Beyond the Desk: Building and Sustaining Community Through Student-Led Collaboration at Woodhaven Eco-Culture Centre

  • Bellevue creek in the summer
  • Person sitting in an armchair working in the FEELed lab
  • Long shot of Bellevue creek with Tom and Emma looking at the creek, snow is softly falling.
  • Shared lunch in the FEELed Lab kitchen
  • Close-up of a pinecone in a fall-forest
  • Shared lunch
  • Trees in the fall
  • Deer standing at the FEELed Lab around the fire pit
  • Students co-working at desks in the FEELed Lab

Co-led by Manuela Rosso Brugnach and Thomas Letcher-Nicholls

Beyond the Desk is a student-led project that brings people together at the Woodhaven Eco-Cultural Centre to build community, care for one another, and connect with the land. Co-led by FEELed Lab core members Thomas Letcher-Nicholls and Manuela Rosso – Brugnach, we want to invite anyone who is interested in participating in a student-driven space where collaboration, mutual support, and reflection can flourish outside of campus grounds. We know that many students at UBCO struggle with feelings of isolation and disconnection, so we want to offer a way to meet those needs: gathering regularly in a welcoming, forest side, off-campus setting to write, work, share ideas, co-create, inspire and motivate one another, and care for Woodhaven itself.

The heart of Beyond the Desk is simple: students supporting students. We will host regular co-working sessions, peer-to-peer check-ins, and informal writing communities where everyone is welcome to come together and connect, create, and support one another while honouring and caring for the Syilx territories without which our work would not be possible.

Our project is guided by UBC’s Wellbeing Strategic Framework and the Okanagan Charter, both of which call for stronger communities of care and resilience. By embedding consistent, accessible, place-affirming care practices, we see Beyond the Desk as part of a larger commitment to climate and ecological responsibility without which our communities cannot thrive: offering generosity to our place is also a way of caring for each other and the world we share. We also believe that the important task of showing up for one another is the beginning of doing important work in an academic community, and that in order to offer good work we need to cultivate community relationships beyond the desk.

Supported by the FEELed Lab and drawing on our past work with the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Student Society and the Place-Based Pedagogies Project, we are committed to keeping this initiative going well beyond this initial year. With a sustainability plan that includes mentorship, workshops, knowledge-sharing, and integration into FEELed Lab programming (and beyond), we want to plant the seeds for a student community and leadership practice that can carry this forward for years to come.

In the year ahead, we’ll host monthly Woodhaven sessions, optional online gatherings, and weekly writing-style communities. We are excited to begin this journey, to nurture resilience and wellbeing together, and to imagine what student life at UBCO can look like when it is rooted in care, connection, and community. Read Tom’s reflection on our first sessions in this FEELed Note.

For more information on our project, event information or any getting involved reach out to tletcher@student.ubc.ca or mrosso02@student.ubc.ca! We look forward to hearing from you!