Photo by Preston Garland/Courtesy Community Health Resource Center

Bela Mohapatra of The Community Health Resource Center gives Chelsea Kari a massage.

The beginning of the school year is a transitional period for many students. While they adjust to the new setting, a myriad of issues can get in the way of academic success. From concerns about body image to questions about sexual health and relationship management, or even just fighting off the common cold -- as a student, there is a place you can go as a first step toward dealing with any of these issues, and more.

The Community Health Resource Center, located in Room 411 of the University Memorial Center, is dedicated to promoting student success by offering programs that educate and encourage individual behaviors with the goal of creating a campus environment that leads to optimal health and personal safety.

The resources provided at the CHRC range from those as basic as providing free condoms, common-cold kits, and health-related literature to those as intimate as providing a knowledgeable staff that is available to work with students on an individual basis.

And, beginning this semester, the CHRC student staff, volunteers, and the organization as a whole are better prepared to deal with student issues than ever before, according to Anne Schuster, primary wellness and heath communications coordinator for the CHRC.

"We are now able to address all topics in a more integrated fashion," said Schuster, who explained that the CHRC has recently launched a comprehensive merge of its services from what were once three separate CU programs -- the rape and gender education program, the sexual health education program, and the student wellness program.

"We felt that we could do CU students a better service if we addressed issues in a way that are related to each other," she added.

According to Schuster, since many of the problems students face cross over into different areas of wellness -- stress management being related to personal nutrition, for instance, or sexual health being related to interpersonal relations -- it made sense to offer a service that allowed an integrated approach to educating and solving these problems.

"Our resources are better allocated when we have more people working for more than one cause," said Melissa Rizzuto, peer development and relationship wellness coordinator for CHRC, who explained that that the recently-official merge has been more than a year in the making.

First the staff had to undergo a comprehensive training session.

"I've been through a lot of training since last year," said Sepideh Mohseni, CU senior and one of 12 student staff currently working for the CHRC.

According to Mohseni, the training has been extensive and included attending sessions, creating modules and passing assessments over the course of a year. Mohseni said that she feels more prepared to do her job than ever.

"I know so many things on a variety of subjects -- when somebody approaches me for help on any issue, I really feel that I can address their problems and be a resource for them," she said. "Merging has been really, really good. We are all much better equipped to help students."

CU students can begin getting familiar with the CHRC when it begins its "Havens" program in the UMC next week. As a resource to offer students stress management skills, CHRC Havens will offer students free chair massages, free aromatherapy, and other stress management skill-builders beginning next Wednesday, Sept. 10, in the Senior Dedication Lounge in the UMC from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Havens will be held every other week at the same time and location.