two calls a week is not is not covering all the huge numbers of students who are suffering in my classrooms. And this data has gotten worse with every subsequent survey. So it it became clear to me that I need to try to get do something proactive in my classroom to reach out to all of those who might need help and also to help others in my same position to do something proactive as well. But I think a lot of my teaching colleagues have the same problem that I had which is my lectures are already planned and polished and completely packed full to the second. So I didn't feel like I could carve out enough time to do anything that would make a real difference. Uh, so I thought about it since I had the room in my brain during study leave to actually think about it and thought maybe I could squeeze out something that I could do in the 3 to 5 minutes before a class starts because if I can do that consistently with every class, then maybe with myself and anyone else who's interested, we could then share little activities and lessons and tips before every class and by the end of the semester would add up to something significant. Um, so I I redirected a chunk of my study leave and designed about 40 to 41 of these 5 minute well-being activities so that I have enough for a 13week course with three lectures a week. So generally these are single slides that need little to no explanation. And for these slides that need some sort of intro to it, um, I would basically script it out in the notes box so that an instructor who took my slides can just put it up, read off the bottom and the students would kind of understand what they're supposed to get from that slide. Uh this way anybody could deploy these activities with pretty much zero prep and not having to change their very well planned lectures. So to give you a few examples um here um so I tried to time these lessons for particular times of the semester. For example, the first one on the top left I tried to have students add up their committed hours for the week so that they can detect if they're overcommitted before it's too late to drop those courses or drop some courses to balance things. Uh, in week two, once students have kind of figured out what the courses are about, I kind of teach them how to make a study schedule and how to set up a weekly routine that has room for this studying. And then as midterms actually approach, I might encourage them to have a ch a friend change their streaming and social media passwords to remove these huge distractions from their life so they could focus. Um, I also tried to create opportunities for social connections. So, I had a lot of discussion prompts early in the semester and throughout the semester as they might start to selfisolate out of shame of falling behind in the class and so forth. Um, I also had them kind of stand up and physically join together to form study groups a couple weeks before the first midterm. Um, I also tried to include the data that kind of support these ideas along the way. So, uh, I'll provide some graphs showing the evidence that if you write about your stress exam stress 10 minutes before the exam, uh, it helps to increase your exam performance or also evidence that uh, if you talk on the phone with a friend or family member, it releases as much comforting oxytocin as getting a hug from them. But it doesn't work if you're just DMing back and forth. Um, and I also tried really hard to make students feel less alone. So sharing my own failures, my own struggles when I was in undergrad. So for example, in week three, I'd share that at this point in the semester, my whole study plan would have fallen apart. And I did this just so they get rid of that shame of falling behind and they can seek advice for, okay, what can I do with a day of studying because that's all I have left. So, in terms of next steps, I mean, I've shared these slides with others, uh, and they've tried them in their classroom and and students, um, have in their class have responded and said that this was helpful and they they felt like they were cared for and seen and that we cared about their well-being. Uh, something I'd really love to do, and I tried a couple times to do, I failed, is to try to create a website where people could upload their own five-minute ideas, so that we can just build this this ever growing database of new slides and new ideas and new discussion topics, you know, that are a little more upto-date than what I wrote several years ago. um so that all of us can kind of share and do this. Uh if anybody knows how to do this, I'm thinking Reddit, I don't fully understand it, it might be a good housing for that. So if someone younger than me knows how to do this and wants to help, please do reach out. But in the meantime, I'd love to act as a hub to collect and share new ideas and slides. Um I've since then turned my attention towards decolonizing, indigenizing my courses, and it's hard work and I'd love to join with others doing this work to connect with you all as well. For now, I just want to say thank you to BC Campus and all the organizers of this event for giving me this chance to share and for all of your time. Thanks everybody. >> Thank you Kevin and thank you for centering care in this conversation and that wonderful call to action about the web page. And so yes, hopefully we'll we'll figure out a pragmatic way to move that forward. Uh so now moving on to an Christina Arnold. And Christina is a senior lecturer in the department of biomedical physiology and kinesiology here at SFU and is going to be speaking about her work with the mind matters committee. And Christina, I turn it over to you. Thank you so much Sarah and thanks to um everybody who's been speaking today. It's really really inspiring to be part of this community and and just to hear people's enthusiasm for uh the importance of wellness and well-being um in our community and the amazing work that everybody's doing. So I am super excited about uh about what's happening