Another Season of Liberty’s Student Health and Wellness Podcast Released

This semester marks the second season of Challenging Your Health Mindset, a podcast created by Student Health and Wellness for Liberty students, faculty, staff and the community. 

“We wanted to have a space to talk about trending and challenging health topics with prominent people here at Liberty and from the Lynchburg community,” Assistant Director of Student Health Center and Wellness Intiatives Abi Broda said. “We decided a weekly podcast each semester was a great way to reach students.”

Student Health and Wellness has a Campus Wellness Plan called “Choose Well. Do Well. Be Well.” Their hope is to encourage a campus-wide culture of wellness for students, faculty and staff according to their website. The podcast is one way they are accomplishing this.

Executive Director of the LU Health Center and Wellness Initiative Dr. Keith R. Anderson hosts the podcast. Each episode, he sits down with a guest who is either an expert in the chosen topic or has experience with the topic. Broda said the podcast is conversational and follows a Q&A format. 

So far this semester, guests have included School of Communications & the Arts graduate Rashad Gopee, Campus Dietician Rachel Sanders, Health Sciences Career Coach Rebekah Trittipoe, LU Shepherd Executive Director Wes Franklin, Professional Advisor Lisa Wycoff, Office of Residence Life Associate Director Sheldon Farrington, Parent and Family Connections Assistant Director Tamantha Anthony and more.

The podcast focuses on the nine dimensions of wellness: digital, emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social and spiritual. 

According to their website, people who invest in educating themselves in each dimension and implement “practical steps for habitual changes” will have “an optimal lifestyle.” Their website includes examples of practical steps, challenges, resources and Bible verses for each dimension. 

“We conducted a Needs Assessment Survey in the Spring for students to let us know what they were struggling with or wanted to hear more about,” Broda said. “We have used these results as a guide to plan the podcast topic flow, questions and guest list.”

Students believe having a campus podcast is important for those who struggle with mental health and offers them a resource to glean helpful information from. 

Senior family and child development major Meredith Mawyer believes the campus podcast will help break the shameful culture of discussing mental health issues.

“I feel when we have mental health issues, even if they’re not severe or recurring, there’s a culture of shame because we are told if we have those issues then we didn’t pray enough or we don’t trust God enough,” Mawyer said. “I think it [the podcast] will give students super easy access to the truth that they need to hear. This way they can get the help they need regardless of the culture around them.”

Episodes are released each Tuesday and can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor and on Liberty University’s YouTube page. 

Season one aired in spring 2021 with 14 episodes, and season two will have 12 episodes. Broda said the seasons correlate with Liberty’s fall and spring terms.

Fitch is a news reporter. Follow her on Twitter at @charity_elise_.