The Shaw Wellness Institute, located on the first floor of 113 Broad Street, provides valuable counseling and education, and student employees are encouraging Colgate students to join the Institute.

Shaw offers an array of support for the Colgate community, including sexual assault education services, peer counseling, dietician support and substance use support, according to its website.

Senior Emma Hoesterey is a peer coach on Shaw’s programming team. Peer coaching began last year as a pilot program, she said, and it is continuing this year with six students working as peer coaches.

“What it mostly looks like is people will come with some kind of challenges that they wish to overcome. These can really range whether that be sleeping, concentration in school, time management, those kinds of things,” Hoesterey said.

As a peer coach, Hoesterey described her role as listening and providing feedback to help students reach their personal goals. She became involved with Shaw Wellness after she had been looking on GetInvolved for an extracurricular that involved mental health.

Another facet of Shaw’s array of services is sexual assault education. Senior Eli Gould, a Bystander Facilitator, teaches incoming first-years ways to prevent and be vigilant about sexual assault. Gould’s role also includes teaching these lessons to Greek Letter Organizations on campus.

Gould got involved in his first year at Colgate and explained that he saw Shaw as somewhere he could make a difference.

“It is a great place on campus. For people who really want to make a difference — not that other places don’t — but in Shaw, the work we do, we can see a direct impact,” Gould said. “And I’ve seen the lessons that I teach being implemented at parties around campus and it really does help.”

Beyond the valuable services that Shaw provides, it is also an incredible work environment for those involved with the Institute, according to Gould.

“When you join Shaw, you become part of a family. And I don’t say that word lightly. Everyone there cares so much about everyone else and is so understanding and supportive,” he said.

Senior Eva Wiener is also a peer coach at Shaw. Passionate about mental health, Wiener was looking for a related campus organization to join her sophomore year.

“The biggest reason that I enjoy Shaw is just the community aspect of it,” she said.
“It’s just special to me because everyone in Shaw cares equally about mental health, whether they’re a bystander intervention facilitator or they’re a peer coach or they’re working on nutrition. It ultimately is all about people’s well-being.”

Hoesterey also expressed praise for the campus resource, saying that her bosses are her “biggest cheerleaders and supporters.”

Looking to the upcoming academic year, the Shaw Wellness Insitute will be continuing to support the Colgate student body through sexual assault education and peer coaching.

“It’s really important to get people aware of the resources that we have on campus and understand our willingness to help,” Hoesterey explained. “Something that’s really important is you want to feel comfortable with the person you’re talking to and feel like they are not judging you, for one, but also are relatable.”

Wiener echoes Hoesterey’s desire to spread the news about the peer coaching program.

“We just want more awareness on campus. We want people to feel comfortable coming in for sessions, and we want it to be something that is utilized similarly to the way the Counseling Center is utilized just for slightly different issues,” Wiener said.

For Gould, one of the Institute’s goals is making sure tough conversations happen.

“[The goal in Shaw will be to] continue reaching as many people as possible and just continue spreading a message – that’s so important, and also staying on top of Title IX changes, in any changes in national law or response techniques,” he said.

The Shaw Wellness Institute is not only looking to expand its outreach to the Colgate student body, but they are also looking to expand its staff.

“I urge people to come in if they’re at all curious about it because there are a lot of us that are super passionate about it,” Wiener said.