Montemorelos University Launches Integral Health and Wellness Virtual Community Center

November 5, 2020 | Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico | Laura Marrero and Inter-American Division News

Seventh-day Adventist operated Montemorelos University in North Mexico recently launched a virtual community center aimed at promoting integral health and wellness.  The new online AMICUM Life and Hope Center was designed to improve mental and physical health, as well as personal finances, by featuring digital content such as interviews with specialists, seminars, various support services and blogs, coordinators said.

“The center has as a mission to teach healthy habits for a well-balanced lifestyle including the spiritual dimension,” said Dr. Lorena Neria, general coordinator of AMICUM. It’s a type of holistic approach that educates and supports a community that integrates health and wellness an integrates them into daily life, she explained.

“We follow Christ’s method of connecting with people, becoming their friends and sharing messages that bring hope to their lives,” added Neria.  The center is considered a center of influence that can have a potential to impact thousands of people in Spanish-speaking urban populations.

Online visitors can choose to enlist in online courses on heathy living from physical, mental and spiritual aspects as well as find support groups led by health professionals who will moderate forums for groups such as mourning mothers, young people with disabilities, body in motion, productivity without stress, and personal finances.

“These specific support group themes were chosen based on the needs of persons who live in large cities, regarding survival, protection, affection, understanding, participation, creation, idleness, identity and freedom,” said Mariela Espejo, coordinator of operations and content production of AMICUM.

The center is being promoted through social networks, said Espejo. “Most of what we have noticed is the need for mental health, which we will add more topics that can assist persons face emotional crisis accentuated by the pandemic.”

The center is still in the process of adjusting and going through a learning stage, said Dr. Neria. In addition to social media connections, leaders are counting on the student literature evangelist who, in addition to selling books and literature, can point to the services of AMICUM as a free service to their clients, she explained. “We also want to enlist church members who are interested in sharing the platform with their friends and family members, so we are working on additional dissemination strategies for the virtual center.”

Health and medical professionals specialized in neuro psychology, psychology, physiotherapy, accounting and business administration, among others, are monitoring the forums daily on the website.

AMICUM, which means “friend” in Latin, came about after the Inter-American Division challenged Adventist universities throughout the territory to create centers of influence with an initial sponsorship to start the center. The virtual center operates in a self-sustaining manner.

To learn more about AMICUM and its services, blogs, and seminars, visit centroamicum.com