today. So um I do just have the five minutes. Um I am speaking from the Musquam, Squamish, Sailitude and Kquitlam um territories. Um and I look out my window and just think about the resilience that we have um around SFU and our nature and how things change over time and uh and I think it echoes to what we've been talking about today and the resilience of of our community and and dealing with um things as they come up uh in the world and in our own spaces. And I think you know that really lends um a thought to how we came up with this idea of our mind matters committee. So we are in uh the faculty of science. We are a um uh a um the biomedical physiology and kinesiology department. And much to the slides that Kevin presented in terms of challenges for students um really sparked the idea of having to do something at some level and we chose to do this at our department level. Um so what we are is a group of faculty, staff, undergrads and grad students um chaired by myself and Danna Bedoya. We've been doing this for about 12 years now. Um, and our mandate is really just trying to create opportunities for well-being and more engagement for everybody within the department. And when we say everybody, not just students, but also looking more systemically at staff, uh, faculty, um, and really trying to, um, recognize that wellness is so important for everybody's health all the way through. Um we're a participatory group. We uh uh welcome ideas from everybody on the committee. We're really loosely structured. Uh we meet a few times a semester and come up with different ideas that will impact uh wellness in in a lot of different areas. So I've got some pictures on the bottom of some of the things that we have done of various events. So, a recent one being a YAP session, which I had no idea what yap meant. Uh, but our students certainly did and uh that worked out really well. And we do regular uh walk and talk um meetings um events. So, we just uh announced that we're going to meet in our our lounge and whoever wants to come and join us uh get out into nature and walk with us is welcome. So we have up to sort of 20 25 people joining us every now and then as the weather is good. Uh we have a lot of uh social media posts on various issues. This is a regular thing we put out on our BPK site encouraging students um and much uh to Kevin's comments about trying to be timely about things that may be coming up in their world. Um addressing exam stress or uh anxiety as things come up. One really popular thing that we've done is our doggy de-stress. Uh students love this. It's super informal. We just uh bring one of those is my dogs. Uh this is uh Dr. uh Wix who brings in Besser, her dog. Um and uh uh yeah, as I say, that's been really well received. We recognize we're not um you know medical practitioners in terms of um uh mental health per se. Uh but we provide a lot of guidance for resources. So this is a new poster that's come that we've put together of resources at SFU that students walk by every day. We've got two posters in uh near uh our uh anatomy lab and also near our uh stairwell in the lounge. Um, and then this last slide was a is a really fun event we do every year. Um, we call it our Christmas elves, and this is where we come around with uh some some little goodie bags with affirmations and um just bring a bit of joy to the department and uh we give bags to faculty and staff. So those are some of the activities that we do. Um the last point here is our faculty collegiality survey. And so I want to talk about that a little bit more on our next slide. And this is an initiative that um we really felt was important. So I think SFU does a a good job um at at at creating engagement and wellness for students. We really wanted to also focus on faculty. And so years ago, I have to be frank, our culture was not great within the department. and we recognized that um we really needed to work on collegiality and we got that message in a lot of different ways. Uh so one of the things that we did was put together a collegiality survey based on the great minds at work um um document and uh and we've now I guess it's 5 years ago and then we've just recently put out another and so we're able to actually get some comparative metrics of how things have changed over time and really pleased to say that our culture has changed that um our collegiality markers are are quite good improving. Um certainly some areas that we can work on, but I think one of the big things that we did um and I'm just going to jump to a couple of these bullet points here is our early successes is we really started with sort of some lowhanging fruit um looking for uh a budget for our coffee and conversations things we had every week. So this was an event where students and faculty to come together and have some coffee. Um but the biggest thing that we were able to do was actually get a seat at the table in every faculty meeting. And so on every BPK faculty meeting agenda, we have 5 to 10 minutes to be able to talk about our initiatives. And this was a huge win for us because it um showed how the culture in the department was really supporting what we were doing and really interested. And we can see now that members in the department are regularly giving us ideas of what we can do um identifying issues. So, a recent one that came out was around um you know, the lack of pronouns um on our our website when we're talking about um you know, who's in the department. Uh so, you know, things are generated from other other faculty members and we're recognized as being a valuable committee within the department and not just a social committee to make things fun. So, that's been that's been really really helpful for us. Um, we've uh also been able to uh get extracurricular credit for student members and this has been able to draw more students to the committee and they have fabulous ideas. Uh, so things that actually work well for them um like the YAP sessions that we may not have known