Wellness Lead

Job Description - Wellness Lead 1.0 FTE

**Primary Purpose**

The Wellness Lead promotes student wellness to enhance a safe, respectful, and inclusive student community. The Wellness lead participates in staff initiatives to promote student wellbeing by creating community awareness, champions and executes initiatives and activities that enhance and encourage supportive relationships among community members. They respond to student concerns and connect students to the school's academic, and mental wellness resources. The Wellness Lead ensures that wellness programming and strategy are aligned to the school's mission and vision and best practices.

**Key Accountabilities**

**Promote Community Awareness**
- Ensure students have access to, and knowledge of, all wellness supports and services available both on and off campus.
- Communicate broadly with students regarding events, workshops, availability of resources or general awareness-raising activities.
- Develop positive relationships with students, peers, faculty and families to ensure that students are provided with the best support and guidance as appropriate.
- Facilitate student participation in workshops to recognize what signs to look for when they are in trouble and remove the stigma of getting help when needed.
- Act as a resource to faculty in their efforts to understand student experience.
- Assist instructors to incorporate mental wellness strategies in their interactions with students.
- Track social media (e.g., reddit, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) for signs of stress or specific concerns and ensure these are on the radar of appropriate leaders.
- Promote events related to mental health awareness.
- Work with the Leadership Team in the development of a yearly programme of parent information sessions.

**Direct Student Support**
- Establish a reputation as a trusted advisor among students.
- Advise students on the provision of available resources, including external and internal counselling and mental wellness specialists to support their mental well-being.
- Provide resources to help students deal with issues they are experiencing.
- Advocate for students requiring intervention from other service providers as appropriate.
- In consultation with the Inclusion Lead, develop and conduct workshops to improve student wellbeing

**C**risis Management, Referrals and Outreach**
- Act as point of contact for academic advisors, faculty, and student leaders working with students in distress.
- Provide an effective and skilled response to students who may be at risk to themselves, or may be agitated, distressed or anxious.
- Assist with management of students in crises.
- Collaborate with Inclusion Lead to identify and help students in need of counselling and guide those students to the appropriate resources.
- Respond in a timely manner to any student mental health concerns or crises.

**Supportive Environment**
- Work with students, faculty, and staff to ensure a welcoming environment for a diverse community.
- Support students in meeting the heavy demands related to the professional academic programs and curricular requirements.
- Develop and implement community-level initiatives to encourage positive relationships and reduce barriers to social support and connection among students.
- Work with the administrative team to develop and facilitate workshops targeting a wide variety of wellness topics.
- Assist students and the department in exploring services, resources, and programs to improve skills, build student resilience, and increase academic success.

**Wellness Program Planning and Reporting**
- Develop a strategic framework to respond to specific factors that affect student well-being, success and engagement; as well as emerging issues or problems.
- Monitor and report on community climate and factors that affect student well-being.
- Keep current on trends, issues, and approaches to proactively promote student wellness.
- Develop student-centered performance indicators to measure success of initiatives.
- Provide regular and ongoing reports on the state of the student community and factors affecting student well-being.
- Use data from MDI to plan and support students to ensure that there is at least one trusted adult for each student.
- Make recommendations for program changes and initiatives that would enhance community and student well-being.
- Identify important research questions and necessary data to plan future community wellbeing initiatives.

**Teacher Professional Learning**
- Promote and support the role of social-emotional learning (SEL), Trauma Informed Practice (TIP) and any other relevant approaches within the overall educational program.
- Develop faculty's understanding and skills in supporting student wellbeing
- Organise and lead as required SEL and Student Wellbeing workshops for staff based on research, best practice and in response to the student needs:

- This may include facilitating and maintaining relationships with externa