By Nicole Springer, Senior Director of Professional Development and Scholarship & Chief Equity Officer and Laura Weaver, Special Projects Manager
A quick note: This will be the final issue of Common Cause for the academic year. We’ll be back in September (after a brief summer break!) with more topical stories, resources, and news.
We’re all exhausted. This year, summer is going to be deep and heavy for a lot of us as we continue to grieve so much loss and respond to the mounting external pressures and tensions that have reached every part of campus life. We at Campus Compact know that many of you are focusing all your energy on supporting your students and campus community through these challenges, while continuing to balance work and life responsibilities. In years past, June and July meant summer vacations and long weekends, but in recent years those seemed to have become a thing of the past, with self-care taking a backseat to the ever-present to-do list in today’s grind culture.
It is important to remember that an essential component of caring for others is ensuring that we are also caring for ourselves. This summer, we encourage you to take the time to sustain yourself—to rest, relax, and recharge.
We know even this is hard work, and Campus Compact is here for you through it all. Below, find some inspiration, resources, and opportunities you can use as starting points in prioritizing self-care, wellbeing, mindfulness, and rest.
Mindfulness & Self Care In Practice
Read these stories from across the country that illustrate the different ways institutions promote mindfulness, wellbeing, and self-care practices.
Dartmouth College brings Zen masters to improve wellbeing for its campus community
For the second year, Dartmouth is offering a weeklong exploration of mindfulness with senior monastic teachers, who will visit campus to share tools for applying mindfulness to everyday life with students, faculty, and staff.More →
North Hennepin Community College president speaks out about student wellbeing and success
In this column, Rolando Garcia, president of North Hennepin Community College speaks about the importance of providing students resources and spaces outside the classroom to support personal wellbeing | More →
Michigan State University associate professor explores connection of mental health and wellness in the Black community
In this interview, LeConté Dill, associate professor of African American and African Studies, speaks to how a broader understanding of wellness could affect modern public health now and in the future.More →
Suffolk University institutes a culture of caring on campus
In the midst of a national youth mental health crisis, Suffolk is responding with a campus-wide effort to support and empower its students by offering mental health training for faculty and staff, increasing programs focused on well-being, and student mentors and peer-health educators. More →
Get involved: Mindfulness & Self-Care
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Register for our upcoming coalition conversation, Collective Care through Challenging Times (July 11 at 3:30 PM Eastern), to discuss, share, and practice ways of collective care that sustain us as practitioners before, during, and after difficult periods on our campuses
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BIPOC community engagement practitioners are invited to join our Summer Community of Practice, “Community of Care for BIPOC Community Engagement Professionals.” (Apply by June 10)
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Consider joining a future Changemakers Retreat to build community and advance your work as an aspiring boundary-spanner and changemaker
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Check out Tricia Hersey’s, book Rest is Resistance: A Mainfesto, where she shares personal insights, strategies, and practices for incorporating rest and self-care into one’s daily life using both historical illustrations and personal examples.
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Request the Handbook of mindfulness : culture, context, and social engagement from your college or university library. This scholarly resource offers useful chapters on how to incorporate mindfulness into the curriculum.
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Learn from the NASPA and CADE Time to Ungrind Toolkit about reducing pressures that prioritize productivity over personal health and safeguarding mental health and wellbeing.
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Visit John Kabat-Zinn’s website to find resources that can help you facilitate your cultivation of mindfulness.
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Section of Cultural Competence and Spirituality in Community Building Mindfulness and Community Building
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Read the article ”All Our Relations: Four Indigenous Lessons on Mindfulness, for reflections on healing through acknowledging interconnectedness and how practicing mindfulness helps them remember.
Summer inspiration: Opportunities & resources to embrace over break
1. Community building: Summer Communities of Practice
Join peers across the country to dig deeper into engagement practices. Summer Communities include: Community of Care for BIPOC Community Engagement Professionals, The Role for Bridge Building on College Campuses During Times of Strife, and Working with Incarcerated and Decarcerated Students
2. Resources and Readings: Supporting Students and Fostering Civic Dialogue
As the Israel-Palestine crisis continues, and students continue to take action, find resources here to help support student safety and free speech and foster dialogue so that we can continue to listen, learn, act, and support one another during such difficult times.
2. Field resource webinar: Fostering Trust in Our Elections at a Critical Time
Join us on June 11 at 2:00 PM Eastern to Learn more about Living Room Conversations’ audacious campaign, Trust in Elections, to improve local trust in the election process and move us toward safe, fair, and transparent elections.
3. Student showcase: Highlighting Student-Led Community Engagement Projects
Join us over three sessions for a showcase of community impact projects led by Newman Civic Fellows as part of the Newman Civic Fellow Mini-Grant Program, powered by The Allstate Foundation.
4. Field resource webinar: How an Easy-to-Use Dialogue Tool is Enhancing Learning and Fostering Belonging
Join us on July 16 at 2:00 PM Eastern to learn about Living Room Conversations (LRC), which connects people within communities and across differences using a unique conversational model. This model creates a safe and welcoming environment to respectfully discuss important issues.
Join Campus Compact
To leverage the full benefits of Campus Compact at your institution, join our coalition. Campus Compact membership offers valuable information, powerful networks, and opportunities to work collectively with peers across the country.