{"id":3140,"date":"2025-06-03T11:19:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/?p=3140"},"modified":"2025-06-03T11:28:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:28:29","slug":"rhody-wellness-podcast-delivers-important-health-information-for-students-by-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/news\/2025\/06\/rhody-wellness-podcast-delivers-important-health-information-for-students-by-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhody Wellness podcast delivers important health information for students, by students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Junior Olivia Rathbun from Smithfield, Rhode Island, is the host of the Rhody Wellness Podcast, a weekly podcast launched by URI’s Health Promotion department to provide students with information on myriad health and wellness topics. (URI Photo \/ Student Affairs)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 3, 2025 \u2013 Students at the University of Rhode Island looking for relevant health and wellness information \u2013 everything from tips on proper posture to the importance of getting a good night\u2019s sleep \u2013 can now do so on their time at their convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched in September by Health Services\u2019 Health Promotion, the Rhody Wellness Podcast<\/em><\/a> is changing the way students tackle sensitive issues and absorb much-needed advice to help them navigate their journey in and out of the classroom. New episodes come out weekly and are delivered in quick, digestible segments \u2013 anywhere between three to 25 minutes per podcast \u2013 with host Olivia Rathbun, a junior from Smithfield, R.I., and a Marketing and Psychology dual major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics include gym anxiety, the dangers of vaping, making fitness fun, and an inside look at the wellness vending machine in the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons\u2019 24-hour room. Many episodes focus on the concept of balancing real-world expectations with what\u2019s portrayed on social media and include interviews with students and subject-matter experts (namely URI faculty and staff) who share their personal experiences to help others improve their physical and mental well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhody Wellness<\/em> is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube<\/a>, among other podcast platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way for us to get information out to students who may not be comfortable seeking it out,\u201d Rathbun said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we offer two sides of the podcast \u2013 one talking to professionals with solid information and proven statistics and the other with students where we try to destigmatize certain topics and show our listeners who are struggling that there is someone else out there struggling with the same topic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Greene, M.P.H., C.H.E.S., Assistant Director of Health Promotion and Wellness and a URI alumna, introduced the concept of a student-led podcast after launching a similar endeavor during her 15 years as a health and wellness educator at Stonehill College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew it was a really effective way to get the students to hear about the different topics and have them engage with us at their own time at their own pace and still receive that information,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the concept in tow, Greene put out a campus-wide casting call last summer for a host. Rathbun was one of a handful of applicants and immediately stood out as \u201cthe person for the job.\u201d Rhody Wellness<\/em> debuted on September 10 and launched 11 episodes in the fall before winter break and returned January 28 with its first episode of the spring titled, \u201cHow to Tackle Sleep in College,\u201d featuring URI Psychologist Dr. Warren Schwartz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greene credits much of Rhody Wellness<\/em>\u2019 success to Rathbun, who taught herself to create a podcast from scratch \u2013 everything from coming up with topics to recording and editing \u2013 and worked with the Library\u2019s Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Keith Ranaldi to carve out the recording schedule at the University\u2019s Innovation Labs, which includes a state-of-the-art soundproof Audio Media Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Rhody Wellness<\/em> covers a variety of topics, Rathbun and Greene aim to delivery timely information based on what\u2019s happening around campus; the debut episode, for example, tackled freshman year expectations with current URI sophomore Katie Sweeney discussing roommate issues, loneliness, and academic challenges. In October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Rathbun hosted three consecutive episodes with URI\u2019s Violence Prevention and Advocacy Services Coordinator Kelley Ryan to discuss how to define sexual assault, understanding consent, and practical strategies for violence prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s hearing stuff from my friends or seeing stuff on social media, I see a lot of like popular topics that are emerging based on what’s currently going on in the world or currently going on around campus,\u201d Rathbun said. \u201cThat is where Jessica and I get a lot of the ideas from. We\u2019ve also invited other student organizations like the Peer Health Educators and the Student Health Advisory Committee to give feedback on topics they\u2019d like to hear us talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As colleges and universities continue to focus more on students\u2019 mental well-being, Rathbun said, Rhody Wellness<\/em> will continue to discuss mental health issues that have become common among the student population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMental health is becoming a lot less stigmatized and a lot of people are talking about it more freely, so it’s becoming a lot more prevalent among college students, which is why that\u2019s something that we’re trying to focus on heavily in the podcast,\u201d Rathbun said, \u201cSometimes people might not want to talk about these topics in person or they might not want to go to a lecture, so the podcast is a way that they can still get that information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love that Olivia finds students to interview that have either struggled with that topic and overcame it or have thoughts on that topic because I think that’s what makes it relevant to our student population,\u201d Greene added. \u201cIt’s not just talking about mental health, but it’s talking about what that looks like for our URI students and Olivia’s done a really great job of connecting with our students on that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 3, 2025 \u2013 Students at the University of Rhode Island looking for relevant health and wellness information \u2013 everything from tips on proper posture to the importance of getting a good night\u2019s sleep \u2013 can now do so on their time at their convenience. Launched in September by Health Services\u2019 Health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-3140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3140"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3148,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140\/revisions\/3148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/student-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}