The Host: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Student Affairs Podcast Series. My name is Sasha, and I am majoring in communication here at University of Louisville and I will be hosting this episode. Today we have a special guest Dr. Aesha Uqdah, clinical psychologist. Dr. Uqdah is the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs for Student Wellbeing and the Director of UofL's Counseling Center. Today we will be talking about the importance of well-being and the role of mental wellness in real-life. Stay tuned so you don't miss out on all the interesting information.
How are you doing?
Aesha Uqdah: I'm good. How are you? Thank you for having me.
The Host: Great. So, the first question I would like you to ask why is it important to be well at UofL?
Aesha Uqdah: Sure. Well, first there are several dimensions to overall wellbeing. These include emotional, social, financial, career, spiritual, physical, intellectual, and environmental. When you think about it, all of these dimensions are relevant to the student experience, and having a challenge in any one of these areas can impact the others. Those challenges, in turn, can impact a students’ performance at UofL. Our goal in Student Affairs is to support students in all 8 dimension of wellness, so that they can be successful while they are here and beyond graduation.
The Host: I absolutely agree with you on that. How do you promote well-being for students? And what programs do you offer to aid in students’ well-being?
Aesha Uqdah: At the Counseling Center we use our social media accounts, electronic bulletin boards that you'll find in the SAC to include tips, resources, and build awareness around wellness. Several departments in Student Affairs also promote wellbeing, including Campus Recreation, Student Involvement, the Dean of Students Office, and Housing via online resources and programming.
Aside from individual therapy, the Counseling Center offers several group therapy and support groups. We also present a f all Wellness Fair and a spring Self-Care Cardinal Fair to reinforce the importance of self-care, wellness, and suicide prevention. We are often invited to provide resources at programs put on by other areas in Student Affairs and academic departments, so we make a point of showing up to spread the information and support students there as well.
The Host: That’s great to know that we have so many opportunities here at UofL. Last but not least what is the role of mental wellness in facing life’s challenges?
Aesha Uqdah: This is similar to the role of wellness in being a successful student. There is no “bad” time to begin to incorporate wellness strategies into your life, but the best time to establish routines and gather knowledge about wellness is when you are feeling relatively well. That way, when you are facing a challenge in any of the 8 dimensions, you will already have a plan for coping. You can certainly discover coping strategies at the time you are faced with a challenge, but it may be a bit more difficult to embrace wellness strategies and find the motivation to act if you are already struggling. Again, you can find helpful suggestions and information on our website and social media accounts.
The Host: Okay, that was all on my side, is there anything else you would like to add?
Aesha Uqdah: … No, I think I pretty much covered everything. Thank you again for the opportunity to talk about this information.
The Host: Thank you, Aesha, for such important and necessary information in every student's life. Now hopefully with this knowledge our students will be even better able to take care of their mental health and seek help in the right places. Thank you again for coming to today’s podcast. Wish you all the best. Looking forward for other podcasts with you.
Aesha Uqdah: Alright, Thank you. Take care.
The Host: For more information go to louisville.edu/studentaffairs.
Also did you know that The Cultural Center offers a dvocacy for UofL students, celebrates the diverse cultures of the campus community, engages students in social justice issues, and supports the scholarship and retention of UofL students. For more information visit louisville.edu/culturalcenter.
For those of you who are looking for housing for the next semester, go to UofL Housing and Sublease Community on Facebook. They always offering solutions for living conditions.
Finally, we would like to give a shout out to UofL Career Center for being active on social media and always providing information about internships and job opportunities.
That’s all for today, thank you to our listeners for staying with us today. We hope you learned a lot of new and interesting information. Come back next week for more. Take care. See you soon!