Wichita State launches weekly mindful meditation group for faculty and staff

Wichita State has put a low-friction wellness option right where campus employees can use it: a free, weekly mindful meditation group at the Rhatigan Student Center patio from 10:15 to 11 a.m. every Tuesday through July 28. The sessions are open to faculty and staff, are hosted by Counseling and Psychological Services, Human Resources and Staff Senate, and require no prior meditation experience. Participants were also encouraged to bring a mat or blanket.

The format was built for people who want something simple and repeatable. Wichita State said the group uses guided meditation, mindful breathing and quiet reflection to help reduce stress, improve focus and build a greater sense of balance and well-being. Ben Flowers is listed as the contact for information and follow-up questions, giving the program a real point of connection rather than leaving employees with a passive calendar listing. Flowers is a mental health counselor in CAPS, and his Wichita State profile says he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wichita State in 2020.

The timing fits the way campus life changes in early summer. With students gone or schedules shifting, faculty and staff often have to build their own routines back from scratch, and Wichita State is packaging mindfulness as one of the easiest ways to do that. Staff Senate says one of its missions is to foster communication and collegiality among staff, which helps explain why the meditation group is being presented as part of workplace culture, not just as a personal wellness perk. The university’s public calendar also lists the program as free, reinforcing that it is meant to be accessible and low barrier.

This is not Wichita State’s first turn toward mindfulness as an employee benefit. The university promoted mindfulness-based stress reduction meditations for faculty and staff in January 2024, followed by Quiet Time meditation sessions in April and August 2024. It also launched a Quiet Time newsletter in February 2024 that featured research-based mindfulness information. Wichita State’s MBSR page describes mindfulness-based stress reduction as scientifically supported and aimed at stress, pain and illness, which gives the current summer group a clear institutional foundation.

The meditation sessions also sit alongside another recurring summer wellness offering, a weekly faculty and staff running group on Wednesdays during the same June-to-July stretch. Together, the two programs show Wichita State treating movement and mindfulness as companion tools for employee well-being, with the Tuesday patio session offering an easy place to start and an equally easy reason to come back.