Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: What's up, guys? Welcome back to the Bama Balance. Real stories about college students, mental health. How's it going?
[00:00:49] Speaker C: It's been a long week. It's been a long week. I'm not gonna lie. It's only Wednesday and it's been a long week. I mean, I was telling you guys this earlier.
Tuesday felt like Thursday to me. I have no idea why.
I have no idea why. Edward's catching his breath over here.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: Trying to stay awake.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: And I think everybody has the wind.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Man, what is up with this?
[00:01:11] Speaker D: Oh, man, I don't even know. I. I think there's some. I've been. I've had, like a dry throat in sinus congestion.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:21] Speaker D: For the entire week.
[00:01:23] Speaker C: Really?
[00:01:23] Speaker D: And going into last week, a little bit.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:25] Speaker D: Just randomly. I don't even feel bad. I feel so fine. It's just that.
And yeah, also exams, I think have a lot to do with that, too, in terms of it being long or feeling long.
[00:01:34] Speaker C: But this is first week of everybody. Everybody's entering their first round of exams.
[00:01:39] Speaker D: I had one last week.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Oh, did you? That's right.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I think about it.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:44] Speaker D: And then a couple. One tomorrow.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:47] Speaker D: Don't ask me how much I've studied for it.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: All right. How much have you studied for it?
[00:01:50] Speaker D: About an hour maybe. I don't know.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: We'll see.
Hope first question goes well.
[00:01:57] Speaker D: The first question goes well.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: What is it about. What is it about exam week that makes it feel so long? Brooksie, this is your dread. Dread sort of building up to the actual event. But this is your first exam week in grad school.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: It was which mama's on Tuesday.
So that makes it a little different because I feel like, you know, and I was traveling on Sunday, so I could not study on Sunday. So it was like one day of study.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Then go take the quiz slash exam.
But yeah. Third, if you have exams on Thursdays or later in the weeks, it makes those weeks feel like they are so long. I feel like because you're studying for the more days prior and you're kind of having to wait and you know it's coming.
Unlike football. Like football games on Saturdays make it faster.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: But exams make.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: It just makes it such a prolonged week. And I mean I have not even had any exams and I don't, I don't know why it's that way. Maybe it's sort of vicarious feeling that I'm getting from everybody else who's got
[00:03:04] Speaker B: an exam and it's hot outside and it's so.
Stop that.
[00:03:09] Speaker C: The heat, this heat is so hot. I mean, bad. Never felt heat like this.
[00:03:13] Speaker D: I'll tell you though, I was, I was up earlier this morning than I usually am and before the sun. Really, which I mean, yeah, it's cold before the sun comes up, but like it felt good briefly before the sun was beaming the quad and making everything humid.
I was walking towards Lloyd and I
[00:03:34] Speaker B: was like, yeah, felt decent.
[00:03:37] Speaker D: Seven in the morning. So, I mean there's that.
[00:03:39] Speaker C: That's not too bad.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Yeah. It has been getting colder.
[00:03:45] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Throughout the night. So that's something to look forward to.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Because there's fall mornings, like October mornings. You can't.
[00:03:52] Speaker C: Oh, we're so nice, aren't they? Yeah. So, you know, I was, I was.
I had a Zoom catch up call with. With Nick. Nick Smith. Shout out to Nick. Thank you, Nick, for.
For catching up with me. Me, the one of the original co hosts of the show.
So he's up in Charlottesville, second year law school. We were talking about the weather.
It was.
This was in the afternoon, maybe like 3 o'.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Clock.
[00:04:16] Speaker C: I think when we were talking or something like that.
It was 75 degrees in Charlottesville. I was so envious.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: See, that is.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: And it was like 97 here. Do you believe that?
[00:04:29] Speaker B: That is really nice.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: That's nice.
It's nice.
[00:04:32] Speaker D: You don't realize how good they have it.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: That's so nice.
[00:04:34] Speaker C: That's the way September ought to be.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm excited to go up Buffalo.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Just purely for the weather.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: That'll be. And so you've got a game or you're. You're be. Not a game, but a wedding.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: You're attending wedding. Something this weekend.
