A Week’s Worth of Events
On Feb. 9, the Counseling and Wellness Center on the Long Island Campus of St. Joseph’s University (SJNY) kicked off its second annual Love Your Body Week. The themed week spanned from Feb. 9 to Feb. 13, during which the Wellness Center put on events every day during common hour to educate students on a span of issues concerning mental and physical wellbeing, as well as provide resources to them where applicable.
Love Your Body Week began with a presentation entitled ‘Rooted Within’. It was held in the Student Center’s Multipurpose Room and was a collaborative effort between the Counseling and Wellness Center and Campus Ministry.
The speakers at the presentation were Jonathan Galo, Director of Campus Ministry, Alexandra Peraino, MHS, Assistant Director of Wellness at the Counseling and Wellness Center and Thomas Petriano, Ph.D., who serves as the chair of the Department of Religious Studies.
The presentation focused on the concept of finding satisfaction within oneself as an inherent quality without the need to accomplish anything to feel happiness. The event concluded with teaching attendees about various mindfulness techniques that would allow them to become more attuned to their feelings or spirituality. Some examples included breathing exercises, contemplation and prayer.
The events continued Feb. 10 with a Blood Pressure Clinic that was held in the McGann Conference Center in partnership with BSN Club. All students, staff and faculty had the opportunity to get their blood pressure checked by SJNY nursing students, and informative resources about heart health were provided to attendees.
The third day of Love Your Body Week saw the Counseling and Wellness Center join the Campus Activities Board (CAB) and Educator’s Club to acknowledge P.S. I Love You Day during an event in the Student Center’s Multipurpose Room.
The following day, the Wellness Center teamed up with its work-study students, the Peer Health Educators, to create a board game for students to play, called ‘The Mystery Date Game’. Modeled after a game from the 1960s of the same name, the game was re-themed to focus on learning about the qualities and behaviors that create healthy and unhealthy relationship dynamics.
Prizes were given to students who won the game within each group that played.
Peer health educator Rashell Feliz-Dabney ‘26 pointed out that while certain things highlighted within the game might seem obvious, seeing behaviors categorized into simple “red flags” and “green flags” can help people notice problems in their own relationships.
“Sometimes people don’t even realize,” she said. “They’ll be like: ‘Wait, I thought that was normal.’”
To conclude Love Your Body Week on Feb. 13th, the Wellness Center partnered with the campus chapter of Student Veterans of America to provide students with the services of therapy dogs in the lounge area of the Student Center.
Additional Resources
While Love Your Body Week is the biggest series of events held by the Counseling and Wellness Center, the services of the office are available to students throughout the semester. To get in touch with staff and learn more about the services they provide, or schedule an appointment, students can e-mail liwellness@sjny.edu or call 631.687.1262.
