PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 22, No. 16, March 20, 2003

Photo by Bill Wiegand Jennifer Carson is a wellness promotion specialist and stress management coordinator at McKinley Health Center.

Midterms, finals, jobs and projects. Conflicts with family, friends or sweethearts. When the going gets tough, some frazzled scholars tame their tension with the free head-and-neck massages provided by Community Health 240 students and their instructor Jennifer Carson. Carson, wellness promotion specialist and stress management coordinator at McKinley Health Center, is certified by the American Association of Lifestyle Counselors. Carson joined the university’s staff in 1996 and holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in corporate health promotion from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

Tell me about what you do.
I am one of eight health educators in our department. I see students one-on-one about stress-related complaints like headaches and muscle tension. I generally try to focus on education and may see them once or several times depending on what our plan is and what we want to accomplish.

Outreach is also a large part of what I do, and I provide programs and activities on campus related to awareness weeks or months, such as Stress Awareness Month, which is in April.

The marketing side of my job is helping other health educators develop the promotional materials for programs they’re doing. I also help maintain the Wellness Promotion Web site and serve on the McKinley marketing team. I am co-chair of the Alcohol Education Team.

In the Community Health 240 course, I teach students about stress management and how to facilitate a workshop titled ‘Relaxation of the Mind and Body.’ Students in the class give that workshop at greek houses, residence halls and other locations. We also do customized workshops for groups who want to focus on a particular aspect, such as time management.

At the end of each semester right before finals we put together about 400 stress-relief packs that contain tips on time management, nutrition and fitness, and a variety of goodies to give students the boost they need.

How many students do you have coming in for the free massages?
It’s a steady flow when you’re doing them. We did almost 100 hours of massages last semester. Each hour, you can probably do 10 to 12 people. The students are trained by a massage therapist from the community.

When should a person seek help with handling stress?
When it starts to impact our day-to-day activities and how we interact with others or if it causes mood changes or causes some physical problems, such as headaches, muscle tension, teeth grinding, changes in appetite or digestive problems, then we
probably want to take a closer look at that and see a physician.

What strategies do you use to manage your stress?
I have gotten better at dealing with my own stress over the years. For myself, it’s identifying the ways I respond to stress and acknowledging that I need to take care of my own needs. If I don’t, I’m not going to be as productive in the roles that are important to me: a wife, a mother and a professional. It’s realizing self-care things such as taking time out for a bubble bath or to read a magazine are just as important as the other things on my to-do list. I also use self-talk to reason through situations where I feel I might be getting a little worked up over something that may not be that important or is out of my control.

What do you find most gratifying about what you do?
Helping people and hoping that we’ve facilitated some type of change that’s going to have an effect on their overall health and well-being.

What leisure interests do you have?
I am the mother of a 9-month-old daughter, Zoe. I am loving that and enjoy spending time with her. Prior to that, I liked to play pool. I like to try new recipes, do weightlifting and aerobic exercise. I started scrapbooking about three years ago. I’ve done several scrapbooks, including ones of friends’ children, family and our two yellow labs, Bailey and Shasta, who were our ‘practice’ kids before we had a child.

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On the job: Jennifer Carson

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
(217) 244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu