BY KIRANDEEP SINGH

Each semester, the Augustana Students’ Association (ASA) hosts a week long event referred to as Wellness Week. The goal is to improve the mental health of students and help them destress at the end of the busy semester. Wellness Week is extremely important as it helps students take some time to wind down with the stress of final exams approaching. This year, Wellness Week was run by Alex Ho, the VP of Communications on the ASA.
The ASA advertised Wellness Week through posters, email newsletters, and through the Facebook event page. Students were encouraged to participate and get involved.
Over the week, all sorts of different events took place. Students had the opportunity to grab food and drinks on various days throughout the week. There were fruits, a salad bar, snacks, Norwegian breakfast, and Booster Juice! Volunteers helped hand out the goodies the best they could even though they went quickly.
Events to help students manage adult life also took place. A financial blueprint program helped students manage money and work on budgeting their finances. Other benefits promoted self-care, such as free admission to the Fitness Centre for the whole week.
Practices designed to calm and ease like beading, knitting, and a dog walk also took place. Although there were not many participants for these practices, the people who joined were concentrated and learned new skills that can be forms of peaceful meditation.
The University of Alberta also promotes an app called WellTrack that uses interactive self-help therapy to help students with their mental health. A person needs to sign in with their school email to get full access. The app offers mood assessments, modules to help students get through their mental health issues, and guides students to resources that are available at Augustana or in Camrose where they can seek help. The app is available on the App Store and on Google Play.