The Strive for Well-being (SWB) Network Team partners with MHealthy, investigates best practices in evidence-based programs, and provides feedback for new ways to engage the university community in the eight dimensions of wellness.
View the Strive for Well-being Team charge.
View the Member Profiles on this page to learn more.
Strive for Well-being projects include a storytelling initiative where supervisors share how they champion well-being and, an update to the Be Kind campaign that features a gratitude email generator. The team also is investigating Wellness Coaching for staff, similar to student efforts found in the Well-being Collective. It also led to an effort to have “Faculty & Staff Well-being” placed on the landing page of Wolverine Access as a featured tile.
To learn more about the SWB team, see their 2023 project poster.
April Wesner (she/her) is an Administrative Specialist Associate in the Michigan Medicine's House Officer Mental Health Program within the Psychiatry Department. She has worked at Michigan Medicine since May 2010 and continues to enjoy the comradery of the staff. She is passionate about employee engagement and community building in the workplace. April’s goal is to cultivate a positive and collaborative culture within Michigan Medicine. In her spare time, April enjoys cooking, traveling the world and spending time with her husband, their two children, and their dog.
Briaa Robinson, MPH is the new Health Equity Project Manager in the Department of OBGYN for the Promotion of Health Equity Project. In this role, she serves to connect clinical and community partners together to improve infant and maternal health through addressing social determinants of health. She has worked at the University since 2019, and prior to this role, was the Project Manager for the Michigan Opioid Collaborative, a group that provided support and education to providers treating patients with substance and opioid use disorders. Briaa joined Voices of the Staff because she is passionate about health and wellbeing and wanted to be in a place to uplift concerns and implement changes that would positively impact employees throughout the University. This is her second year. But, in her spare time, Briaa loves spending time with her 3 daughters - Haleigh, Hayven and Hudsyn and Husband, Homer, traveling, walking, reading, and watching a good mystery.
Gretchen O’Hair (she/her) serves the DOIM as an Administrative Specialist supporting the Office of DEI & Well-Being. Bringing 11 years of experience at U-M in various administrative roles, Gretchen also serves as a co-facilitator of the facilitators for the U-M Voices of the Staff, co-facilitator of the U-M Voices of the Staff Striving for Well Being Team, MHealthy Champion, and Planet Blue Ambassador. She has a demonstrated commitment and passion for promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and well-being, breaking down barriers, enriching the climate of our university, and seeks to lead others in understanding the importance of fostering a healthy culture, environment, and positive relationships that engage and support faculty, staff, and our community.
Jeanne St. Onge (she/her) is the Administrative Specialist for the Michigan Society of Fellows, housed at the Rackham Graduate School. She has been with U-M and Rackham since Nov 2021. She is currently serving her first year as an MHealthy Champion and has been an ActiveU team captain each season for the past 2 years. In her spare time, Jeanne enjoys being active by playing in a sand-volleyball league, hiking, weight-lifting, kayaking, or taking care of her 15 acres in southeast Michigan.
Jennifer (she/her) has been Senior Area Research Lead for the Michigan Hospital Medicine Safety Consortium (HMS) since January of 2019. She has a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her husband, two daughters and Goldendoodle, as well as walking, reading and spending time outside. Jennifer is a second-year member on the Striving for Wellbeing team.
Jessica Fennelly (she/her) completed her undergraduate and pharmacy education and residency training at University of Michigan/Michigan Medicine. She is an ambulatory care clinical pharmacist specialist who provides chronic disease state management services for patients at the Canton Health Center and Transitions of Care services centrally supporting various clinics. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and taking time for her well-being.
Jonna Wheaton is a Medical Assistant for Michigan Medicine at the West Ann Arbor Health Center. She was employed as a Dental Assistant at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry from 1987-1997. She worked in private dental practices for 26 years, and started her current position at Michigan Medicine in 2021. She loves spending time with family and friends, music, dancing, nature, traveling to new places, and meeting new people.
Jordan McLeod is a Patient Business Associate for the centralized Outpatient Authorization Team. I have been in this role for almost 2 years. I have worked for Michigan Medicine for over 8 years as I was previously a Medical Assistant. I am a second year member for the voices team. In my spare time I like to do a lot of DIY projects, hangout with my family, friends and going up north.
Joy received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University and joined the University in 1987, yes 36 years ago! I started work on the Campus side but currently work at Michigan medicine doing contracts for the Operating Rooms. I love working at U of M so much I have encouraged my husband, son and daughter to work here. I joined Voices because I think it is important to hear from all staff at all levels, great ideas come from diverse groups. I love spending time with family, friends and my dog playing golf, kayaking, bowling, playing games, traveling and going to church.
Kristi Rahrig Jenkins, PhD, MPH, is the Research Program Manager for MHealthy, the health and well-being services for the University of Michigan’s faculty, staff, and dependents. Kristi has over twenty years of experience in research units at the university. Before joining MHealthy in 2009, Kristi worked for the university’s Addiction Research Center and the Institute for Social Research, exploring research questions related to health and health behavior across the life course, particularly issues related to chronic disease, family relationships, social and psychological aspects of health, and population health. Kristi holds a MPH in community health education from the University of South Florida and a PhD in Sociology from Wayne State University.
Lexie Muir Pappas joined Michigan Medicine in January of 2000. She is a clinical specialist in hand therapy. After 31 years of direct patient care she is still highly engaged and grateful for the opportunity to work with people daily who have contributed to her overall education (patients and colleagues)! She applied to Vital Voices in hopes of literally having a voice in employee well being as Michigan Medicine has changed drastically in the past 3 years. Outside of being an absolute hand anatomy geek, she enjoys houseplants, spending time with family and her pug Olive.
Lisa Camfield (she/her) is a Wellness Coordinator with MHealthy. She earned her degree in movement science from the University of Michigan and has over 20 years experience in the well-being space. Lisa represented university staff on the Workplace Innovation and Staff Experience (WISE) committee. Lisa is currently a co-facilitator for the Striving for Well-being network team, co-lead of the facilitator group and PMT liaison for the Embracing Change network team. Previously, Lisa held the role of co-facilitator for the Embracing Change network team and served on the Work/Life Flexibility team. Lisa is also an active volunteer with her daughter’s swim team.