Newly Opened Meditation Room with Student-Painted Mural at JCC Jamestown Campus Promotes Mental Health

SUNY Jamestown Community College's Counseling & Career Center has opened a meditation room on its Jamestown Campus. The room features a rainforest-themed mural painted by sophomore Studio Arts students Bailey Lundmark and JJ Moore. The meditation room initiative was proposed by JCC counselors Dianna Shaw and Kristin Olson in fall 2022. The goal is to reduce mental health stigma and promote healthy coping techniques.

Additional meditation rooms were opened at the Cattaraugus County Campus and North County Center in Dunkirk in fall 2023. Funding was provided by the State University of New York’s mental health and wellness services expansion via the American Rescue Fund. The rooms are furnished with bean bag chairs, pillows, weighted blankets, yoga mats, meditation guides, coloring books, stress-relieving activity books, essential oil diffusers, and small water fountains.

To enhance the calming atmosphere, JCC art coordinator and instructor Madison Lavallee involved Lundmark and Moore in creating a mural for the room as a class project. The mural features a large moon. The Cattaraugus County Campus room also has a mural, a dark blue and gray mountainous landscape painted by Amanda Hulbert, a JCC success navigator and Admissions coordinator. The rooms have received positive feedback, with students, faculty, and staff expressing interest in using the space.

The meditation rooms are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at all JCC locations. The rooms aim to provide students with a personal space that offers a break from regular student life and promotes healthy coping strategies.

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