Northwestern’s Center for Student Advocacy and Wellness opened this fall as a new all-in-one support place for students, merging the Center for Awareness, Response and Education and the Health Promotion and Wellness unit of NU Health Service.

CSAW’s director, Carrie Cox Wachter, said she wanted to create a holistic center where students can receive wellness and safety resources from an array of staff members.

“I just want students to know that we are here,” Cox Wachter said. “We have the same confidentiality of the same standards that we’ve always had, and they can come to us in the same way.”

CSAW offers personal services like one-on-one counseling, confidential advising, advocacy, wellness coaching, spiritual guidance and support with legal affairs. The center can also help students affected by sexual misconduct and interpersonal violence, providing resources for academic, healthcare, legal, housing and financial support.

Cox Wachter said the center’s goal is to ensure that if a student comes in for one service, they can get that service while having the opportunity to explore other areas of the center and other wellness-based resources. 

“A student can come and know that they are going to be met holistically,” Cox Wachter said. 

The former HPaW office has continued its mission of providing students with spiritual guidance, meditation and reflection spaces, said Eric Budzynski, associate director of holistic wellness and contemplative practice. 

Budzynski said students can attend student-led meditations and groups, or meet one-on-one for support. There are also spaces dedicated to meditation-based practices such as Mindful NU and Mindfulness-based stress reduction.

“(CSAW) cultivates spaces for reflection time, to just be,” Budzynski said. 

Alexandra Araujo Gonzalez, associate director of interpersonal violence prevention and response, oversees the programming previously under CARE. She leads groups for survivors, including a book club and a space for creating art.

The center also provides one-on-one support for students as well as support for survivors’ families and loved ones. It is important for loved ones to be educated on what they can do to best support the survivor, Araujo Gonzalez said.

“Your friend might not need solutions, they might need someone to listen,” she said. 

CSAW is continuing to develop programming for students and their needs, Araujo Gonzalez said, including a support group for survivors of stalking starting in Winter Quarter.

Additionally, CSAW offers sexual health consultations to students as well. Araujo Gonzalez called it a confidential, safe space that students can turn to for questions, education and support regarding their sexual health. 

“Being able to go to a space with somebody that has the experience, has the education and is completely private just really gives people the space to feel like they aren’t going to be judged,” Araujo Gonzalez said.  

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