Scenes from the Town Hall on Well-Being
Students and faculty from all HPE programs gathered for the 2024 Le Well Town Hall in Well-Being, on the sixth floor of the Trent Semans Center for HPE Education. While eating food from NuvoTaco, participants learned about various projects and undertakings designed to support and promote well-being among students within and between HPE programs. After the formal programming, presenters were available at tables to talk about their projects while MD student Enni Zhu played violin on the western end of the building and various students gathered to paint rocks in the eastern side.
For the first hour, participants learned about specific programs through platform presentations:
- Stress First Aid (Dr. Mitch Heflin, Duke Health IPEC Center, School of Nursing) – Stress First Aid (SFA) is a framework of practical actions to help reduce the likelihood of stress reactions developing into more severe or long-term problems. SFA aims to preserve life, prevent further harm and promote recovery. Interested students can take part in the free Coursera course or sign up for future sessions.
- The Imperfection Sessions (Ananya Gupta, MD student) – The Imperfection Sessions, mentored by Dr. Will Bynum, take place once or twice per semester and are designed to promote human connection and recognition of shared human fallibility. The next Imperfection Session is scheduled for December 3, 7-8:30 via Zoom (with a watch party and snacks in Classroom 4). Organized by MD program students Katie Freedy and Ananya Gupta.
- The Peer Collective (Joy Xiao, DPT student, Hanah Ayoub, MBS student, Fatima Al-Sarakbi Hernandez, OTD student) – under the leadership of Dr. McLean Pollock, students in the Peer Collective have undergone training to enhance their active listening and wellness-promoting skills. They hold peer support sessions on a monthly basis and are ready to discuss issues including values congruence, wellness strategies, or topics of students’ choosing. With questions about the Peer Collective, please reach out to Dr. McLean Pollock.
- Occupational Therapy Doctorate Wellness Program (Fatima Al-Sarakbi Hernandez and Amirah Jenkins, OTD students, and Dr. MaryBeth Gallagher OTD faculty) – Mental health and wellbeing are part of the discipline of occupational therapy, and students in the OTD program are heavily involved in a variety of positions supporting wellness including disability liaison, DEI leadership, SOM health and wellbeing committee representation, Le Well Student Advisory Committee, weekly huddle meetings focusing on DEI, professionalism and academics, monthly home group meetings, and peer colleague liaisons. The OTD representatives also discussed Root to Rise, a 7-week program developed by occupational therapist and wellness coach Lindsey Voorhees and designed to help participants define and embrace what it means to live a fulfilling life even while facing health challenges.
- Wellness at DPAP (the Duke Physician Assistant Program) (Lindsey Zipperer, PA student) – Wellness is built in to the PA program, from regular faculty check-ins to dedicated Tuesday afternoons off for wellness promotion to wise statements such as, “Remember – getting a B and going for a run, or playing your guitar, or cooking or painting…is better than getting an A. Take care of yourselves.” PA students pursue opportunities for fitness, group competitions, field trips, and are active in Medicine in Motion. Proven tools for getting students involved include encouraging student-led communication, providing free food, and engaging in community service work.
- Health Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (Hannah Marchuck and Symon Ma, MD students) – HSDCI is an interdisciplinary student organization that aims to create community and improve accessibility in the School of Medicine, the Duke Health System, and the Durham community. They are undertaking advocacy in the form of partnering with residents to serve as clerkship liaisons; creating disability / chronic illness training modules for residents and faculty; and becoming increasingly involved with the Duke Disability Alliance. They are looking forward to providing mentorship and guidance to Adolescents Transitioning to Leadership and Success and partnering with the Franklin Humanities Institute Disability Studies Working Group. Interprofessional allies and students with visible or invisible disabilities and/or chronic illness are welcome! Email hhm6@duke.edu if you would like to get involved.
- Duke Arts Create (Anna Wallace, Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts) – Each semester, Duke Arts offers free arts workshops to anyone on with a Duke badge, including students, faculty and staff in the School of Medicine. The workshops are intended to be low-stress, high-mindfulness opportunities to create and spend time in community with others. Since January 2024, Duke Arts Create has offered eight workshops per semester in the Trent Semans center for HPE Education, making these workshops even more accessible to our medical community. Workshop registration opens the Friday before the workshop. Find more information at the Duke Arts Create website.