about. Um, so that's been really good. You know, some of the challenges that we've had are uh member commitment in terms of, you know, change gradu uh students changing every year and trying to keep that momentum going in the committee. Um uh I'm so grateful to have a co-chair uh Deanna who does so much work and brings so much energy to the committee. Um I'm retiring very very shortly, couple of weeks. Um and uh Deanna's um um we've already uh found someone else who can um can help with a co-chair. So that's really really good on that. Uh >> and Christina, thank you so much. I'm afraid we have to transition to the next speaker, but really appreciate that. Really appreciate that wonderful example of kind of working across the silos. Um, and you know, I know a conversation that we're constantly having is around how do we make that culture change happen and all of your specific endeavors were really helpful there. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. So, I'm now going to turn it over to Gail Hammond from UBC. Gail is an associate professor of teaching food, nutrition, and health. Um, and I'm really excited about hearing about well-being through recipe sharing. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Sarah. And thank you to all the the coordinators for this fabulous space in which we can share. I know we're all talking to the choir and and that, but um it's fabulous to get together and collaborate across different institutions and and just broaden our understanding of what's going on. Um so first of all I just I am uh in my office on the UBC campus and so I would like to acknowledge the uh ancestral and unseated territories of the Muscuian people who have taken care of this land for millennia and I get to enjoy today. It's beautiful here. So um I guess I'll take a little bit of a different approach. I have focused in on one activity as opposed to sharing with you my many multiple activities of how I incorporate well-being into my classroom. And so, uh, as you can see, I'm a registered dietician, so food kind of speaks to me. Uh, and I do teach introductory nutrition course in food, nutrition, and health. So, uh, food is always on the topic. And uh one of the uh more popular, I'm going to say well-being initiatives that I've incorporated into my course is uh um the FNH250 recipe box. And so students can share a recipe uh that has some meaning to them. And uh you know, it could be something as simple as a recipe that they used to make with their grandmother or grandfather um to something they just pulled off the internet. Uh and so but they've they've begun to have some meaning around the recipe. So they have they when they share the recipe, they share their little backstory. And it's the backstory that really counts. I mean the recipes are great. Students can try them out. And you can see here this uh the first um quote is from the student who shared the recipe and then the second quote in italics is a student who actually responded to it. So you can see there's some back and forth and uh and I just wanted to touch on what I think is going on with the recipe sharing. So I'll just have the next slide please Sarah. Thank you. So you can see here um I am in the land uh faculty of land and food systems and our mascot is the honeybee. So I have a honeycomb here and uh but more than that it's really demonstrating like a mosaic of different elements coming together. And uh some that I've just pulled out from here are that sense of belonging. And so uh with the recipe sharing uh students can go beyond their academic identities in the classroom and they can really share a piece of themselves and you know what their that might be a piece of their cultural history. Uh it might be a piece of sort of what they're doing. I had one student just recently, you know, I got into the gym and I was on the high protein, you know, as though sharing just that sense of shared experiences that other students in the class might be also experiencing. So, it does really uh by sharing the backstory and it's just brief. Um it really encourages empathy between students and also uh broadens some mutual understanding of people's space in which they live and uh you know the recipe is just the vehicle but who they are as people and it really uh for the people for the students that post the recipe first of all um and there are no points associated with this activity. So it's very low stakes but there is engagement um with the recipe idea because students like it. They like to engage with each other. So they can expect they express their own food traditions and their own values through the recipes that they um share and and more so the back story. And so what that does I think is it it it really helps uh uh students background to be validated and respected and honored by other students as well as being a lever for connection and belonging. It also um uh gives the students an opportunity to reflect on uh what they've chosen to share because it's it's up to them what they're comfortable with sharing and usually how do they make meaning out of their experiences with the recipe. Um and uh and then also just creates a positivity in the classroom. So uh these are just some of the different aspects that I see the recipes uh fulfilling uh and uh yeah I think sharing their identities being more aware of other people's ways of living uh and then also just trying the recipes and responding um to uh what happened with them uh is great Uh so this is just something I put the dash line around sort of the the honeycomb mosaic and that's to say that uh I know the emphasis for this particular session if I got it right was um well-being within the classroom but this goes outside of the classroom and I think other people have spoken about that already today. Uh I think be taking that holistic approach um you know going for walks um walk with the prof ideas all sorts of ideas wonderful ideas have come up so I just wanted to share that single activity that really does