Well-Being & Health Promotion

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is bringing our full attention to our present moment experience, and meeting what we find there with kindness and curiosity. As we do this, we begin to understand our bodies and minds better and not be so reactive in our daily life to thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. Mindfulness creates a space where we can choose to respond rather than react, and like any skill it can be strengthened with practice. With mindfulness, we develop a quality of attention that can be present no matter what is happening. This will help us to have more peace, ease, and balance in our lives.

Explore more in our Mindfulness page below and learn about our event offerings each quarter!

Mindfulness

A week of various activities hosted by a multitude of departments on campus to alleviate the stress before finals! Coming soon. 

Past events

Interested in what we offered in the past? We offer a wide range of activities from intramurals, arts & crafts, mindfulness, skills development, food gatherings, and more! Our priority is in providing a space for students to wind down while collaborating with many departments within the school to spread awareness in what OC has to offer! Below we highlighted some of our favorite past events:

🎨 Bead Art Time | International Club

Let your creativity shine and come by to create some bead art with the International Club.

🐶 Therapy Dogs | Haselwood Library 

Snuggle and play with the cute pups and release some stress at the Haselwood Library.

🏀 Intramural Basketball Open Gym | OC Recreation (now WBHP)

A perfect opportunity for students of all skill levels to enjoy a friendly and competitive game of basketball! Whether you're a seasoned player or just looking to have some fun and stay active, this open gym session is designed to bring together the campus community for some spirited hoops.

🧠 Mindfulness to Destress Workshop | WBHP

This virtual workshop will introduce the concept of mindfulness, offer a few practices, and hopefully leave us feeling calmer and more energized for the rest of our day.

🍦 Icecream Social | Military & Veterans Programs

Grab a taste of some delicious icecream with the Military Veterans Programs! Bring your friends and meet some new faces to take a break before the start of finals. 

If you're interested in seeing other events or for us to collaborate with someone new, please contact @email. We'd love to hear your thoughts! 

Stories of Resilience: Yours, Mine, and Ours is an event hosted by WBHP that shares personal stories of Olympic College students and employees. Our storytellers will share stories of failures, struggles, setbacks, and loss that they have faced, how they walked through those events, and how those experiences have shaped them. 

Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce. - vivian komori

Our past events have been moderated by Olympic College Professor, Dr. James Estrella. 

Our past storytellers:

• Dennis Halstead, OC Employee in Purchasing Services
• Morgan Pasquier, OC Employee in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
• Erica Woodside, OC Alumni and current Employee in the Recreation Department

fOC has installed opioid overdose response boxes around campus. The boxes contain Narcan, a brand of naloxone nasal spray, as well as gloves, alcohol wipes, pulse oximeters, and face shields for rescue breaths. Narcan is a safe, easy to use medication that works quickly to revive someone experiencing an opioid overdose.

Storage and Locations

Each quarter we offer Mental Health First Aid Certification courses for free to all students and staff at OC! Space is limited!  

Please complete our inquiry form to learn more about availability in our upcoming classes!

OC MFHA Inquiry Form

Class Information
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is skills-based training that teaches people how to identify, understand and respond to signs and symptoms of a mental health or substance use challenge.

Similar to physical First Aid and CPR, MHFA helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis until professional assistance is obtained or the crisis is resolved.

Mental Health First Aiders learn a 5-step Action Plan to recognize warning signs of a mental health or substance use challenge, provide help in crisis and non-crisis situations, and understand where to turn for additional assistance.

Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based, early-intervention course that teaches participants about mental health and substance use challenges.

Each quarter as part of our Well-Being Wednesdays series, we run a workshop "Learn. Talk. Lock" to help students prevent suicide and create a safer environment for all. The workshop serves as an opportunity to learn the warning signs, how to talk about your concerns and the strategies to reduce access to harm.

This workshop is free to OC students and staff and registration is not required! For more information, contact @email. 

The Well-Being Machine is finally opening for the first time here at Olympic College!

Our Mission: Offer student and staff access to vending machines stocked with emergency contraceptive medication and other forms of contraception that is accessible on weekends and after 9:00 pm.

Products & pricing

We want to highlight the importance of providing affordable and accessible products to students. All products stocked within the machine are free, aside from emergency contraceptives & pregnancy tests. As of now, the machine only accepts credit card payments with no cash options.

Other products that will be sold in the Well-Being Machine include:

• Sexual health products: condoms, pregnancy tests, emergency contraceptives 
• Informational brochures: consent, safe-sex
• Deterra drug disposal pouches 

The vending machine is located on the right side of the Bldg. 10 entrance beside the energy drink vending machine. (Open 24/7)

If you would like more information about the products, mission, or have general questions, please email @email.