Center offers
healthy advice
to students
By Lori Steinhauer
Of I hr Emerald
Steve Johnson says he had always been able to
overcome his frustrations in the past. However,
when he transferred to the University last term!
Johnson says he found coping with change more dif
ficult than ever.
In Eugene, Johnson, a junior marketing major,
took his first dive into “dorm life" after living alone
in a house during his first two years of college at the
University of Idaho in his hometown. “Moving into
a dorm was very hard for me to adjust to," he says.
Johnson says his stress escalated when he came
home to the dorms from work. He would see and
hear people running around the dorms, and he
would feel burdened by the heap of homework he
had to do. He longed for his family and friends back
in Idaho — or at least for some new ones to confide
in. here.
“I was at the breaking point. I desperately need
ed an out," he says.
Then Johnson came upon the University's
student-run Health Education Center, on the first
floor of the Student Health Center, and met with a
Lifestyle Planning Program peer health adviser.
"It gave me an opportunity to talk to somebody
when 1 had no one.” Johnson says.
The Lifestyle Planning Program, which has won
national recognition, was developed last spring by
Martha Carey, former Health Educator at the Health
Education Center. Last year, Carey received $1,000
for the program proposal, which she entered in a na
tionwide contest for public college health plans.
Lifestyle Planning has expanded, and now has
15 advisers who lend support to students in need of
advice on stress management, fitness prescription,
sexuality and birth control, nutrition/weight con
trol/eating disorders, sports nutrition and substance
abuse, which was added to the program Feb. 18.
The Health Education Center also acquired its
own telephone line on the same day, and now
students can make appointments directly through
Lifestyle Planning (686-4456), rather than going
through the Student Health Center reflfeptldnists.
Students who are troubled by problems of their
own, their friends' or their families' can set up a
45-minute appointment with a peer health adviser,
to talk out their troubles and develop a plan to feel
better. "We feel we can go above and beyond just be
ing OK.” says Steve Smith, co-coordinator of the
ti ntmerits made here
Photo by Rom Martin
April Minnich and Gaston Carlier, substance-abuse advisers at the University’s Health Education
Center, are two of the center's 15 student volunteers who provide advice and information to other
students.
Lifestyle Planning Program. “We do a lot of goal
setting with people. We encourage people to make
changes very slowly,” he adds.
But, Smith emphasizes, “We’re not profes
sionals. We are students helping students.”
Smith also points out that although the service
is free, it can only be offered short-term because
there are not enough advisers to offer long-term aid.
Freshman Kate Conroy has just finished five ses
sions with physical fitness adviser Ellen Feeney
Pellitere. Conroy wanted to knock off about 10
pounds, which she had been having problems get
ting rid of.
"She (the adviser) helped me define what type
of activity was going to help and to evaluate my diet.
I think I’ve gotten what I needed,” Conroy says.
Conroy has added daily aerobic workouts to her
regular weight-lifting program, and has cut her fat
intake; she says she has lost about half of the weight.
Conroy says that in addition to helping her set
goals, her adviser provided encouragement when
her own motivation was down. “Ellen seemed really
knowledgable on it, and there was no drawback as
far as being a peer," she adds.
Smith says peer health advising brings in about
20 to 25 students each week, especially students
seeking ways to reduce stress. However, he says the
program is still unknown to many. “We hear that
every day: ‘We didn’t know you existed.’ ”
To become peer health advisers, students must
be majoring in areas related to health, such as
psychology, health education or recreation, and they
must take Smith's three credit, one-term-long Peer
Health Advising course — Health 407G — before
they can advise students. “We also try to get people
who have had personal experiences so it adds a real
personal touch,” Smith says.
For example, April Minnich, a substance-abuse
and nutrition adviser, is a 28-year-old sophomore,
studying nutrition at the University, and a former
cocaine addict. “Part of the reason I’m a drug
counselor is because I have had a drug problem
before,” she says.
“I’m not here to tell people to stop taking drugs
or stop drinking alcohol,” Minnich says.
However, she says, “if you’re waking up every
morning feeling rotten, then you need help.”
Individuals can only define that point for
themselves, she says.
“We want to help students help themselves,”
Minnich says. “Adding on this drug and alcohol
thing makes us a pretty rounded program.”
Gaston Carlier, a senior at the University, is the
other substance-abuse adviser. “We can be em
pathetic because we have been through the strug
gle,” he says.
Johnson says peer health advising helped him
view his situation objectively and devise some plans
to reduce his stress. He quit worrying what the peo
ple around him were thinking, and focused on his
own well-being, he says. Johnson quit his job, which
he decided was too burdensome with his heavy class
load, and he began to exercise more. He also started
attending some campus lectures and going out with
his friends from work more frequently to keep his
social-life full and diversified.
“I think the peer health advising is absolutely
vital,” Johnson says.
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