promote well-being does promote connection in the classroom uh and um I think it's just something where people can you know articulate their own back background and also have other students respond and that to me that's building the web of uh supporting each other. Um and we engage in I'll just say one thing we do engage in many many different other activities but I just focused on this one. >> Oh no I think that's just so helpful Gail and I just you know as you were speaking through it it it reminded me of of Matt's um at the beginning you know what where was a time that you felt well-being and if we change that to the classroom I can just imagine that that you have created a space where students are feeling that within the classroom so just great appreciation >> yes we have one last speaker before we move to uh a little bit we're going to have a teeny bit of time for Q&A but I want to finally turn it over to Katherine Gretzinger uh who is also from UBC, an associate professor of teaching and journalism. And Catherine, I turn it over to you. >> Thank you so much. Um I've chosen not to have a slide because um part of what I do um with my students and have done for a number of years is to um get them to be away from screens as much as possible. Um because as much as screens give this sort of false sense of community, they also sort of isolate us and separate us. So, um it's nice to be able to see all of your faces um for those of you who are are able to be on screen. So, I teach at um the graduate school um of journalism, which is now the school of journalism, writing and media. And I teach graduate students, so classrooms that are around 35 students. I teach undergraduates, so up to a couple of hundred students. Do lots of guest lecturing across the campus. and then lots of seminar work as well at the graduate level and um in collaboration with other teams. And what I've really noticed in the last several years is this huge um desire for students to find a way to belong. And um they're so busy competing with themselves and with each other and trying to sort of keep up with the expectations of the outside world. Um one of the ways that we've been able to break this down is to just step out of the classroom. So, I'll very often wait for the rainiest day at the beginning of term and then I'll say, "Okay, we're going for a walk in the rain." And they all sort of look at me as though I had two heads and I say, "Nope, you know, load up. I warned you at the beginning of the semester, like, make sure to have a lid with your with your jackets and off we go." So, we go outside. Sometimes there's a little bit of reluctance and we end up walking outside together and then together we decide where we're going to go and what we're going to do and how long we're going to walk for and what we're going to observe and who's talking to who and it immediately 5 minutes maybe seven it changes the whole dynamic. So you go from having people who are sitting there sort of having their individual experience with the learning that we're asking them to do to looking at other people and having a conversation and sort of opening up this dialogue. And I've really discovered that this has brought so much meaning into the classroom. They have this shared experience of walking together or trying to stay dry together or observing something together. And then that extends to the way that they collaborate and communicate when they're in the classroom. Um I try to make sure that we always have some food available. Um students increasingly are hungry. So um thinking about Gail's slides, what a beautiful idea that is for people to tell the story of themselves in the recipes that they're sharing. Um but sometimes very very specifically people people need a granola bar or a piece of fruit. So, I try to keep that in the classroom as well as some filtered water just so that people can go and fill up their water bottles so they don't have to go down the hall to the washroom to do it. It's just kind of a a small little gesture to make them feel as though they're welcome and that they they belong in some particular way. We do a lot of reflection. Journalism is really difficult, especially right now. Um there's wars, there's famine, there's um this incredible amount of hatred and anxiety in the world. So I really try to give students an opportunity to sort of show the others where they're at and we learn each other's names and we work to collaborate together with that sort of spirit of Twilight Tharp that um true collaboration is a love story. Um at the very beginning of our of our talk today um that idea of love is was mentioned and I have a bracelet that I wear every day um that students bought me and it says teach with love and I I think that that's kind of the key to all of the things that all of us are saying today is whether we do this technically you know thinking about Kina Kristoff's work around daydreaming and how important it is for students to be able to walk out and look at the clouds whether it is the work of um this young man um Dr. Kelner who's written this incredible book about awe and wonder in the world. Whether it's small things, whether it's academic things, whether it's things that come to us that have been shared by our indigenous colleagues Maline Dion Stout who did all kinds of work with the Mental Health Commission of Canada. She reminds us that each mind is a world. So if we're able to invite our students to go internal and think about what's going on in their world and then share that externally in a supportive trusting environment, it's going to help them to thrive and grow as learners, which I think is what our job is in the beginning. So thank you so so much for having this day and for inviting me to share. It's so wonderful to be in the presence of all these great ideas. I'll be stealing heartily and I'll be crediting you along the way. So, thank you ever so much to everybody involved. Thanks, Sarah. >> Oh, thank you, Katherine. And thank you. What