This article is part of a running series with Rowan University’s Wellness Center. This collaboration aims to educate students about personal well-being options. For further updates, follow @RowanUWellness on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
More times than not, whenever we’re experiencing a personal hardship of some kind we tend to retreat into our shells like a turtle and let the issue continue to persist rather than making a stand and finally addressing it.
The topic of self-advocacy is especially compelling considering that it can be applied to many different facets, whether it be mental or physical health, periods of stress, as well in situations of anxiety and depression.
The core aspect of self-advocacy is in its prefix, “self.” Only you can speak on account for the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that you’re currently experiencing; you’re the one who is able to tell how these emotions impact you in a positive or negative way.
The textbook definition of self-advocacy is “the action of representing oneself or one’s views or interests.” Once a student enters college, self-advocacy can be seen as a training ground for students to begin to speak on their own behalf after half a lifetime spent having their parents and guardians advocating for them on behalf of their well-being (Rogers, 2022)
One form of self-advocacy that we see at the start of each and every semester, even if it’s usually glossed over really quickly, are the accommodations that are ingrained in every professor’s syllabus.
While it may not seem like it, making your professor(s) aware of the accommodations that you need in order to ensure your success in the class is a form of self-advocacy that not many students take advantage of. Accommodations don’t have to be specific to resources or materials, sometimes it’s taking one “mental health day.”
Life gets extremely arduous at times. Sometimes missing one class during the semester allows one the chance to recuperate your mental stamina, especially if it’s the week before an exam or quiz that you’re feeling especially stressed about. You can spend this mental health day just letting all the tension you’ve had building up over the semester finally ease a bit before throwing yourself back into your studies.
Putting yourself first has remarkable results, it gives you the chance to finally take a breath of fresh air for yourself and get back on track.
Like what you see?
Story by:
Sedrick Golden, junior health and science communication major, Wellness Center intern
Edited by:
Lucas Taylor, English education graduate student
Sources
Rogers, L. T. A. (2022, September 22). Self-advocacy: A tool for Success. CollegiateParent. Retrieved February 1, 2023, from https://www.collegiateparent.com/student-life/self-advocacy-a-tool-for-success/#:~:text=Self%2Dadvocacy%20is%20a%20student,this%20is%20not%20the%20case.
Meet Mariana Cardenas, senior 
Meet Allison
Meet Roxy Urso, junior
Meet Jessica Hassell, a second-year 
That being said, there exists no person who sets out to undertake a task and enjoys it when their efforts lead to a lack of success. The result of an unexpected outcome can leave individuals questioning their abilities, but this should not be the case. Mistakes or unexpected outcomes are necessary for experimentation, problem-solving and increasing efficiency (Driscoll, 1989; Shelton, 2017). As such, it can be helpful to remember that success is only the expected or desired outcome. Understanding what does not work can only help when developing strategies to inform future courses of action. Without unexpected results, there is no push for innovation, so the opportunity to fail should be embraced (Driscoll, 1989). 
Meet Marco Imperiale, freshman psychology major, from Toms River, NJ (Ocean County). He hopes his article, “Encourages the Rowan community to know it’s okay to be vulnerable. Everyone at one stage in life was placed in a situation that they had felt vulnerable and it may seem uncomfortable to let your guard down, but if you do so there is the only chance for growth
Meet Allegra Giannini, junior 
Meet Autumn Gittinger, senior communication studies major, from Gibbstown, NJ (Gloucester County). She wrote this article in hopes to encourage a student to take a break and feel less guilty for wanting time for themselves.
Meet Abby Broschard, junior 
Meet Autumn 
Meet 
wrote this article to start a health discussion.
Meet Roxy Urso, senior 
function, grow and recharge within just hours. When students decide to go into the next step in their lives and go to college, one of the things students lose is sleep. Most college students get an average of six hours of sleep each night, while the recommended amount of sleep for young adults is 7-9 hours a night (MayoClinic). When a person doesn’t get enough sleep each night, it can come with consequences.
of classes, and a complaint from your stomach reminds you that you haven’t eaten a meal since last night. Sometimes class schedules cut straight through normal meal times. Sometimes homework that’s due in a few hours takes priority over finding time to eat. Sometimes the 10-a-week meal plan just doesn’t cut it. But one way or another, sometimes we fill up on our morning coffee and don’t eat a meal for 18 hours or more. Perhaps the meals were replaced with snacks: a granola bar, goldfish, maybe a banana. Oh, well. It can’t be 
themselves displaying patterns of behaviors that may or may not reflect their values. 
Often, it is easier for young people to recognize abuse in intimate partnerships than in their immediate social circles. Commonly referenced in literature surrounding domestic abuse is the power and control wheel developed by the Domestic Abuse and Intervention Project in Duluth Minnesota (“Power and Control Wheels,” 2017). It details eight methods of power and control: coercion/threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, obfuscation, economic abuse, using children and using male privilege. While some elements of the Power and Control wheel may only apply to heteronormative intimate partnerships, others can be applied to all relationships. 
gmatization of eating disorders, but still little discussion about disordered eating behaviors that may not seem so obvious or extreme.” 