[00:04:47] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Bill's game. Fall.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: Bill's game.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Okay. Missing two Alabama games. But you know, it is what it is.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: You'll be tuning in, I'm sure.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Oh, for sure.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: For sure.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: You can best believe that the games
[00:05:00] Speaker C: will be watched when it's, it's, it's, it's turning out to be exciting. Good start of the year too, I think for, for football.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: I think it was a good win on the road at Kentucky.
[00:05:10] Speaker D: I agree.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Big game this weekend. Maybe.
[00:05:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Maybe get a get back.
[00:05:15] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: Hopefully that's right. Florida State.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Then it gets tough.
[00:05:21] Speaker C: Gauntlet.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Just a gauntlet. It does not because now Mississippi State's not looking.
[00:05:25] Speaker D: But yeah, that's not that quarter. That's not an easy win.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: No.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Lenora Sellers is still there and Dylan
[00:05:33] Speaker D: Stewart, their defensive end.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. They all just need to go get on. But no, we are excited to be back.
Today. We'll be talking about something that means a lot to Dr. Perez and should mean a lot to us students too. And it's just, it's pretty impressive what Dr. Perez and his team and whoever worked on this project were able to come up with. And we'll get started with that after the break. This is the BIM Balance,
[00:06:18] Speaker C: Wvuafm, Tuscaloosa.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:07:02] Speaker C: Welcome back, everyone, to the BAMA Balance. And today, as Brooks mentioned, it'll be a fun one for me anyway to talk about something that's been a part of my position here and part of my work here at the university.
And that's the Alabama model. You know, Mary Kate made reference to it in our last episode when she was talking about the Capstone Wellness Explorer.
And it's, it's such a great thing to see how far the Alabama model has come since we started it. So, you know, it's something we started or that, that when I got here in 2017, it's, it was really the central task for my role is to establish a comprehensive model of student well being for our students.
That was exciting to me and I knew that I couldn't do it without the input of students. And so that's where the Advisory Council on Wellness came in. They were really helpful to me to help design it, to help think about conceptually what it should be and then eventually to implement it. So I think for me, what's very special about it is that it not only represents a holistic model of health and well being for our students, but also is a model that was designed by students for students. So I think that that makes it pretty special to me as well.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: I think that's really cool. And you said basically what you. I mean, no other university had.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Done anything like this.
So I think that is really impressive as well. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at it right now.
This would have been the end of last epic academic year.
[00:08:49] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: There's been over 51,000 responses since 2021.
[00:08:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: So that is.
[00:08:56] Speaker C: It is impressive. It is. It's a big data set. Right. And so many other universities and colleges have different ways they assess student well being through annual surveys that are sponsored by different organizations or groups.
And many universities have their own version of what a wellness model looks like. But very few universities, if any at all, really use their model to help assess student well being. And that's where we've got the advantage. So we actually take our model and we operationalize it to ask students, how are you doing in your academic well being today? And because we've done that, we have a really unique way to understand student well being.
And it gives us some information both at. On the yearly level, but really from a week to week level too. So we can look at trends during the week, trends during the semester, and over the course of the year too. It's really cool.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: That is awesome.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: How so?
When you and your advisory council were thinking about this, for those that don't know, the seven dimensions are academic, career, financial, psychological, physical, social, spiritual.
Was it, was it you and the students that kind of just talked about those dimensions and felt like, you know, those are what drive students?
You know, that's like the big seven.
[00:10:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, it's big seven for, for our campus. When I, when we met initially or when I met with our advisory council, my advisory council, we looked at different models that universities had. And so there were some models and some of their aspects of well being that kind of resonated and some didn't.
We found, you know, some universities have maybe a five model or five dimension model. Others had maybe like a 12.
And so in looking at those different models and, and knowing our students, that's how we came up with the final seven. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, that's cool.
And it went through a lot of discussion too, in terms of what resonates with students, what.
And as students, what do they feel are those core dimensions of well being?
So I have to give them a lot of credit in helping to conceptualize and then, and then implementing the model as it is today.
[00:11:36] Speaker D: What is like the reaction from I guess like the other parts of the administration or looking at these data sets, like how does whether it's your department or another one use that data to maybe implement new programming or other ways in which they seek to improve students well being?