what beautiful thoughts to end with in terms of love. Um, I I also love Dasher Kelter talks about that collective effervescence, right? And that's the coming together and the feelings that of of awe that emerge when we're coming together with shared purpose and experience. And I think that that really summarizes uh so much of what we hope is happening today. Uh just huge thanks. Um as Kevin said, I am just I'm so inspired by all of these stories. Um we do have a few minutes now, about 10 minutes to have some Q&A around our story sharers. Uh so what questions do you have around maybe specifics or also just comments? I I do have a comment. I was just really touched by hearing just the different perspectives shared and like just how everyone's building on their ideas and strengths in a very unique way collectively. It's a beautiful story. And one thing that for me was there's a lot of focus on the students which I think is you know always that's why we're here. Um but I also feel that one of the things that um bringing us together today and to support each other with these new ideas is also a way of loving ourselves. Right? back to the love concept of like how do we show that love and care for ourselves because if we're not well, we're not going to be able to support anyone. >> Thank you, Paula. Um any Yes. Ay, did you want to respond to that or have another question? >> I I had another question, but I do want to say thank you for that. I do think it's a really important point and one that especially teachers often neglect. They put themselves last so often and run dry and that doesn't benefit anyone. So, thank you for that comment. But my question was actually for Vicki. >> Hi Vicki. >> Hi. Nice to see you. >> I know it's really nice to see you. Um thank you so much for your presentation. I I thought that your program sounded really interesting and in particular I appreciated that it's for everyone that it doesn't silo students with deficit thinking mindsets of this is only for multilingual students. Um and I was I was wondering and curious about um what what your your sort of uptake is and whether you track data on completion. >> Thank you. >> We we do. Yeah. Thanks a for that question. Yeah, we do track data with the help of our um department of institutional research and um our uptake um is between 12 and 17% of the entire Langangera student population which we feel is a really good uptake because there are no credits, no external motivators other than our gift card campaigns that we run um through the program. uh and we also see that students who complete the LSSC have a higher GPA than those who don't and students who start but don't complete also have a higher GPA than those who do not participate and we look at both domestic and international and the kind of range in GPA is quite similar um for the students. So that is actually one of the things we use to help motivate students to do the course. Um and the other is that the LSSC opens about 3 weeks before the semester starts. So we work with our partners in um the registars's office and Langera Global and student life to get messages out to students once they're accepted to say hey get a head start. And the other thing without taking too much time is that the course is hosted on Brightpace which is our online learning management system. So, it's a way for students to get familiar with that system if they've never used Brightpace before because almost every course at Langer, whether it's online or face toface, uses bright space in some in some manner. Um, so that's also we hope another way to motivate them to do it. >> Thanks for the question. >> Thanks so much. >> Yeah. Uh, Anna and then Diana, can you hear me? >> Yes. Well, I I I my my first idea was to question Vicki about how many students usually complete the course. Um because I think that the idea is really interesting especially for people who are coming from families without college or higher education background. I I think about my mom what what how hard it probably was for her to be the first one in his her family going to college. And I would like to share one initiative that we are being doing the physics and astronomy department at UBC. Sorry. Uh there was kind of the remind me of the Galeo project. We are doing um a Thanksgiving lunch last year was the first time and we had like a recipe contest. So uh it it was for grad students, faculty and staff. everyone bring a dish and the idea was uh to talk about what was that representing our family or traditions and it was like it was the first time we did and I think was a really nice experience people got engaged they had fun with the contest they because people could vote in others their colleagues um dish and I I think It's like a It's kind of a a low low fruit that it's easy to to do because it basically we were reunited there. People bring some food to share and when you're having like 30 people bring a piece of food, a plate, it's it's a banket. It's it's a lot of food. Um and I also would like to share another project that we are doing and we are facing like many many challenges to complete but I think the idea is also um replicable in other places. There is you're doing um a meditation and sensory friendly room for students who are neurode divergent. But more than like being a resource for a few people uh the the purpose is to have like a dedicated space in the department for people to you know regulate their emotions understand there is important and like it's a change of culture. It's it's not easy because I think it's very deep that to be excellent and to thrive at the university, you need to be like focused and competitive. And I truly believe that things will just change if you start to take collaboration more seriously than competition. >> Yeah. Thank you, Anna. And I I again appreciate how you've taken you know that example uh in the classroom and then broadened it to the department and and what might be doable at the university or across universities