Wellness Fair Comforts Students With Opportunities and Support
Students enjoyed food, mental and physical health services, and therapy dogs at ICC’s Wellness Fair.
The booths at the Wellness Fair included information and resources for students concerning mental health and physical health, as well as other resources and food booths. Some of the physical health booths included the ICC Cougarplex Fitness Center, Planned Parenthood, and the Central Illinois Friends, which offered STD testing to students. Mental health booths present at the Wellness Fair were the ICC counseling department, Therapy Dogs, and Full Circle, which is a private counseling service. Other booths present at the fair include the Center for Prevention of Abuse and the Peoria Police Department.
One student, Claire Wiegand, said that the fair did lack a booth for international students. However, overall the students attending the Wellness Fair had a positive experience. Several students voiced their appreciation for the food at the fair. Another student enjoyed the mental health services booths.
It was stated that the Wellness Fair took months to plan and was organized by Katelyn Kornafel, an outreach counselor, and Ciara Trimble, a benefits navigator. The fair was created to educate students about the various health and welfare services provided by ICC and other community organizations.
In an email, Katelyn Kornafel said, “Thank you to all who came to the event and interacted with the vendors. Your interest and participation lets us know that these events are needed for our ICC community!”
The counseling department plans on having several more events this semester. The counseling department also wants to let students know about a virtual punch card included in all events. These punch cards are an awards system, with each punch representing an event that was attended. With enough punches, students will receive prizes.
*Editor’s note: This article has been edited to correct errors with attribution and occupations. Claire Wiegand was originally identified as Faith Wiegand and Ciara Trimble was misidentified as a counselor for ICC.