Ways to Flourish

Welcome back to a new season of Ways to Flourish ! Here at the beginning of our 9th season, Lindsay, Cher, and Calder sit down to chat about what to look forward to this semester and what they're each doing 'for the well of it.' Questions? Feedback? Know someone who should be a guest? Reach out to our email wellness@wm.edu or DM our Instagram account @wellnesswm!

Albeit belatedly, the Ways to Flourish is wrapping up their eighth season and fourth year in the usual fashion, by sitting down with the whole team to chat about the past, the present, and the future. Lindsay, Ginny, Calder, Lilly, Jazzy, and Cher reflect on the past semester, our upcoming summers, and the future of the podcast. We hope you all have a wonderful summer break! P.S. It has been such...

The health and wellness industry is currently thriving, but this success can come at the expense of accessibility and authenticity. Dr. Phil Wagner is a Clinical Associate Professor at William & Mary. He is also an instructor with Les Mills, and he hosts the podcast Diversity Goes to Work with the Mason School of Business. Today, we chat about wellness as a business, the toxic messaging that c...

Environmental wellness is one of the eight Dimensions of Wellness, and it refers to not only nature, but also any physical space that one surrounds themselves with. Creating a physical space that is welcoming to all identities is vital, so in this week's episode, we're sitting down with junior Kenny Ferguson to talk about inclusive spaces on our campus. We go over what initiatives the or...

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of drug addiction. Azad Ashim Sharma is a writer and publisher, director of the87press, based in South London. He recently published his latest collection of poems, Boiled Owls , in which he explores drug addiction, mental health, and their relationship to capitalism and personal connection. Azad visited us in the Wellness Center to talk about the...

Some of us aren't huge touchy-feely people, and some of us are. No matter what, though, physical touch has proven benefits. Kay Hamlin is our new Massage Therapist at the Wellness Center, and she's excited to be here today to talk about why we all need physical touch in our lives. We talk about what touch can do for us, how COVID has impacted our reactions to touch, and how underdiscusse...

Taking the initiative to learn about ways to make our campus more inclusive for LGBTQ+ students is crucial! Wellness Ambassador Audrey Murcko has been building relationships between the Wellness Center and campus organizations Lambda Alliance and the Rainbow Coalition to help queer students on campus access resources. Today, we go over some of their work by talking about what programs they've...

As we continue through cold and flu season after the peak of COVID-19, it can be difficult to decide as students when we can still make it to class and when we ought to stay home. Dr. David Dafashy, Medical Director and Staff Physician at the W&M Student Health Center, is here to clear up some misconceptions. We talk about the difference between upper respiratory infections and bacterial illne...

On  Ways to Flourish , we're often talking about transitions. One of our biggest questions as students is what we're doing and where we're going after college, and it can turn into a big source of anxiety. Luckily, we're not alone! W&M seniors Lily Dines and Richie Carr and UVA graduate Kaitlyn Baker join us to chat about what feelings arise with graduation, what school tra...

So far in our Music & Wellness series, we've been talking to people who consider music to be a huge part of what they perceive as their well-being. Today, Dr. Max Katz, Associate Professor of Music at W&M, helps us turn a critical lens to music as a form of wellness, as well as what music and wellness are in general. We chat about what role music has in his life, how music can be used...

Acupuncture services are now available at W&M! But, chances are, you haven't experienced it before and you don't know much about it. Luckily, Dr. Haunani Chong Drake, our Licensed Acupuncturist and Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, is here to explain to us how she got into the field, how Acupuncture works, and what positive benefits the practice can have on our physical and...

Welcome back to Part 2 of our conversation with Candice Fox, Assistant Director of Health Promotion and Sexual Violence Prevention! We are finishing up our conversation about how social media affect relationships, this time with the lens of creating healthy boundaries and knowing what we want in our romantic or sexual relationships. We cover what it takes to start thinking about your boundaries, w...