[00:12:02] Speaker C: That's a great question, Edward. I think we're just starting to see that now because just over the last couple of years we've been able to start looking at our data and comparing
[00:12:16] Speaker D: it to like the previous.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: Exactly. And, and, and also knowing how different departments and areas within our own division can use the data. You know, my saying has always been that, that you know, promoting student health and well being belongs to the whole campus, not just, you know, the four areas, my four areas, but all campus departments and, and groups. And so, you know, right now I think our division and certainly the work that my, my areas are doing now are really, I think on the forefront of, of looking at our data. And with the help, with the strong help and partnership in collaboration with our office of planning and assessment, they're helping us to analyze the data we've looked at. So some of the early uses of the data that we've been able to collect from our Alabama model pointed us to the financial well being of students. And what we found was that early on students felt like that their financial well being was pretty good. But we dug deeper and we realized that students were saying that they lacked in the skills of financial planning and those day to day lifelong or financial budgeting skills. So we realized, okay, they, you know, they may think that their financial well being is good, but when we dig deeper, what they're missing are some of the knowledge and skills of financial literacy. So that led to the development of the financial literacy website and eventual development and implementation of a peer coaching program through health promotion and wellness.
Other ways that we've used the data has really helped us to advance issues of mental health on campus. So part of the results have been, and in working with the advisory council, some of the results have been increasing resources to hire mental health therapists and then our new student well being hub which will be completed, gosh, in a few months. I can't believe that that's going to be awesome.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm excited. Are you planning on staying in Rose or will you move over to that building?
[00:14:38] Speaker C: I'll, I'll stay in Rose. I'll stay in Rose. I think that, you know, any space I had would have been, is Better served.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: With one of the departments or something like that. And it gives me an excuse to head out there for meetings. Yeah.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Beautiful building.
[00:14:53] Speaker C: It's kind of cool. Have you guys taken a look at it or do you know where it is?
[00:14:57] Speaker D: On Bryce?
[00:14:58] Speaker B: Yeah, Bryce.
[00:14:59] Speaker C: Have you taken a ride past it?
[00:15:02] Speaker B: I've ridden by it kind of recently, too.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Okay. We're going to take a. A field trip out there.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I want to see the, like.
[00:15:08] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:15:09] Speaker D: Inside.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: Awesome. Let's do that. Because they're at least of as. As far as I know, they've started. I think the flooring is all set.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Oh, awesome.
[00:15:19] Speaker C: Yeah. And they're starting to do some finishes on the interior.
Our installation is so the interior finishing.
I just received the final graphics package for the inside. It's so nice. We're. We're. We'll just make a appointment to head out there.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: Yeah, that'll be fun.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Sounds awesome.
I'm looking at these numbers right now, and I do have one question. How big of a difference?
So we've got up until 2021 in front of us right now. Y' all started running this in 2019.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: We started in 2019.
And for the purposes of this. Of the annual impact report, we didn't include that 1920 year because that was a Covid year and we just implemented that year.
But it provided us with some unique data now. And it's kind of an outlier data, but it provided us with some really interesting data. And part of the way was helpful for us was that, you know, when. When in the midst of COVID and in the midst of the university being closed in the spring of 20, students were still responding to our email. So we knew how students were coping with the pandemic. Probably one of the few universities who had direct knowledge of how their students were coping.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: That is really cool. I was going to ask how big of a outlier that was when y' all got all that data back and reported it.
[00:16:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: So that's very interesting.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: It's very cool. And it allowed us to also, you know, reach out and provide services to students who are having a hard time and I think had an impact on the number of students who came back in the fall.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's great.
[00:17:04] Speaker C: So I think that, you know, the data speaks so much. And right now our goal is to now understand the data and its implications for programs and services and how we can best use the data to be informed in so many different ways. Again, there's so much that we can continue to talk about.
I can continue to talk about it forever and we'll look at different aspects of our Alabama model. But for now, we'll take a quick break. This is the Battle Balance. We'll be right back.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Wvuafm, Tuscaloosa.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling, and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: Foreign.
[00:18:34] Speaker D: Hey, y', all, welcome back to the BAMA Balance Podcast. And I. I've really enjoyed getting to hear more about this Alabama model and. And kind of all that it entails. And I know y' all can't see it, but I mean, this packet that we have and we're looking at is incredible.
