Student Life Professional Development Conference 2018 - Identity, Wellness, & Work: Exploring Well-being in our Work View Other Sessions

In this presentation, I will share the results of my dissertation research examining how religious students negotiate secular university spaces. To collect data, I spent a year conducting interviews and focus groups with 45 Christian, Muslim and Jewish U-M students. These interviews covered a range of topics, including how students’ religious identities impacted their experiences and choices throughout college life. I pay particular attention to how other aspects of identity (race, gender, ethnicity, etc.) influenced their experiences as religious students at Michigan.

Our identities show up in a variety of ways in the workplace, but one place it shows up that we don't often discuss is in supervision. Being a socially just supervisor can be difficult, especially because supervision is beyond the day to day interactions and one one ones. This session will explore the supervision relationship and how to infuse an awareness of identity into individual conversations and in noticing and managing group dynamics. Participants will spend time discussing scenarios and experiences they have had to explore the role of identity in this work.

This session will address the idea that "self-care" can sometimes be privileged, idealized, and over-simplified in a culture that applauds busy-ness and individualistic definitions of well-being. The term self-care also suggests that caring for ourselves is something that we do alone. Presenters will facilitate a discussion that allows for new ways of thinking about the topic, including mindfullness and stress relief.