1. Implementation of multiple interconnected health interventions into the core business
- In order to make a difference in wellness, initiatives stemming from the Wellness Collaborative need to be more than one-off initiatives, but rather, implement multi-pronged interventions.
- This work needs to be integrated into everyday operations and job descriptions. Individuals need to be given the mandate and the resources to work on initiatives that stem from the Wellness Collaborative.
- Evidence tells us that promoting wellness has direct benefits to the institution’s core business including increased recruitment, retention, achievement, performance and productivity for both students and employees, and cost-savings.
2. A comprehensive approach
- Health in all policies, supportive campus environment (including built and natural environment), culture of wellbeing, personal development, and create or reorient services.
- The multiple interventions that are mobilized by the Wellness Collaborative need to consider interventions at the individual, community and systems-level.
- Interventions cannot simply focus on developing skills, knowledge and awareness. We must move beyond this to ensure that the environments in which individuals are learning and working are supportive of health and wellness.
- This requires intervention at a policy- and organizational-level.
3. Equity, inclusivity, and diversity
- The Wellness Collaborative is working to create a culture of compassion, equity, and social justice by grounding our work in health equity and the social determinants of health.
- This requires that the Wellness Collaborative critically examine and transform the systemic barriers that exist in achieving a sense of belonging in post-secondary education.
4. Universal and targeted approaches
- Fundamental to population health, health promotion and equity is the balance of universal and targeted approaches.
- Universal approaches apply to an entire population, like all people at the University of Waterloo, where each member of the university community has equal access programs and services.
- Targeted approaches recognize that social constructs, such as racism, colonization and sexism, are barriers to equity, and that purposeful work must be done in partnership with those disadvantaged groups in order to understand what resources, programs, and services are needed to begin closing that gap.