[00:18:50] Speaker C: It's a lot of data.
[00:18:51] Speaker D: A lot of data. A lot of data, which I look at it and, and at first glance is always something that's. It takes a minute for me to kind of.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:58] Speaker D: I'm not used to this kind of all this, but it is really, really fascinating and really, really cool. And I think, you know, as we get into this segment, we kind of want to dive into kind of what we've individually see out of it.
It's kind of how we.
[00:19:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:18] Speaker D: Feel like we want to.
[00:19:19] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, when you think of, when you think of your own well being. Well, first, I mean.
[00:19:23] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, that's right. What well being me, what you think well being means.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: Yeah. What does it mean to you? But yeah, thinking before as you were talking, Edward, how. How familiar were the two of you about the Alabama model before Mary Kate came in?
[00:19:40] Speaker B: I guess, I mean, I always answer every email, so I've definitely, like, filled out questionnaires and stuff, but I didn't really, I guess, realize what kind of data was being collected.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: And how it was used.
Now that I'm looking here at it, I'm like, wow, this is really impressive. Like I asked you earlier, you know, that's a ton of stuff. Where could you even house all that? But no, I mean, it is very interesting. I am now aware.
[00:20:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: But that's kind of why I wanted to talk about this today.
[00:20:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: I felt like everybody needs to be aware about it.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: Well, and it's good to see. Well, thank you for answering all your emails and responding because I think that that's at the heart of it. We want to have students respond and be invested in it.
And quite frankly, we educate students, freshmen during Bama Bound on the Alabama model. And so. But Bama Bound also presents a lot of information. It's information overload. And so I think that part of it is always educating students about it and seeing how it can help them with their own wellness journey, that kind of thing. So. Yeah, Edward, in terms of, you know, in what ways does our Alabama model speak to you and your own thoughts of well being?
[00:21:04] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's really, I guess, eye opening and also somewhat enlightening because I look at these seven different kind of aspects.
Dimensions is the word of well being.
And I think, and we've talked about it before on this podcast, but like, I don't necessarily often associate like financial or career as much to my well being as I maybe would like physical or social or psychological. So I think that's just cool that it, it shows how multi dimensional it is, especially when it might not.
It might seem like just a purely mental thing at first because I think you know the word well being and you associate it with mental health and maybe also physical health. But there's just so much more to it. And I think that seeing the data really shows, you know.
[00:22:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:09] Speaker D: That bec. I mean, what's the word? I'm trying to find a word. I can't think of it. But seeing the data and seeing where the lower, like financial being, one of the lower.
[00:22:21] Speaker C: Right.
[00:22:21] Speaker D: Things, and me not even realizing that was probably a part of well being, I feel like that's probably correlated to some degree.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:22:26] Speaker D: Of. Of not of something that you don't pay attention to in that way. And therefore it's not cared for in the way it should be. And I think that's, that's what I kind of am getting from looking at this data.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: And you're so right. I think that for the longest time, well being was synonymous with mental health or psychological well being.
And it is much more than that. And I think what I appreciate about our model is that it speaks from a student perspective on what our students believe are the core components of well being.
And as we start looking more in terms of our data, you know, some of what we're finding is interesting. Like again, for financial well being, some of the things we find are that there are differences in how first generation students experience financial well being versus non first generation students or the relationship of overall well being to gpa. Right. Brooks, you made a comment about that earlier.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: It is crazy.
On the sheet that we're looking at is basically like a line graph of all the dimensions and there's a red line and a gray line. Red line is over 3.5 GPA and the gray line is under 3.5 GPA. And in every, in every section on here, 3.5 GPA is, is, is immensely ahead of under 3.5 GPA. So I think that is very interesting.
[00:24:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: And Edward, I want to make a comment on what you said earlier. I feel like as, as far as these dimensions go, I, I definitely agree with all of them. They are a big part in well being. But some of these like I could see, you know, not really thinking about until somebody's struggling with that.
And, and for me, I may not even know that, you know, financial well being correlates to my overall well being. But you know, when I'm struggling that that could bring me down in other sections.
