June 11, 2024 Be Well Bruin: A One-Stop Shop for Wellness
When students start their journeys at UCLA, the campus welcomes them with an incredibly diverse community, beautiful sunny weather, hilly hikes to class, and an abundance of resources to make their stay here worthwhile. With an ever-growing list of departments and programs dedicated to enriching the student experience, navigating those resources can become tricky. It’s easy for students to miss a turn and arrive at the wrong destination. The Be Well Bruin website serves as the community’s GPS.
Under the leadership of Dr. Nicole Presley Green, executive director of UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Resilience in your Student Experience (RISE) program, Be Well Bruin launched in Fall 2023. Alea Orange, a Health & Well-being Coordinator at RISE and also the website’s content manager, hopes that Be Well Bruin’s simplistic, to-the-point and intuitive design will make it easier to create a healthier and more resilient UCLA community. By bringing all of the campus’ student resources into one place, Be Well Bruin responds to the common student complaints of having too many options and not knowing where to go.
But what does a healthier campus community mean, and how might staff fit into the equation? In UCLA Student Affairs, the concept of student well-being is a holistic experience, comprising not only physical and mental health, but also financial, academic, social, and more. Dr. Green says it’s important to acknowledge that all these facets of the student experience contribute to “wellness,” and the responsibility to support student wellness extends beyond CAPS and RISE. As educators, Student Affairs staff should be empowered to guide students as they navigate college life; if the students need a pit stop along the way, staff can use Be Well Bruin to point them to the right direction.
It’s as simple as plugging something into Google Maps. The website makes it easy to find appropriate solutions for each student’s unique situation. The Find a Resource feature separates resources by different categories and tags, while also offering an easy search function to quickly narrow down options. The site also offers a helping hand for students who are unsure about the type of help they might need: the Be Well Bruin Guide is an anonymous and confidential quiz that compiles a comprehensive list of resources based on the student’s answers.
Although Be Well Bruin may seem student-focused, make no mistake – staff and faculty should take advantage of the website to help direct their students to the proper departments. Dr. Green hopes to see Be Well Bruin referenced all across campus – on departmental websites, syllabi, and wherever else students visit. And the website will only continue to grow and develop as new needs have to be met. Eventually, Dr. Green hopes for a more dynamic website that reflects UCLA’s ever-changing campus. Got a wellness idea for Be Well Bruin or the RISE team? Email rise@caps.ucla.edu to share!