too. Thank you. I appreciate that Diana. Hi everyone. Good morning. Um thank you for sharing such a broad range of of stories. I really appreciate hearing what's going on in my own campus and at other campuses. Um, as a staff person, I work closely with faculty and one question I often get is, "How do I get my leadership to support what I'm doing so it's not off the side of my desk so that it's not coming out of my own pocket?" You know, how how do I do that? Um, and I'm curious as to how, you know, some of the speakers today have would answer that question. Excellent question. Does anyone have any sort of immediate responses? Um well, maybe I can speak to that really quickly. And I think um you know, one of one of the main um opportunities was um having having some early successes that were supported by our chair. So I would uh you know emphasize the idea of um of sitting down with the chair um um showing some uh early success in some of that lowhanging fruit as I said um some some good engagement and then really looking at trying to get um trying to get a agenda item on the faculty meetings. I think are really really good. The other point I would say too is um turn it around to not just be about students. It's about faculty, it's about staff and once you can actually show that you're doing something for for them, for us um then you have more buy in. And uh I think that's really where we started to see some success as well. >> Thank you. Katherine, were you wanting to add something as well? >> Yeah, I was I I would have said um something very similar to what um and Christina said, but also um when it comes to the smaller things, you know, not asking permission, apologizing later, like when you're marching your students out into the mud. Um that that was that's been helpful. Um and then I just go ahead and buy stuff myself and have no expectation. I feel like we get paid well and um I can I can do that. So, I was asking every once in a while and you know, I got sort of tired of filling out all the paperwork on workday that we use at at UBC. Um, so I just do it and I I sort of just built it into my grocery shopping. I don't really even think about it anymore and it and it just makes a quiet little difference in the classroom. So, it's just a small cost for a a large reward. Great, >> which is not a good answer probably, but >> thank you, >> Diana. Hello. Um to add in uh as well is that uh academics love data. So any opportunity to collect that data and use it to inform decision-m is a really great opportunity. So a lot of what our committee I work with Anna Christine and what our committee was founded on was the results of a student exit survey >> which suggested higher rates of depression and anxiety amongst our students and then it becomes well what do we do about it and not that we fixed that but it was something that we could justify some of the work we do. Um, also external review I think is an important time to also kind of think about these things as well because having taken care of our people is usually one of the the items there. So that's something that we want to look good at but we don't always do a good job at. So using that as an opportunity like sometimes the I think I think we got a response from a previous external review that suggested that this was something we had to work on. So having that higher like authority so to speak say that it was a good place to be like you someone else said it you have to look for these opportunities and kind of jump when the iron's hot and those were good moments to be like see like this is this is important. >> Yeah. >> Thank you Tiana add something to that. Um thank you. But it's I'm going to feed off what Diana just said bit a bit and that's um sometimes uh and everyone else has said it's really uh capturing the attention of the admin people uh who can help it trickle down through this whatever system they're they're working in and often I find like the admin people are not included in these well-being surveys right so I would love I this has been on my agenda for a long time but I haven't been able to enact it a cross institution kind of look at hey what's our well-being of our admin people like the administrators the president the the uh provos whatever uh and how do they see their well-being trickling down into their systems um I don't think that's been done and I think uh you know as a collective we could be at the leading edge across the of kind of um exploring that because once you hook the admin in then they the rest kind of falls into place. So that's just something I'd put out there. I'd love to get some funding to do that. >> Gale, you know, when you're ready to look at that, you know who to to contact. >> Um Paola, I know you have some really good thoughts and helpful thoughts on that as well. >> Oh yeah, this is like the big challenge of my life right now. So, uh, at SFU, the executive, uh, signed this commitment statement that yes, we're we are going to make a commitment to the university, um, that well-being matters to us. And it's now, you mentioned this in the academic plan. We're we're moving towards some progress. But this is a huge challenge because it requires people to take off that expert hat and actually be vulnerable. And that is very very uncomfortable um for people in academia in general and I would say for our senior leaders even more. One thing that I have noticed that they're open to is um we've been having conversations. We have um an EDI community of practice um and we have this uh faculty pod. We're working on looking at tenure promotion committees and how do we start thinking about um supporting, you know, equity, indigenity, decolonization, and well-being into the conversations we're having at TPC. Um so I think that that's an avenue um of bringing these conversations um to the table where people are going to be more open because ultimately it's like we want to reward people and support people that are doing this in the classrooms or in