CHHS holds inaugural Week of Caring

In February, the College of Health and Human Services Committee on Diversity and Inclusion hosted the inaugural Week of Caring. The weeklong series of events was designed to give students, staff and faculty an opportunity to express gratitude in a variety of ways.

The committee arranged snacks and daily activities, like chair massages, guided meditation sessions and an interactive talk about how kindness impacts health.

There were notecards where faculty, staff and students were encouraged to anonymously thank anyone in the college for just about anything. The cards were then attached to the "wall of caring" and displayed in the atrium throughout the week. The panels were displayed in the second floor art gallery for several weeks afterward.

Snacks, guided meditations and similar "walls of caring" appeared in Grand Rapids and Benton Harbor, as well.

"So often, we go about our days here without acknowledging the good things -- the help, the comfort and friendship," says Dr. Betty Dennis, chairperson of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. "So we wanted to take a moment to encourage us all to pause, recognize the good things about each other, and to understand that we're better together than alone."

Reaction to the event  was positive and the committee plans to repeat the event again in future semesters.