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Erin Bristow’s background in biology and
interest in medicine led her to become the University Health Promotion
Wellness Presentations Coordinator. During her internship, Erin
developed and began implementing a new health promotion workshop
focused on stress reduction using holistic practices.
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Erin worked primarily in conjunction with Capacitar
International to modify their stress reduction techniques to the
university lifestyle. Capacitar is an organization that teaches
stress reduction techniques and holistic health practices in war-torn
countries. Holistic practices such as labyrinth walking, meditation,
and acupressure (to name a few) try to change people’s perception
of stressful events. When this perception is changed from a harmful
to a helpful one, people are happier and healthier.
Erin trained in these holistic techniques with Joan Contin, co-director
of Capacitar. She later worked on adapting these techniques to fit
the lifestyle of a student. Erin then developed a workshop using
her new skills and trained other students to lead those workshops.
By the end of her internship, Erin had trained 14 facilitators who
had run 6 workshops. She hopes that her successor will continue
this forward momentum and bring these stress reduction techniques
to the rest of the campus community.
During her internship, Erin learned a lot about peer leadership,
time management, and organization. She was involved in something
she feels passionately about and made a difference in her community.
Through CUIP, Erin feels that her interests were able to grow with
her understanding of leadership. She says, “CUIP is a great
way to take a general interest and learn more about how to develop
it.”
Erin will graduate from Crown in June 2005 with a Bachelor’s
of Science in Biology. She hopes to move directly into medical school
in Fall 2005.
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