Virtual ‘Radical Self-Care’ series offers mental health and 'culturally inclusive' fitness guidance for non-White, 'queer' students
The series addresses ‘intergenerational trauma’ and provides ‘culturally inclusive physical activity.’
St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University are collaborating to focus on the ‘needs and healing of QTBIPOC students.’
Two private institutions in New York hold a regular “self-care” workshop specifically for non-White and non-straight students.
St. Lawrence University (SLU), in partnership with Clarkson University (CU), offers a biweekly “Radical Self-Care Series” that focuses on the “needs and healing” of queer, transgender, black, indigenous, and people of color (QTBIPOC) students.
“This semester we will have sessions addressing: finding and caring for your community as a form of self-care, creating generational wealth & financial wellness, unpacking intergenerational trauma, decolonizing health, and self-care through creative expression,” SLU’s Diversity and Inclusion Office office states.
SLU, along with CU’s Chief Inclusion Office is hosting virtual sessions, including “Decolonizing Mental Health” and “Afro Vibes with Afro-fitness.”
The “Decolonizing Mental Health” session focuses on the healing and needs the “QTBIPOC” students at CU and SLU have been expressing during “this very traumatizing time in history,” CU’s DEI program coordinator Lorraine Njoki says, referring to the pandemic and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. for clarification on how to decolonize mental health, but she did not respond to comment.
In “Afro Vibes with Afrifitness,” Rachael Okesola, the founder of Afrifitness, led the virtual attendees in a 30-minute workout to explore what host Sharon Rodriguez called “culturally inclusive physical activity.”
[RELATED: REPORT: Universities compounded the student mental health crisis during the pandemic]
“We take diversity, equity and inclusion into account in attracting students to campus, supporting them along their journey and helping them launch their careers,” CU’s website states.
“Clarkson University is open to a wide variety of topical programming and hands-on experiences that support and educate by encouraging all students to learn, listen, expand their lens on the world and make their own judgments about how they are going to enter into global leadership roles working with people who have different perspectives, cultural traditions and life realities that inform and enrich our knowledge and appreciation of self and of one another,” a CU spokesperson told Campus Reform.
Campus Reform contacted Njoki and SLU Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Kimberly Flint-Hamilton for comment. This article will be updated accordingly
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