March Wellness Ambassador of the Month | Robert Pattison

Robert Pattison running
Robert Pattison, March Wellness Ambassador Spotlight

March Wellness Ambassador of the Month | Robert Pattison

Wellness Ambassador of the Month
Robert Pattison, Student Health & Counseling Services


How long have you worked at UC Davis?

I have been with UCD for 17+ years.

Why did you become a wellness ambassador?

Wellness means taking care of my physical and mental health and supporting others around me in doing the same. My experience trying to integrate work and life as a husband, father and employee, made me want to do more to help support others in making healthier choices. I was also interested in networking with other ambassadors to learn ways they have promoted wellness in their units.

How long have you been a wellness ambassador?

6 months.

What has been the most rewarding or positive about your experience thus far?

The community at UCD, especially the staff at Health and Well-Being are so supportive. Seeing all the past mini-grant awardees and the activities they planned inspired me to apply for a grant.

What are some challenges you face as a wellness ambassador?

Planning events and activities in a unit with multiple locations is time consuming. I think if I can recruit an assistant wellness ambassador at each location that might help reduce the workload and provide more opportunities for our employees.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with new wellness ambassadors?

Do not stress if you unit achieves a less than perfect Healthy Unit Certification. I found even a small increase in communication about wellbeing activities and events will go a long way in building employee morale and helping everyone make healthier choices.

Staff and Faculty Health and Well-being aims to build an environment that makes the healthier choice the easier one, while providing staff and faculty with the required support to make UC Davis the healthiest community. How do you feel you have contributed to our mission?

In the short time as an ambassador, our unit has received a mini-grant and we have started several new initiatives that support health and wellbeing. In January, we did a water drinking challenge and in February, we are doing several mediation themed events. We also have a walking, sleep and food tracking themed months coming up. Finally, we had eight team members volunteer to participate in a lunch club program that will focus on vegetarian meals weekly.

What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?

Going camping with my immediate and extended family and friends is my absolute favorite. Ialso loveplaying and watchingsports especiallysoftball,baseball, basketball and swimming.

Primary Category

Tags