So that is, that is very interesting
[00:24:36] Speaker C: to look at and you know, it really is interesting when we start to look at the data and, and each dimension. So some of the interesting insights are, you know, by dimension or things. Like when we look at career well being, part of what we find there is that in general, overall, the overall career well being is.
What we find is that freshmen and seniors tend to show, tend to experience more struggle with their career well being than sophomores and juniors.
[00:25:16] Speaker D: Sounds about right.
[00:25:16] Speaker C: Does it make sense? Yeah, yeah.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: One, you're trying to figure out what you're going to do.
[00:25:20] Speaker C: That's it.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: You got to find a job.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: Yeah, that's right.
[00:25:23] Speaker D: And then questioning what you thought you
[00:25:24] Speaker B: were going to do.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. Right. And so how does that, how does that aspect of career well being that impact your overall well being in terms of psychological well being, sense of. Right. Sense of security in yourself. And, and then do you start to have financial doubts about the future, particularly if you're not managing your money in the present very well, that kind of thing. So it really is. There's so much, I think tied into each of those dimensions related to student wellbeing and each of those dimensions, I think have an impact on each other.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: I do want to say that we are on the rise as a whole.
Last year.
[00:26:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm so happy with it. I think that the first couple of years was trying to establish a baseline of where our student population experiences or well being. And then overall over the course of the last Few years it's been, it's risen, which is great. It's really good to see that. Which to me says that we're doing something right to support students well being. And sure, there are other things that we can do to improve that.
You know, some of the things we're looking at is how to address the issue of retention here at the university.
What we're now finding, being able to look at the data, is that the dimensions of well being are pretty significant in terms of impacting student retention.
But out of all the seven dimensions, social well being seems to be the most important, the most significant.
Then there are other aspects of social well being that are involved. Involved in retention, but that's just somehow we're able to look at the data and to use it.
You know, we've used the data in other ways to provide services and programs to students.
Again in terms of mental health services and the other resources like the new student well being. Hub, the, you know, an interesting fact is that that's how we came up with our financial literacy website and peer coaching program is looking at financial well being for students. So there's just a lot there that we can use. When you, when you think of, when you think of your own well being, though, and looking at the dimensions, I know one of the things we've talked about is spiritual well being.
And, you know, there are some dimensions which we really haven't looked at exclusively or even talked about here exclusively.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I will say, though, the spiritual well being has been the highest score. Yes.
Yeah, yeah. For the past three or four years, it's been the highest scoring out of the seven, which is, I mean, we've talked about it over and over again. I mean, that. That is very important.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: Yeah, it really is.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: But truthfully, a lot of these probably do, like you were saying, rely on one another.
We know academic has some type of pool in this, in this data.
[00:28:34] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:28:34] Speaker B: Obviously spiritual does. But like, things like spiritual well being could affect your physical well being, your financial well being.
So it is great to see that on the rise as well, with it being the highest scoring dimension.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really neat. And, and I think, you know, what's prompted that rise in part was the pandemic, because it was during that time when we really saw the increase in spiritual well being for students.
You know, that was a very trying time. And I think that to see its continued gain has been exciting and curious. I'm like, I wonder what that's about now.
Is it about our students finding more reliance on their spiritual well being or more. Or placing more importance or more emphasis on it.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Right?
[00:29:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:25] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:29:26] Speaker C: That's really neat.
[00:29:28] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, I think that we'll wrap up the second segment here. We'll be right back with our outro. You've been listening to the bama balance.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Wvuafm tuscaloosa.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: What's up guys? We're back for the outro segment. This has been great. It's been really cool for us or I know, at least me, I'm sure Edward too. To learn more about the Alabama model and kind of how that runs. You know, as a student you get these emails, but that's kind of, kind of why I want to do something like this. Just to like, you know, get students more aware. Because like you said, if you earn it at bama bound, really the only thing I remember from bama bound is going in and picking my classes.
[00:31:07] Speaker C: That's it.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: But no, I mean, it's been very interesting.
And for those out there listening, if you want to learn more about it, studentwellness, UA edu, it'll. I mean, pretty sure the model's on there.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: It's on there.
That's right.
