Walking down the basement stairs and taking a right toward the Global Fairfield office in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library, students find themselves face-to-face with a quaint sign on the door of 106B that reads “Wellness Room.”
Stepping inside, they are transported into a calming, creatively designed space, starkly contrasted with the fluorescent lighting and monochromatic layout of the rest of the building. Taking the place of what was a small faculty center just five months ago, Lisa Thornell and the University Wellness Committee opened the Wellness Room with the goal of providing students a place to escape the stress that can sometimes find its way into the library.
In October, The Mirror covered the space’s official opening, emphasizing its mission to aid student wellbeing on campus. Since then, faculty members involved in the room’s introduction have continued to make changes and engage with student feedback to make the space more welcoming and understanding of students’ needs.
Thornell, Head of Library Outreach and Communications at Fairfield University, discussed why this mission was so important.
“We know it’s a building where there’s a lot of stress for students,” Thornell said. “So it just seemed natural that we would have some space where people can decompress from whatever it is that they need to take to take a moment and recharge.”
The room offers a wide range of items, toys and furniture for students to use and enjoy freely. For students needing something to take their minds off of studying, a growing collection of coloring books, fidget toys and leisure reading books can be found littered across shelves and desks. For those looking to escape for a moment and decompress, the space also offers an essential oil diffuser, interactive wall art, yoga mats and a number of prayer books and prayer mats.
In a recent edition of “Beyond the Stacks,” the library newsletter, the purpose of the space was described succinctly: “The Wellness Room is available anytime the Library is open… intended to be a quiet drop-in space for Stags to take a break by enjoying the comfortable seating and de-stress materials for restorative time or spiritual reflection.” For Thornell, the last of these was especially important.
“I’ve had some students who have come by to say what it means to them, in person or they’ve sent messages, that it’s really been helpful to have it…a regular prayer space,” Thornell explained. Even with Campus Ministry just a short walk away, she continued “students that are here for hours in the day, either studying or they work in the library academic commons, they needed a space here.”
This example is just one piece of what Thornell explains to be the most important part of the Wellness Room and Fairfield’s larger role in improving student wellbeing. “I think the library has always really cared about meeting student needs and we’re always listening to them,” she notes. “We adjust and we try to evolve with what the students’ needs are and how they evolve.”
Over the past four months, this has largely been achieved with the help of a survey students are asked to fill out after using the space, providing feedback and thoughts on how the Wellness Room could better fit their needs.
“I want students to know we want their feedback,” Thornell added, urging students to chime in with their thoughts and ideas. “We really do look at what students want when we’re making decisions, so it’s really helpful when people do say if it’s been a good space for them or what could be better.”
Most recently, a jar of LifeSavers was added to the room after a student requested some mints be provided. She also discussed a weekly event the room runs every Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. with new sensory or tactile fidget toys.
On the whole, feedback for the Wellness Room has been overwhelmingly positive. One student, responding to the anonymous comment form explained, “It is a great space where you can decompress and forget about everything stressing you out for a few minutes.” Another student wrote: “Very calming and offers a lot of options to ease your stress. Definitely something for everyone to enjoy in this room, especially love the massage chair.” Thornell notes that the massage chair quickly became a fan favorite, just as she had expected.
While the Wellness Room’s introduction in October is one of the most recent and notable efforts by Fairfield University to further student wellbeing and inclusivity on campus, it is by no means the only one. The library also continues to promote their ever-evolving catalog of items for students to rent out, and they recently introduced lactation rooms for caregivers across campus.
They also have nine therapy dogs that regularly visit (increasing from the initial three certified dogs at the program’s inception), lessons in the First Year Experience curriculum, and countless other events for students within the space throughout the course of the semester.
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