Podcasts from the Health & Wellness Council intend to improve students’ health

Hoai Puong Nguyen, Staff Reporter

Election day, social issues, COVID-19, Zoom fatigue and midterms—these are words that could induce anxiety in any college student right now, yet they are all issues that we have to face. Therefore, it is important that every student takes care of themselves by taking breaks, getting enough sleep, maintaining healthy eating habits and, most importantly, maintaining positive thoughts. Self-care, however, is an area that is often overlooked and misunderstood, especially among college students, which is exactly what inspired the creation of the Health and Wellness council at Case Western Reserve University. 

The CWRU Health & Wellness Council is an USG ad-hoc organization focused on improving the CWRU student wellness experience. Every Wednesday, the council hosts Case for Wellness, a podcast to openly discuss health, wellness and life at CWRU with unique student voices. The organization reaches out to other student organizations that focus on and advocate for issues that are related to the podcast episode planned for that week. In the past, the council has communicated with students from the Mental Health Committee, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Student Caregivers and the Disability Taskforce, with topics such as COVID-19, social wellness, mental health and stress.

The production for the podcasts has been modified from the typical development process to fit into COVID-19 guidelines. After deciding the topic of the podcast, members of the council reach out to the student organizations they want to have as guests. The host and guests discuss the topic and share their personal experiences in a recorded Zoom meeting to accommodate for COVID-19 and remote learning. When the editing is done, the podcast is uploaded onto Anchor and other podcast platforms for listeners to tune in to.

The most recent podcast episode, which aired Oct. 28, focused on the Black student experience, highlighting the experiences of the Black community at CWRU and how to focus and improve upon the health and wellness of these students. 

Case for Wellness episodes will air on Wednesdays on the platform Anchor, or on other platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Overcast.