Wellness Director
USC Hillel
Bradley Sonnenberg Wellness Initiative
Role Overview
Enrich the lives of Jewish students by joining USC Hillel as Wellness Director. The Wellness Director will build an engagement strategy that enfranchises students around their personal wellbeing, work with student leadership, colleagues, and university partners in developing comprehensive and immersive wellness programming, and interface with our Hillel therapist to promote access to clinical services, provide referrals for therapy as needed, and triage to appropriate mental health services both on and off campus. Under your leadership, USC Hillel will incorporate work with mindfulness, stress management, personal growth, and more within an intentionally Jewish framework.
You will thrive in this role if you are enthusiastic about realizing vision, leveraging strategic campus partnerships, and applying your skills and passion to our specialized setting, serving a burgeoning Jewish community on a premier college campus. The Wellness Director is a member of our Student Life Team and reports to the Assistant Director of USC Hillel.
About the Bradley Sonnenberg Wellness Initiative
In this innovative and distinctive role, you will lead with vision in continuing the development of our Bradley Sonnenberg Wellness Initiative, which seeks to promote and improve the wellbeing of all USC students through advocacy, engaging events and educational opportunities, and clinical support. We see care for the whole person as a fully integrated component of our responsibility to nurture Jewish community. Our intentional dedication to student wellness has become a hallmark of USC Hillel’s culture.
What You’ll Do
- Build meaningful relationships with USC students oriented toward wellness promotion and deepened involvement in Jewish life including 1:1 engagement
- Guide and empower student leaders and interns to develop and lead meaningful wellness programming based on their peers’ needs and interests.
- Create strategies with students and colleagues to expand wellness programming while infusing well-being promotion into current Jewish life experiences at USC Hillel, with a global view toward offerings supporting physical, emotional, and mental health.
- Address psychological, social, physical, and environmental concerns and sharing referrals to local resources, including the Hillel therapist. Identify and strengthen student support networks via family, friends, and university resources.
- Collaborate with on-campus partners to advocate and promote campus wellness including the USC Offices of Wellness and Crisis Intervention, Student Affairs, and Religious and Spiritual Life.
- Collaborate with our Hillel therapist to provide crisis response as a team in emergency situations
- Provide training and consultation to USC Hillel colleagues, building a unified culture on our team and equipping our staff to offer appropriate student support.
- Build strategic relationships with a variety of stakeholders, including USC, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, and other core partners in collaboration with the Executive Director.
- Facilitate the Wellness Learning Fellowship, a 10-week, cohort-based learning curriculum focused on wellness through a Jewish lens in partnership with another member of the USC Hillel team
- Participate fully as a Hillel professional in the Jewish communal life of the campus, facilitating Jewish life through meaningful observances of Shabbat and Holidays and in coordination with major campus events.
- Contribute to grant-writing and reporting efforts, including but not limited to wellness grants and initiatives
- Manage projects and advise student groups based on organizational priorities and identified student needs.
- Conduct your role in alignment with a student-focused schedule, including some evenings and weekends.
What You’ll Bring to the Job
Strong entrepreneurial spirit, a willingness to take risks and learn from your wins as well as your losses.Capacity to create space for a diversity of perspectives and allow all student voices to be heard.
- Strong relationship-building skills and accessibility to students from diverse backgrounds.
- A desire to support students in their time of greatest need.
- Experience training or empowering college students to design opportunities to promote social, emotional, or physical well-being.
- A complex understanding of the ever-changing landscape of wellness needs of emerging adults
- Expertise in leading complex conversations around mental health and wellness.
- An attitude of proactive communication and collaboration.
- A commitment to Jewish pluralism.
Qualifications
- 2-5 years of professional work experience. Experience in a Jewish professional, higher education, or mission-driven organizational capacity a plus. Past Hillel experience a plus.
- Master’s Degree in social work, public health, or a related field.
- Ability to work collaboratively as part of a complex team, both within an organization and with external partners.
- Ability to work autonomously and manage multiple projects.
- Excellent time management skills.
What You’ll Receive
- Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $65,000-75,000. This role is an exempt position.
- A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, Group Supplemental Retirement Annuity (GSRA), pension plan, life insurance, Long Term Disability (LTD), Flexible Spending Plan, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
- Outstanding professional development, mentoring, and skill-building opportunities.
- Travel regionally and abroad.
- Schedule flexibility from week to week to ensure balance.
About USC Hillel
USC Hillel is the Center of Jewish Life at USC, annually engaging over 75% of our 2,000+ Jewish student population. Our mission is to enrich the lives of our students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. Fostering meaningful Jewish experiences, USC Hillel develops leaders and inspires young Jewish Trojans to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life. We offer a welcoming environment to nurture a strong Jewish community and place an emphasis on peer-to-peer relationship building among an actively engaged student base. USC Hillel offers opportunities for students to become leaders, mentors, and community members within the greater USC and Los Angeles communities. USC Hillel prioritizes the development of our professionals by investing in team-wide and individual skill building opportunities, both in and outside of the Hillel context. USC Hillel received the “Great Place to Work” award in 2022 from Hillel International which highlighted our emphasis on professional growth opportunities, strong interpersonal relationships, and prioritization of personal wellness.
About the University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities. An anchor institution in Los Angeles, USC enrolls more international students than any other U.S. university and offers extensive opportunities for internships and study abroad programs. With a strong tradition of integrating liberal and professional education, USC fosters a vibrant culture of public service and encourages students to cross academic as well as geographic boundaries in their pursuit of knowledge.