Thriving Together: A week of compassion in action

Earlier this month, the Queen’s community came together for Thrive Week – a series of events aimed at building positive mental health and wellness through discussion, learning, skill development, and resource sharing. This year saw record attendance of more than 1,100 participants including staff, faculty, and students, an increase of nearly 400 participants from 2022. More than 40 events were offered in-person and virtually throughout the week, many with a focus on the theme of Compassion Matters.

“We are thrilled to see so many members of the Queen’s community come together to thrive,” says Sydney Downey, Director, Employee Wellness Services (Human Resources). “While Thrive Week has concluded, we remain committed to offering year-round programming as part of Thrive 365 and continue to develop new initiatives to support employee health and wellness.”

Some popular events included keynote speaker Dr. Jacoba Lilius who led a thought-provoking discussion on compassion in our lives, as well as several art therapy sessions where participants were able to practice mindfulness and self-reflection through creative expression.

Throughout Thrive Week, a number of contests were also held with several awards going to exceptional participants including:

Kari Knowles, Shari Scanlan, and Brandon Parks placing first, second, and third respectively in the annual Thrive photo contest
Allan Etmanski and Venkata Prateeksha Vadali, winner and runner-up for the scavenger hunt

The Thrive Halloween Costume Contest remains open for online voting until Friday, Nov. 17.

If you participated in any of the Thrive events, organizers want to hear from you. All participants are invited to submit their feedback by completing a brief online survey. The results from the survey will be reviewed by the Employee Wellness Services unit and will help shape future wellness events and opportunities. While Thrive Week may have ended, employees are still encouraged to share how they cultivate compassion by downloading a poster that includes acts of compassion. Posters will be available for download for the month of November.

You can learn more about Thrive Week and Thrive 365 programming by visiting the HR Intranet.