other ways. So if we can start having those conversations, you know, throughout the tenure promotion committee, um I think that uh it might open some other conversations. Thank you. >> Yes, thank you all. We need to wrap up this segment, but I am just reminded again of what Matt said at the beginning of the day. You know, that um wondering and that that part of this process is really staring sharing these stories in community and not knowing how these stories are going to result in some initiative later on. Uh so just an encouragement and a hope we're going to take a break in a moment and a real hope that you'll return after the break too so that we can do some of these kind of smaller conversations and do this imagining um of next steps and and maybe more of an opportunity for you to ask questions around some of the story sharers as well. Uh so we are going to break for a a fiveinut um break here. An encouragement to turn off screens to take care of any needs that you might have. Maybe grab a warm cup of something that sounds delicious for you. And when we return, I'm going to be turning things over to my amazing colleague from UBC, Megan Robertson, who's going to guide us through the next portion. Megan, anything to say before we take a five minute break? No, thanks for that, Sarah. Take a quick break. Focus on well-being away from your screen as uh Katherine reminded us. And really looking forward to seeing you back here in 5 minutes. All right, welcome back everyone. I will do a gentle welcome back. So if folks are running with a cup of warm beverage, they can do so safely to return to their computer. We are getting ready for our next section which is a time for discussion, a time for story in the future. So welcome back to everyone. Glad to have you back with us. My name is Megan Robertson. I'm one of the educational consultants at the University of British Columbia. Um, relatively recently, uh, I did the move to UBC, so I was at SFU for a number of years. So fabulous to see so many wonderful colleagues and to, um, make some connections with some Lara folks as well. So loving the South Coast British Columbia network of folks who are gathered here today to do this work. In this next section, we've called it story in the future. So, I asked an AI tool to create an image. Um, the prompt here, I'm going to lean in to read it. It I asked it, create an image of a post-secary classroom in British Columbia in 2036 that is focused on student and instructor well-being. And it generated this image that is really focused on plants and natural light and no people. So, I changed the prompt. And if we see the next slide, I asked it to focus, make sure that instructors and students were the focus of the image. And what this returned was some terrible overhead lighting, quite a conventional scene of a quote unquote sage on the stage at the front of the classroom and everybody facing one direction looking up at this person at the front of the room. So AI wasn't the best at trying to imagine what 2036 might look like if we imagine the future of centering well-being in our classrooms in 10 years. So in the next section, we've got quite a bit of time for you to connect with colleagues across this South Coast community to reflect on these questions. What will well-being at the center of the teaching and learning experience look like in 2036? Some of us work directly in the classrooms. Some of us work outside of classrooms, but we all contribute to the teaching and learning experiences, whatever institution we're at, what values and strengths will be celebrated in teaching and learning. And this next question again connects us all. What does a campuswide well-being focused experience look like? We'll spend some time working on this and then if we go to the next slide, we will be imagining our headline. So 10 years from now, let's say BC campus is very excited. They're putting out a report and the next slide has our prompt. In 2036, BC campus decides to publish an article to highlight how well-being is the center of post-secary teaching and learning in BC. So, we'll work in our groups using some of those guiding questions to develop a headline and to think of potentially some quotes that would be included as well. What we are doing in the back end right now is creating the breakout rooms that will put us in connection with folks from institutions uh that we're not normally at and then there'll be a facilitator in each of the rooms as well. Facilitators will be documenting some of the key ideas and they'll be sharing back our headlines when we join together at the end of this section. So for now I will check in. Not only is be dreaming this session, holding the framework for this session, she's also running the technical back end of this session. So I'll check in with B. Are we ready for the breakout rooms? >> Green light. >> Okay, let's go. So everyone cross your fingers, think good vibes as we all hope to go to the breakout rooms that will be happening. Welcome back to the space everyone. How are you doing? I am multitasking something that for my ADHD brain is like what? Don't do it and I'm forcing myself to do it. So, uh, welcome back to the space. It's very nice to see you all. It was so wonderful to be in community in my little room. Number two, I see my friends are back as well. You all my friends, but I also see the facilitator friends. Um, now the the moment is for us to uh share our headlines. And in our group, we also had some anonymous uh student quotes to share. Um, and so we're going to hold space for for that little imagination. And you know there was so much power in the imagination. And I think bell hooks um when I read all about love was the first time in my life that I was so excited about the idea of dream and to imagine and how much power that is in creating uh and instead of consuming. And so I think this is partially um the invitation here. And that being said, um if you do have in your group, um you can just put room