Online only: New health advisor program to replace former clubs

By Scott Norgaard     2/11/10 6:00pm

If you're feeling a bit depressed or under the weather, a new breed of specially trained Rice Health Advisors will soon be able to take care of you.The new RHA program, implemented at the beginning of this fall semester, has replaced two former clubs, Health Representatives and College Assistance Peer Program. Health advisers to be deployed next academic year are currently enrolled in a new class, UNIV 250: Rice Health Advisors. The class, with approximately 30 students, is taught by Assistant Director of the Wellness Center Marissa Howat and provides the advisors with specialized training.

In the meantime, there are 24 intermediate RHAs who were past members of CAPP or Health Reps. These students are equipped with kits to handle basic wellness problems. Howat, a Jones College resident associate, said these kits include supplies such as Band-Aids, ibuprofen, condoms, digital thermometers and cough drops.

Once next semester begins, Howat said she hoped there would be three to five RHAs per college.

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Pyle, a Martel College sophomore, said the training for the old, two-club system could be stressful given its single-minded focus, concentrating on either the physical aspect or the mental aspect of wellness instead of a mixture of both.

Club members of both were trained in a crash-course summer retreat, and received ongoing lessons at sporadic times during the school year, Emily Pyle, one of the students currently enrolled in the new RHA class, said.

"People were overwhelmed and they couldn't really retain the information," Pyle said. "It also wasn't effective because people weren't retaining the knowledge and the skills."

CAPP was designed to alleviate students' mental issues, while Health Reps focused on physical ailments.

The former clubs were also facing individual challenges. According to Howat, CAPP members had difficulty with visibility in their colleges, and the Health Reps were only known as condom distributors.

Four RHA coordinators-Sid Richardson College junior Sara Millimet, Sid senior Prashant Prasad, Jones senior John Berens and Will Rice College senior Yara Hamade-designed the new RHA system, which was created to address the shortcomings of the single-focus programs. The team worked in collaboration with the Wellness Center, the Counseling Center and previous student leaders of CAPP and Health Reps. Howat said the new system addresses the entire individual, both the physical and mental aspects.

"Health is holistic and each facet affects the other facets," Howat said. "They are all intertwined."

Jones senior Andrew McDermott said he has confidence in the new system.

"The RHAs are definitely going to be a really good resource since they are going to be fairly well-trained," he said.

The new course that RHA members are currently taking trains students about multiple aspects of individual health. The class covers topics such as psychological health, fitness, nutrition, conflict negotiation, body image and conflict negotiation. It is designed to give RHAs more specific and specialized training, Howat said.

The students currently enrolled in the RHA class were selected at the end last semester, after completing an application process. Each was required to submit an application, as well as recommendations from the college coordinators, masters, RAs and Dean of Undergraduates. In addition, the applicants were cleared with both the counseling department and judicial affairs to make sure they were both academically and psychologically sound, Howat said. The students were selected with diversity in mind.

In addition to UNIV 250, the students will have to attend a retreat before the fall semester, which will focus more on team-building activities, Howat said.

One key duty of the RHAs is to be a model of healthy living, Howat said.

"We hope that they work with college leadership to both prevent lifestyle and behavior consequences, but also model a balance of life and academics," she said.

Another key responsibility of being an RHA is self-awareness, Pyle said.

"It is important to know that we are just the first line of defense," she said. "We have to learn our limit and when to refer to someone else."

Students interested in becoming future RHAs should visit the RHA Web site atwellness.rice.edu/ricehealthadvisors.

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