You know, at the beginning of each semester I push out kind of a video on our Alabama model as well as a video on what students can expect when they get an email and how to respond. Only takes 10 seconds, if that.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it was super quick to complete it. They are. Which is important that we do respond because this is how we have this data and you know, this is for the good of us, not for anything else. But this is to improve, you know, students well being and our lives are on campus. If I'm not mistaken, this is the reason we have cornhole boards.
[00:32:02] Speaker C: That's it.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: Chairs.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: That's right. That's right. Yeah.
[00:32:06] Speaker D: So sick.
[00:32:06] Speaker C: Yeah. It's crazy, isn't it? Yeah. Some of the data that we. That we were able to pull out from that Covid year and some of the work of the advisory council on psychological factors during COVID result or yielded in some recommendations on how to best serve students during that time. Because I don't know if you remember this, but during that time you had to have like six feet distancing, like social distancing, six feet apart.
You couldn't gather in groups no more than six or eight or something like that.
And so some of the data, you know, using. Using some of the data, the advisory council looked at it and provided a recommendation, one of the recommendations to our administration about creating spaces on campus where students could gather socially. Distance, safe ways and numbers. And so to.
To the credit of. Of our department's facilities and grounds here at the university, they came up with supplying the quad with. With the Adirondack chairs.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Yeah, those are awesome.
[00:33:22] Speaker C: It's cool, isn't it?
[00:33:23] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt.
[00:33:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: They get used a ton.
[00:33:25] Speaker D: They do get used a ton. And they're about to be used. I just think about it every. During the fall when it's like actually cool.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:32] Speaker D: There's. You can't find an open one.
[00:33:33] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:33:34] Speaker D: Everyone is on them.
[00:33:35] Speaker C: The Adirondack chairs, those cornhole.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: Imagine setting up your tailgate tent and you've got a cornhole boards right there.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: That aren't going even. Nobody can steal them.
[00:33:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: Not coming out of the ground.
[00:33:47] Speaker C: It's so great.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: They're nice.
[00:33:48] Speaker C: Yeah, they're really good. So it's a nice.
It's a concrete way that we've been able to use the data. How student voices have been important in promoting health and well being on campus and how the campus has really responded well to some of the recommendations. And now you just see cornhole boards and the Adirondack chairs. But there's a story behind that which
[00:34:13] Speaker B: is kind of cool. Absolutely.
I've got one question for you. What's your favorite?
I mean, I know this was your first big project at Alabama. What is your favorite part about the model that you enjoy?
[00:34:25] Speaker C: So part of what I. Well, right now what I enjoy is starting to look at the data. We can start to look at the data.
I think for me the, the most enjoyable part of it is promoting it not just across campus to students and during different battle bound sessions or that kind of thing. But we've been able to. Now we, meaning me and some of the members of our advisory council and more recently members of SGA have been able to take the work of the Alabama model and present it at national conferences.
So the work that we're doing here at Alabama is very cutting edge. We continue to be really pioneering this work in health and well being for students nationally.
We'll have a second publication on it shortly and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about it.
[00:35:17] Speaker D: One might even say the capstone of higher education.
[00:35:20] Speaker C: The capstone of higher education. I think you just said it, Edward.
[00:35:23] Speaker D: Perfect one, you know, hire everything.
[00:35:25] Speaker C: Hire everything.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Higher life.
[00:35:28] Speaker C: Higher life. And that, that deserves. That deserves a Roll tide. Roll tide.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: But yeah, this has been great. Like I said, studentwellness UA edu if you want to learn more and if you're a student, please check your email. If you get these emails, just make sure you respond and be truthful about it. This information definitely helps you more than it hurts you and it takes all of 10 seconds like Dr. Perez said. So it's been great. Talking about the Alabama model. We'll be back on next week.
I'm Brooks Barbri.
[00:36:01] Speaker D: I'm Edward fountain.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: And I'm Dr. Tony Perez.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: And this is the Bama Balance.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: This show was not intended as a substitute for professional counseling. Further, the views, opinions and conclusions expressed by the show hosts or their guests are their own and not necessarily those of the University of Alabama, its office or trustees. Any views, opinions or conclusions shared on the show do not create a relationship between the host or any guest and any listener, and such a relationship should never be inferred. If you feel you're in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, please contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective county's crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
