Peer Health Advocates
Peer Health Advocates (PHAs) are a team of NASPA-Certified Peer Educators supporting and encouraging holistic student health and well-being across campus through culturally responsive programming, projects, and one-on-one meetings. Email us at cmupha@andrew.cmu.edu.
SCHEDULE WITH A PHADrop in during office hours to say hi and chat!
Our guiding values are:
Honesty
Empathy
Autonomy
Respect
Teamwork
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Peer Support Meetings
Students can meet with a Peer Health Advocate for things like:
- Practice setting and communicating boundaries
- Navigating on and off campus resources
- Brainstorming mindfulness and meditation tools
- Reviewing and demonstrating safer sex tools
- Generating tasty, satisfying, and accessible meal and snack ideas
PHAs can also schedule to meet with you wherever feels most comfortable - be it a coffee shop, walking around the track, a private room in the Health Promotion office, or on Zoom.
Meet the Undergraduate PHAs
Undergraduate and graduate students can schedule with whomever they prefer. Undergrads can schedule with grads and vice versa!
Eshita Solanki (she/her)
Senior, Biological Sciences
Senior, Biological Sciences
Languages: English, Gujarati
Interests: Cooking/Baking, Football
Interests: Cooking/Baking, Football
Amara Vergara Agyakwa (she/her)
Junior, Business Administration Business and Technology Policy
Junior, Business Administration Business and Technology Policy
Languages: English
Interests: Travel, Dance, Nature, Animals, Reading, Family
Interests: Travel, Dance, Nature, Animals, Reading, Family
Em
Senior, Business Administration
Languages: English
Interests: Badminton
Senior, Business Administration
Languages: English
Interests: Badminton
Cash (he/him)
Junior, Neuroscience - Dietrich
Languages: English
Interests: Martial Arts and old movies
Junior, Neuroscience - Dietrich
Languages: English
Interests: Martial Arts and old movies
Hannah Vuong (she/her)
First Year, Dietrich
Languages: Vietnamese/English
Interests: Baking, Reading, and I recently took up stamp carving!
First Year, Dietrich
Languages: Vietnamese/English
Interests: Baking, Reading, and I recently took up stamp carving!
Mackenzie Devereux (she/her)
Sophmore, Biophysics
Languages: English, American Sign Language
Interests: Disability Access, Mental Health Awareness, SA Survivor Advocacy, Rural and Minority Population Equity and Education
Sophmore, Biophysics
Languages: English, American Sign Language
Interests: Disability Access, Mental Health Awareness, SA Survivor Advocacy, Rural and Minority Population Equity and Education
Marina Brazendale (she/her)
First Year, CFA Musical Theater
Languages: English
Interests: Composing, walking and trying out new coffee spots!
First Year, CFA Musical Theater
Languages: English
Interests: Composing, walking and trying out new coffee spots!
Madeline Ellinghaus (she/her)
First Year, CFA School of Drama
Languages: English
Interests: Theater, Movies, Music, Animals, Food, Exercise, Comedy, Lemurs, TV, Anthony Bourdain, Yoga, Improv, True Crime, Laughing, Sweet Potato Fries, and wearing sunglasses inside.
First Year, CFA School of Drama
Languages: English
Interests: Theater, Movies, Music, Animals, Food, Exercise, Comedy, Lemurs, TV, Anthony Bourdain, Yoga, Improv, True Crime, Laughing, Sweet Potato Fries, and wearing sunglasses inside.
Meet the Graduate PHAs
Graduate and undergraduate students can schedule with whomever they prefer. Grads can schedule with undergrads and vice versa!
Nikita Chaudhari (she/they)
Master of Science - Language Technologies Institute & Artificial Intelligence and Innovation
Languages: English, Marathi, Hindi
Jake Slackman (he/him)
Master of Computational Biology
Languages: English
Languages: English
Interests: Athletics, Exercise
Motolani Oladitan (she/her)
Masters of Integrated Innovation for Products & Services
Languages: English
Languages: English
Interests: Formula 1, Gym, Baking, Listening to music
Aryan Chandra (he/him)
MS Mechanical Engineering
Languages: English, Hindi
Languages: English, Hindi
Interests: Gym, Nature, Cooking, Anime, Robots
Imama Zahoor (she/her)
MS Healthcare Analytics and Information Technology
Languages: English, Urdu, Punjabi
Languages: English, Urdu, Punjabi
Interests: Reading fiction and artsy hobbies (currently oil pastels). I'm also learning Spanish these days!
Highlights of the PHA Program
The PHA program began as a student organization and has evolved over the years with input from students. PHAs are now paid employees of University Health Services, working as liaisons and a resource for campus health and well-being.
Additionally, the program has shifted from group education to a one-on-one support model, including text support, drop-in visits, and scheduled consultations.
The PHAs engage in their support of students using a specialist model, including but not limited to the following areas:
- Disability Resources
- Sexual Health
- Mindfulness and Mental Health
- Nutrition
In addition to the undergraduate program, graduate students are now active in PHA roles to support graduate student health and wellbeing.
The PHA program offers a credited mini-course that teaches the foundations of peer education (99-121). Course enrollment is open to all students and required for PHAs.