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The Well-being Committee’s Theme of the Month: Intellectual Health

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As we embark on another promising academic year, the Well-being Committee of Saint-Paul University would like to wish everyone a year full of health, learning and growth. We are a committee composed of members from various departments; faculty, staff, and students, whose aim is to promote and enhance the holistic well-being of our university community. More information about the committee is available here.

Throughout the year, the committee will highlight one of the eight Pillars of well-being. Each month we will highlight resources, initiatives and activities that support the particular pillar.

In September we are highlighting Intellectual Health.

What is Intellectual Health?

Intellectual Health is about engaging in creative and stimulating mental activities. It involves lifelong learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, and the pursuit of knowledge and skills. Studies have demonstrated that by nurturing our intellectual health, we not only improve our academic performance but also enhance our overall well-being.

Related Events and Opportunities

Academic Research and Writing Support

The Jean-Léon Allie Library is hosting a series of virtual Lunch & Learns to help you start your studies on the right foot. Sessions will cover topics such as academic writing, how to prepare for exams and how to make the most of library resources.

For the full schedule, please click here.

Hope University for Human Flourishing with Dr. Jessica Riddell

Wednesday Sept. 25 at noon to 1 pm

Universities are anchors of hope in our communities. We need hope now more than ever as we grapple with unprecedented pressures – from climate crisis to geo-political instability, political polarization and a myriad of other crises. Hope is not merely a stance: it is a mindset we can build and then deploy in our communities and institutions.

As members of the academy, we are wired for hope – to teach it, to share it, and to imagine a better future.

Universities are complex organizational systems with robust social missions to the broader society. And yet they are also slow to change and reluctant to innovate. We must re-wire systems with hope circuits to better fulfill our mandate at a time where human and biotic flourishing are endangered.

Focusing specifically on the areas of learning, teaching, and leadership, this talk will outline ten conceptual tools that help us all build hopeful systems for human flourishing individually and in community with one another.

For more information, please click here.

Education for Human Flourishing (for students)

A Community of Practice based on transformative pedagogies designed to develop your resilience, enhance your well-being and relational capacities.

This research project is part of Education for Human Flourishing research project financed New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration. Saint Paul University students are invited to participate in six meetings over three months based on transformative pedagogies designed to develop your resilience, enhance your well-being, and enhance your relational capacities. These methods will contribute to your self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and resilience. We will explore together how diverse aspects of your social positioning and identity influence your mental health, an awareness that will contribute to a more open, caring, and relational mindset.

For more information, please click here.

Resources for Faculty Members


Thriving in the Classroom

A digital toolkit to support resilience in post-secondary educators and their student. This toolkit identifies for resources and strategies for learning, discussing and sharing about community resilience, personal resilience, academic resilience and career resilience in your courses.

Visit the toolkit here: www.thrivingclassrooms.ca


Inclusive pedagogies

This online toolkit was created by Teaching and Learning Support Services (TLSS) of University of Ottawa to promote and equip teaching staff to integrate inclusive pedagogies. This toolkit aims to help you answer the following questions:

  • How to lower barriers to learning for all?
  • How to inclusively support the development of every student’s full potential?
  • How to equitably foster academic success for our entire student community?

To visit the toolkit here: https://saea-tlss.uottawa.ca/en/course-design/inclusive-pedagogies