- Kern National Network & Constructive Dialogue Institute Bridging Demonstration Project (Carmen Rauh Garrido, MD student) – The Kern National Network for Flourishing in Medicine and the Constructive Dialogue Institute selected nine academic medical institutions to participate as demonstration sites for their Perspectives in Academic Medicine curriculum. The curriculum is designed to help identify common humanity and shared values even when positions differ and can be valuable to anyone who has ever had a conversation with another person. Students on the student advisory committee and the group of students who engaged with the curriculum (6 online modules and 3 facilitated discussion guides) found it accessible, feasible, and useful. Next steps include recruiting an interprofessional student cohort to participate in the next round, hopefully in January.
- Grief Debriefs (“G-Briefs”) (Katie Young, MD student, and Dr. Anthony Galanos, SOM faculty member) – Grief debriefs are designed to create space for collective reflection. Participants are provided space and support in processing the question, “What is difficult about the work that you do?” G-Briefs may be planned in advance or requested in response to a specific event or series of events. They have been helpful for MD students in the second year and are currently offered monthly; if other HPE students are interested in hosting a session, please contact jane.gagliardi@duke.edu and/or anthony.galanos@duke.edu.
- Doctor of Physical Therapy Wellness Program (Katie Ei, Karleigh Derleth, Maddie Nichols, Anna Smith, DPT students) – Students presenting on the DPT Wellness Program reminded the assembled audience that KINDNESS is an important value and that November 13 is International Day of Kindness. Emphasizing their holistic (mind, body, spirit) approach to wellness, DPT students mentioned a number of ways they pursue their own individual and collective well-being.
- Duke Medicine in Motion (Trevor Sytsma, Paula Viza Gomes, Daniel Yang, MD students) – Medicine in Motion supports student wellness and belonging through physical activity, philanthropy, and interprofessional community building. At Duke, Medicine in Motion was started in 2021 by a group of 5 MD program students. Over the time since its initial inception it has expanded to include HPE students from the SOM as well as students from the School of Nursing. In 2023-2024, Medicine in Motion hosted 51 events counting 940 attendees from 6 health professions programs. Activities are offered in conjunction with community partners and range from physically intense to physically accessible. Students with suggestions or interested in volunteering to lead sessions are encouraged to participate!
- Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) (Dr. Renee Evans, Interim Director of CAPS) – CAPS is available to all HPE students either on the main campus (in the wellness building on Towerview Drive) or through CAPS @ Le Well, a service that was initiated in January 2024 with counselor Lia Gilmore on site on the fourth floor, TSCHE, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Students may opt to pursue their care at main CAPS as well, as long as they specify their preference when calling 919-660-1000 to schedule an intake. Students are also welcome to walk in to CAPS on the main campus.
- Office of Learning Environment and Well-Being (Le Well) – Drs. Jane Gagliardi and Melanie Bonner are undertaking a variety of initiatives with a goal of improving the learning environment and are grateful to students, faculty and staff for their suggestions and ongoing support of Le Well activities. It was wonderful to see the gathered students, faculty and staff at the Town Hall on Well-Being. Some quick updates from Le Well included updates on the proactive wellness navigator project, ongoing changes to improve the mistreatment reporting process, and efforts to promote community building. Please do not hesitate to reach out to jane.gagliardi@duke.edu and/or melanie.bonner@duke.edu with suggestions or feedback.
In addition to the student presentations of wellness activities, above:
- MD student Megan Happ provided a slide seeking interested MS1 students interested in serving as student co-leaders for a chapter, in the process of being formed, for the Kern National Network. Interested students should email megan.happ@duke.edu.
- MD student Peter Nam and classmates who are passionate about music and improving patient experiences brought their talents and presence to the Town Hall to solicit interested students to participate in Music Rounds, a newly-created initiative designed to help students stay in touch with their musical interests while improving the healing environment for patients hospitalized at Duke. Please email peter.nam@duke.edu if you are interested in learning more.
- DPT student Joy Xiao provided a flyer and information about Duke Med Chinese, an organization that strives to equip students with cultural competency as related to working with patients from the Chinese community through education and fun events with Chinese food, desserts, and boba. Interested? Sign up for the Duke Med Chinese Listserv 2024-2025.
Thank you to the many HPE students and leaders who participate on a daily basis in the endeavor of supporting well-being in the learning environment and wellness within and between programs. We are Le Well are excited to continue to work with and learn about ways to improve support for students in all HPE programs.