Ways to Flourish is back with another Valentine's Day special! We sit back down with the Assistant Director of Health Promotion & Sexual Violence Prevention, Candice Fox, to do a little gossiping--what role does social media play in our relationships and the ways we perceive others'? We chat about some examples of couples using their platforms to show off their relationships, signs o...

Balancing mental health with life is a difficult task for anyone, but this topic sometimes gets pushed aside in the world of sports and being a student-athlete. Amy Schwem, a Psychology and Kinesiology major and member of the Tribe Women's Volleyball team, comes in to continue the conversation about how important taking care of mental health is, not only as an athlete, but also simply as a co...

Welcome back to another semester of classes and the eighth season of Ways to Flourish ! Our team has grown: Cheryl will be taking the mic, and Jazzy will be helping out behind the scenes. We're so excited to get started this semester and have some fun conversations with new and familiar faces alike! Stay tuned every Wednesday for a new episode. Questions? Feedback? Know someone who should be...

It's the last episode of the season, which means the Ways to Flourish team is once again getting together to talk about the semester. Lindsay, Ginny, Lilly, and Calder have a cozy chat about how we've been, our favorite episodes of the semester, and what we're looking forward to in the future. Have an idea for an episode? Questions? Just want to reach out to say hi? DM us on Instagr...

In the second episode of our Music & Wellness series, we are talking about the benefits of making music. Sound and the body have a strong relationship, and creating music is the livelihood of many. Today, we talk to Townsend T, a singer-songwriter and mental health advocate from Arkansas. We go over how she got into music, how it has helped her during challenging times, and what she has learne...

College is supposed to prepare us for real-world workforce. However, most people will find at their first job that the learning curve can be quite steep. Nikita Khandheria, a W&M senior and CEO of the fine dining restaurant Ditas in Marin County, has experienced workforce culture shock firsthand on an especially extreme level. Today, she talks about how she got to where she is, how difficult i...

It's almost Thanksgiving, so we're all probably thinking about food. Luckily, we have Abe Konick, owner of Abe's Kitchen and previous contestant on MasterChef, as well as Wellness Ambassador Anne Ryan Gareis, to talk to us about how food can appeal to all 8 Dimensions of Wellness. Abe tells us about where his love of food came from, how food brings us all together, why national food...

The Matoaka Bottom Feeders' Instagram page reads "Tight lines and good times. Conservation, Mental Health, Sustainability." The student org was established a few years ago to allow William & Mary students to engage in their favorite hobby while contributing to local research. This week, we are casting our lines out to Co-Founders Xavier Starrs and Dudley Harmer to talk about why...

Hey, what kind of music do you like? Listening to music provides a way for us to connect with our emotions and the people around us. In this first episode of our new Music & Wellness series, we talk to senior Lauren Peterson about what her relationship to music is, how she feels like music can change her emotional state, and what she does to expand her music taste.

We are back this week with Part 2 of our Wellness in Greek Life series! We are continuing the conversation with seniors Emma Brooks and Peter Semaan, but this time, we're coming at the topic from a different angle. We recognize and deconstruct systemic issues and barriers within Greek life, as well as explain how these obstacles look from the inside perspective. Make sure to catch Part 1 if y...

Greek life and wellness are not necessarily things you'd immediately think of going together, but being a member in a social sorority or fraternity goes deeper than people outside that sphere sometimes realize. Seniors Emma Brooks and Peter Semaan join us for a two-part series to discuss the role of well-being in their Greek life organizations. In Part 1, we talk about what their favorite par...

One must define their own personal wellness. Luckily, the Wellness Center has a new face around to help us do that--meet Dr. Khaliah Wilson, our Assistant Director of Health Promotion! In this week's episode, we chat about what she has noticed about our campus since arriving, how she practices wellness, and how the Office of Health Promotion can be a resource for students. Resources: Health P...

Food insecurity and historic food-related inequity is a topic at William & Mary that does not necessarily get talked about enough, as it is something that many students have never had to experience themselves. The Campus Food Exchange is a confidential program that provides access to nonperishable food, household products, and personal hygiene products to students, faculty, and staff. Campus M...