JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — SUNY Jamestown Community College’s Counseling & Career Center officially unveiled its meditation room and mural to a small gathering on the Jamestown Campus this week.
The rainforest-themed mural that covers the four interior walls of the room was painted by Bailey Lundmark and JJ Moore, sophomore Studio Arts students, who were joined at the opening by Kirk Young, Student Affairs vice president, Morgan Franchina, Counseling & Career Center director, and Madison Lavallee, JCC coordinator of art and instructor.
JCC counselors Dianna Shaw and Kristin Olson, in the fall of 2022, came up with the idea of meditation rooms to support students. Their goal, Franchina said, was to lessen the “stigma around reaching out for mental health help by providing a space on campus that guides students through healthy coping techniques and familiarizes them with things like mindful meditation.”
JCC meditation rooms on the Cattaraugus County Campus and North County Center in Dunkirk were opened for the start of the fall 2023 semester.
Franchina said that creating meditation rooms at each JCC location would have taken years if not for funding from the State University of New York’s expansion of mental health and wellness services through the American Rescue Fund.
Emphasizing the importance of such spaces on college campuses, Franchina said: “Students need a place that is their own, a place that is away from the monotony of everyday life of being a student and a place that teaches them healthy coping strategies.”
The rooms include bean bag chairs, pillows, weighted blankets, yoga mats and guides, meditation guides, coloring books, stress-relieving activity books, essential oil diffusers, and small water fountains.
To enhance the calming oasis, Lavallee solicited the assistance of Lundmark and Moore to produce a mural for a class project. The rainforest design includes a large moon.
“Although it’s a dark atmosphere, there’s still the brightness of a skylight in that room,” Franchina said. “It almost feels like you’re sitting outside with the moon shining over you.”
The Cattaraugus County Campus room also features a welcoming mural. The dark blue and gray mountainous landscape was painted in December by Amanda Hulbert, a JCC success navigator and Admissions coordinator.
Franchina said student response to the rooms “has been phenomenal.”
“The first hour open I had three students sign in to use it,” she said of the Jamestown Campus room. “The students are so excited to be in that space. It’s occupied most of the day because the students are there and taking advantage of it. Faculty and staff have also asked to use it. I’ve had administrators ask if they’re allowed to go in there. Everyone is welcome to use the space.”
The rooms are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at all JCC locations.