Health & Wellness Initiatives

A Letter from the Associate Vice President for Health & Wellness

William & Mary – the most resilient and flourishing campus in the nation! Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

In recent years, we have been intentionally shifting the paradigm of how our campus thinks about wellness. When we assess the wellbeing of W&M, we find a lot to admire and to inspire us. We also find some concerns. Concerns that reflect a national trend among young adults that is amplified in communities like ours. W&M is fortunate to attract and retain students who are deeply caring and who are serious about what's important to them. They come from communities where they have received distinction for their intelligence and talent and enter a campus a community where everyone is smart and gifted. They are also transitioning to an adult world of uncertainty, relentless pace, and decreased margin for error. This creates a perfect storm of comparative thinking, with unhealthy patterns of perfectionism and escapism as the norm.

We’re challenging that paradigm. We are taking the concepts and research around flourishing and integrative wellness to create a new normal. We are committed to creating a culture where wellness is recognized as the foundation of excellence — a culture where one leads with values and trust, instead of fear and control. We want students to learn what wellness looks like for them, and to become active, mature consumers of health and wellness resources. We are moving away from an illness-based model of wellness and embracing one of integrative wellness that is holistic, multidimensional, and self-directed.

The new McLeod Tyler Wellness Center will reflect that model of integrative wellness. It will be the new home for Student Health, Counseling, Health Promotion, the wellness activities of Campus Recreation and the Center for Mindfulness and Authentic Excellence (CMAX). Students will not only see it as place to go for counseling or a medical exam, but they will be able to engage in yoga, massage, mindfulness meditation, Tai Chi, acupuncture, biofeedback, resilience training and more.

Positioning the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center in the heart of campus was no accident. Our biggest cultural shift is for students to see wellness as the heart and soul of our shared life here. They bring big hearts to our campus. Their stress is a function of those big hearts. We want them to continue caring and to manage the stress of caring in a healthy manner. Developing that level of flourishing is a community responsibility. We need your encouragement, your curiosity, your wisdom, your challenge, and your support. I invite you to be a part of this exciting commitment to develop a community of lion-hearted, eagle-eyed, resilient, young adults who will change the world with purpose, authenticity and compassion.

R. Kelly Crace
Associate VP for Health and Wellness and Director of Health Promotion

Giving Opportunities 

• Student Health Center Fund
  Support for the Student Health Center at William & Mary.
• Counseling Center
  Support for the Counseling Center at William & Mary.
• Health & Wellness Fund
  Support for Health and Wellness at William & Mary
• After Hours Counseling Center Endowment
  Allows students have continuous access to counseling support, including on nights and weekends when the Counseling Center is closed and when students are away from campus. Learn more (PDF).
• Rapid Referral Assistance Program
  Allows the W&M Counseling Center to facilitate quick access and funding for students when rapid referral is warranted for mental health treatment until appropriate health coverage can be established.
• Hughes-Mintzer Authentic Excellence Initiative Endowment
  Support for the Authentic Excellence Initiative, a Student Affairs program at W&M that encourages healthy values-based decision-making skills in all aspects of life.
• McLeod Tyler Campus Recreation Wellness
  Support for the wellness programs of Campus Recreation in the Health and Wellness thematic area of the Integrative Wellness Center at the W&M
• Riccard Family Tribe Rides Endowment
  Provides flexible funds for the Tribe Rides Program, which helps provide student transportation to and from off-campus mental health appointments.
• The Haven Fund
  Support for the Sexual Violence and Assault Resource Center, The Haven, at the William & Mary.
• H.O.P.E. – Hope Outreach Peer Educator Program
  Support for the health outreach program and education.

Health & Wellness Initiatives Links

• W&M Office of Health & Wellness
• Campus Life - Health & Wellness
• Task Force on Preventing Sexual Assault and Harassment