Student Wellness Honours 2021-22 Staff & Student Awards
The University of Guelph, Student Wellness Services is proud to announce the 2021-22 staff, volunteer, and student award recipients. A total of nine total award winners from the year were honoured included the distinguished Robin Begin and Forrest Caldwell staff awards.
Award Summary
Sabrina Abdul - Wellness Education & Promotion Volunteer Award
Amanda Brunetta – Marlene Pfaff Wellness Education and Promotion Outstanding Peer Award
Anjuli Dutta - Liz Honegger Student Support Network Award
Jesse Ibanez - Barry Wheeler Volunteer Award
Lindsey Robinson - Bruno Mancini Award
Nicole Walker - Cyndy McLean Award
Aritra (Aro) Bhattacharjee - Outstanding Physio Volunteer
Diana Abdi - Robin Begin Award
Briar Long - Forrest Caldwell Award
Wellness Education and Promotion Awards
Wellness Education and Promotion Volunteer Award - Sabrina Abdul
Sabrina Abdul was awarded the Wellness Education and Promotion Volunteer Award for her dedication to the activities of the Centre’s Gryphons Empowered by Movement (GEM) volunteer program. Sabrina joined the GEM program in September and has been a great team-player with amazing insights at team meetings, a fabulous mentor to the students she has been paired with and is never afraid to take initiative with new opportunities, even though she is also heavily involved elsewhere on campus. We appreciate Sabrina's contributions to improving the mental well-being of students on our campus and are excited to continue working with her in the future!
Marlene Pfaff Wellness Education and Promotion Outstanding Peer Award – Amanda Brunetta
Amanda is the senior peer for the Awareness, Balance, Choice team in Wellness Education. She is an incredible leader, planner, and team member with a passion for harm reduction that shines through in everything she does. Amanda has created education campaigns that address addiction stigma, moderated our cannabis talk panel, and worked with folks across campus to share safer substance use information. She is an integral part of the Wellness Education team who is continually stepping up, while challenging the status quo and taking initiative to always think bigger.
Liz Honegger Student Support Network Award - Anjuli Dutta
Although the Student Support Network (SSN) has many wonderful volunteers, we want to recognize Anjuli Dutta’s exceptional dedication to this service. This is Anjuli’s first year with the SSN but she has quickly adapted to her role with immense compassion and enthusiasm. She exudes warmth and kindness, creating a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere for those around her. Anjuli’s commitment to the program is reflected by her actions of going above and beyond during volunteer recruitment, providing practical suggestions to improve the SSN, and her introspective contributions during training. A valued member of our team, we are grateful for Anjuli’s wholehearted involvement in the SSN.
Student Accessibility Awards
Barry Wheeler Volunteer Award - Jesse Ibañez
Jesse in his role as SAS peer helper is committed to on-going learning about disability and accessibility. He was the guiding coordinator for the 2021-22 academic year, and in that role, he regularly connected with students who needed guides. Jesse was thoughtful, diligent and helpful when it came to ensuring students had the support they needed, and he filled-in if there was a last-minute request. What also stood out is that Jesse demonstrated compassion and empathy to the students he supported. He was also a valued leader when it came to assisting newer peer helpers.
Bruno Mancini Accessibility Award - Lindsey Robinson
Lindsey has shown tremendous dedication to ensuring that the Library’s digital document and video material are accessible to people with perceptual disabilities. She has demonstrated leadership and a commitment to accessibility that goes beyond what is required in her position, especially in dealing with the increase in digital content produced during the past two years of remote learning.
Health & Performance Clinic awards
Cyndy McLean Award - Nicole Walker
Nicole is an exemplary volunteer who has a clear passion, inherent curiosity and a unique way of connecting with clinicians and patients alike. Nicole has taken on many roles and responsibilities that extend outside of the doors of the HPC and has represented the clinic with maturity and professionalism. It is clear a lot of personal and professional growth has come from her experience her, which reflects her ability to respond to feedback. We appreciate Nicole's initiative and impact on the volunteer program.
Outstanding Physio Volunteer - Aritra (Aro) Bhattacharjee
Aro has been a great addition to the HPC volunteer program. He demonstrated a passion for extra learning opportunities by coming for optional shifts whenever he could. Whether it be in the dead of the exam season or the middle of holiday breaks, Aro was equally keen to soak up all experience he could. Aro makes a positive impression on everyone he interacts with, whether it be the front desk staff, Physiotherapy team or patients. Thank you, Aro!
Student Wellness Services Staff Awards
Robin Begin Student -Focused Leadership Award - Diana Abdi
Diana is a counsellor in Uof G Counselling Services and she never turns down an opportunity to stretch herself beyond the limits of her role to support students. Diana consistently takes on added responsibilities with eager enthusiasm because she does not view them as tasks, but rather opportunities to better serve students and build their capacity for change.
Forrest Caldwell Award - Briar Long
Like her colleague Dr. Forrest Caldwell, Briar has shared a patient-first approach to caring for students and an unwavering commitment to supporting students’ mental health and well-being. She supports the counsellors, physicians and staff in forging the best path in just about any problem they can throw at her. She navigates every encounter with wisdom and a discrete professionalism unmatched at any institution. Her natural gifts for relationship building has helped deepen partnerships within the campus community and beyond
