Wellspring celebrates 25 years

Nancy Nutt (left), Wellspring program director, and Anne Lomax, a senior health educator, sign Wellspring’s 25th anniversary commemorative quilt.

2:52 p.m., Feb. 20, 2004--Tom Shellenberger, AS ’82, a Wilmington divorce attorney, was one of the first peer counselors at Wellspring, the peer education and outreach program of UD’s Center for Counseling and Student Development. Shellenberger said it was good training for what he does now.

“I’m primarily a divorce lawyer. I talk to people about embarrassing subjects all the time,’’ he said. “In my first meeting with people, I ask how much money they make and all about marital infidelity, so it was good training.”

Terry Harvey, BSBA ’84, a doctoral candidate in artificial intelligence, said the active listening skills he learned as one of Wellspring’s first volunteers paid dividends when he worked as a commercial loan officer and still helps in every aspect of his life.

Shellenberger, Harvey and other volunteers took center stage when Wellspring celebrated its 25th anniversary Wednesday, Feb. 18. Wellspring staff credited volunteers for the success of the program, but the volunteers repeatedly mentioned Wellspring founder Anne Lomax as their inspiration.

Lomax, a senior health educator who has been with Wellspring all 25 years, said the program was able to serve more than 6,400 students last year with a two-person staff because of its volunteers.

Forty-two volunteers buoyed the program last year, and hundreds more have helped since Wellspring opened in the Perkins Student Center in 1978.

Wellspring started as a sex education program, but grew into a peer education program that focuses on nutrition, fitness and eating concerns, alcohol and drug awareness, safer sex information, HIV prevention, tobacco cessation techniques and stress management. Wellspring also oversees SOS (Sexual Offense Support Services), which deals with date rape, date rape drugs and dating violence issues.

Tom Shellenberger, AS ’82, now a Wilmington divorce attorney, was one of the first peer counselors at Wellspring.

“We address topics that may not be the most popular, and we address them head on,’’ she said. “Things students want to talk about—HIV, STDs, eating disorders.’’

“Wellspring provides a safe, student-friendly environment where students can come and talk informally,’’ program director Nancy Nutt said. “We’ve become a nice first stop, a welcoming place where they can decide what sort of help they want to seek.’’

Wellspring is now housed in Laurel. It’s most popular current program is a how-to program that teaches hand and back massage.

Nutt said anniversary celebrations usually focus on the organizations, but she wanted Wellspring’s celebration to focus on the University officials and volunteers that have made it flourish over the years.

“We have been greatly supported by the University, the administration and by the volunteers and people who have generously devoted their time to make Wellspring what it has been over the years,’’ she said.

Photos by Kathy Atkinson

E-mail this article

To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here.