OASIS is the on-campus student community centre. It is on the Bedford Park campus (j7 on the campus map), opposite car park 5.

For a long time, OASIS was primarily a place for students of faith. A chaplaincy service dedicated to meeting the spiritual needs of students from different religious denominations. Because of this, many students who were not of faith dismissed the service.

In 2017, under the leadership of Ben, OASIS started to expand its wellbeing focus.

Faith and spirituality remained key pillars of the services offered, but the range of programs and services offered at OASIS increased with the goal of meeting other wellbeing needs of students: social, mental, physical and intellectual.

This included yoga, mindfulness, study skills, supporting the mental health needs of other students, the food market, shared meals, integrated welfare services (e.g. clothing) and global connections/conversations groups for international students.

With good facilities (e.g. kitchen, quiet spaces, BBQ, conversation areas), OASIS became somewhere that students were just happy to hang out, relax and have a moment away from the busyness of study.

In 2018, with the help of web designer Harley, OASIS complemented its bricks and mortar presence with a new web presence – https://oasis.flinders.edu.au/

In the process of building our web presence, the team at OASIS took the time to really focus in on our core goals. What is it we wanted to offer to students?

We honed in on 3 goals.

We want to create a place where community and diversity is celebrated – recognising the rich cultural variation that exists in the student population. We want to create a space that is as inviting to international students as it is to domestic students. This takes the form of our Global Connections and Conversations groups and the fact that many international students use OASIS as a meeting place with fellow students.

 

We want to create a place where students of faith feel accepted and welcomed. This takes the form of our prayer facilities, and access to chaplains with whom you can talk all matters spiritual.

 

Finally, we want to create a place that looks after the mental and physical needs of students. This takes the form of the Flinders Community Market which addresses food insecurity, mental health focused programs like Mindfulness for Academic Success, Mindful Yoga, Meditation and safeTALK, and welfare services like Thread Together, which provides free and cheap clothing for students who are struggling to make ends meet.

 

We think there is something at OASIS for every student.

Come and test that hypothesis by:

• visiting the centre and taking advantage of our facilities (e.g. fully equipped kitchen, quiet spaces)
• chatting to one of our chaplains
• participating in one of our programs

If you have any questions about the services offered by OASIS, feel free to contact me (gareth.furber@flinders.edu.au)