one, two, three, and I'm talking to facilitators if they want to have the headlines coming in, then we're capable, we're all able to see at the same time. um and and support each other. Um so I think we can open the floor to to do the reading if each facilitator would like to read the headline for their room. Um I can I can start with room two. We had 10 10,000 different headlines, but in 2036, we believe that we're going to read relational education instead of transactions and competition. Growing resilient communities together in indigenous epistemologies as a family. >> Wow, that's great. That touched on some of the ideas that we had in our breakout room, group one. Uh we had lots of leadup questions and discussions to it and then had a little bit of less time to make our headline, but we came up with well-being for students in 2036 means making a difference and having an impact through relational learning and a sense of belonging. >> Again, really similar themes uh to ours. We didn't quite complete ours, but our beginning was just launched. New ranking system supporting well-being across higher education in Canada. Social connection is now prioritized by appropriate funding. We love that. Uh we we we talk a lot and then at the very last minute when we noticed that we need to come back into the room. Um one of us um well we we included the academy there but it turned to backward to one of the idea that we share earlier is embracing humanism wholeness of people. Um yes so that's just the headline but in the in the story it will talk about faculty staff and students coming from all walk of life um students who who has experienced things that I have never experienced before never heard of before for examples so just a headline okay is that me Judy Were you group four? >> Yeah. >> Hey, group five, you know what? I designed this activity, but we totally didn't do it. But we had an amazing conversation and just came up. We, you know, we did the activity and was really rich and supportive and now we have to come back and make a headline. Um, so I kind of pushed together this notion, themes that came up, always introducing ourselves, committing to and continuing the work of well-being because things that came up a lot were >> opportunities for connection, saying hello, whatever modality or space we might be in, introducing ourselves, who are we excited to be today, >> um, as well. So, I hope that does a half decent way of capturing our conversation. I love how this became a conversation um between you all. Sorry, I turned to multitask again. I want to say thank you first. I want to say thank you to all of you. I want to say thank you for sharing your stories. Uh it's a privilege to listen to you. It's a privilege to talk to you, to learn from you. I want to say thank you. I want to say uh this is a a short time that we have in disclosure here but I want to acknowledge people as well. I want to acknowledge the labor and work of my colleagues uh at SFU, Langada and uh UBC and I want to really be grateful to BC campus particularly uh Leva Lee who is an amazing colleague uh who was a was a catalyst for so much of good work and good seed and good uh nurturing of work um and for for them to be able to give us this opportunity to work together. Um and and I think that really matters. And you see the names of people here um all over this slide, but I just wanted to make it clear that we are um we know that there is more to the picture. Uh there is more people that perhaps we don't have it in this slides, but they are part of this conversation. They are part of what we like to do. Um I am going to go off script because I don't remember if I'm the one who's supposed to be closed up today in terms of next step. I see nods. So potentially all right and so I want to say that what we what we concluded for for next steps that we thought you know what let's see where this leads us and let's see uh how how we can close and I think the the closing is really um inspiring. I I I really believe that the next step for us as a community, and when I say yes, I'm talking specifically with uh James from Langera, uh Megan Robertson from UBC, Judy Chan from UBC, Zoe Morris who's not here from UBC, Sarah uh and and and here because we we really starting educational development to support this and my colleagues here, Amanda and Ay from CSFU with us you um and I'm sure your co more colleagues who came it's important for us that we'll be able to get together again to have a debrief and when we're going to have our debrief and our togetherness we're going to have something to give it to you so you'll be able to hear from us about this day with our notes with our songs with our uh smiles with all the energy that you are uh sharing here today we're going to bring this together and you're going to hear from us and you're going to have a note. You're going to have something that we're going to create with this energy that you help to generate and you've been helping to generate for so many decades. And we're going to take care of you and we're going to take care of ourselves because this is what well-being is. It's a community taking care of each other and it's that simple. It's actually that simple. I love that there are so many ways we can talk about it and I appreciate the complexity of those conversations and I just want to hold the space. It is about caring. It is about caring about something beyond uh just to get to get something. No, it's about to get together to somewhere. And so that being the final notes of what I can do in this particular closing, I want you to go with a lot of gratitudes in your hearts. I think we're ending a couple of minutes earlier. Time is something that we uh is a privilege. Not everybody has it all the time to be able to dedicate. So the more grateful I am that you're here uh understanding that you step out of other things in your life and go back to those times and use your use it wisely because that's all we have is the present. Uh and thank