Lindley Center In Action Washington and Lee’s Lindley Center for Student Wellness welcomes students into a new space designed for a holistic approach to wellness.

By Kelsey Goodwin
October 16, 2025

“We are deeply committed to providing students with the tools and habits to be the agents of their own well-being. We believe that this skill will not only serve students well while at W&L, but for the rest of their lives.”

~ Alex Miller, vice president for student affairs

Washington and Lee’s Lindley Center for Student Wellness will be officially dedicated on Oct. 18, but the story of its impact is already unfolding. As students and staff make the space their own, the 14,600-square-foot center, named in remembrance of alumna and pediatrician Dr. Lindley Spaht Dodson ’99, who passed away in 2021, is poised to play a central role in enriching conversations about wellness at W&L.

The Lindley Center for Student Wellness was made possible through the generosity of Dodson’s family, classmates and friends, as well as countless W&L alumni and members of the greater university community. Lead donors to the building include Holden and Claire Spaht P’26 and the Classes of 1996 and 1999. The Class of 2000, which includes Dodson’s husband, Drew Dodson ’00, chose to focus their 25th reunion gift on programming and support for the Lindley Center, ensuring that students would benefit from thoughtful and meaningful resources from the moment the building opened — and for generations to come.

The center officially began welcoming students back in late August, with staff settling into offices and preparing for a busy Fall Term earlier in the month. The center held an open house on Sept. 10 to invite the W&L community into freshly decorated offices, exam rooms and common areas. Attendees were greeted on the first floor by a local therapy dog, and refreshments were served throughout the building’s light-filled waiting areas.

“I am so glad that we were able to host the campus at Lindley,” says Alex Miller, vice president for student affairs. “We hope this event gave our community a chance to view the space and connect with the team. I also see this event as an opportunity to celebrate our institutional commitment to well-being.”

Colorful student artwork peppers the waiting room, group room and hallways of Lindley Counseling, housed on the first floor, and visitors to the space can now create art of their own, read or meditate in the center’s Oasis Room, which offers students a cozy space with low lighting to decompress. The center’s new group room down the hall can accommodate large groups for group counseling, wellness programming or meetings. Annie Robinson, director of Lindley Counseling, said that the group room will be particularly beneficial as her team expands its offerings in group counseling.

“We are very committed to offering more communal experiences for students,” Robinson says. “Last year, we administered a student survey to better understand what students most need from our department, and one question asked them to name a prominent challenge they anticipated facing during their time at W&L. A consistent theme emerged: finding enriching social connection. We know that group support is the gold standard for students craving connection or struggling with loneliness. While individual counseling is, of course, valued, the experience of building meaningful connection cannot be replicated during a one-on-one session. We also want to provide opportunities for shared, communal experiences.”

Robinson says Lindley Counseling also plans to expand its preventive and restorative services, which invite students to participate regardless of whether they see a counselor regularly. Programs such as a new mindfulness-based stress reduction workshop, a communal mindfulness walk/talk and having regular opportunities to interact with therapy dogs encourage students to incorporate wellness strategies into their daily lives.

“There is a lot of rich data from different scaffolding exercises, internal reflections, peer institution research and student survey data conducted over the last year that drove many of these changes,” Robinson says.

Robinson is excited about the programmatic possibilities offered by the new space as well as the office’s new emphasis on the entire W&L community. Dave Salge, associate director and education, training and outreach coordinator, will advance efforts to extend Lindley Counseling’s impact beyond its physical space by developing community partnerships, campus-wide trainings and educational initiatives.

“These efforts are intended to spark curiosity and conversation, encourage skill-building and remind us that well-being is not an individual pursuit; rather, as members of the W&L ecosystem, looking out for the well-being of all is a shared responsibility,” Robinson says.

Dr. Allen Blackwood, university physician and director of student health, says he and his staff are grateful for the additional space now available in Lindley Health’s new home on the building’s second floor and additional features offered by the facility’s technology upgrades. The nurses station now has video intercom capabilities that allow nurses to see and communicate with anyone at one of the building’s three entrances and to lock and unlock doors from the desk, an added security feature that Blackwood says is especially helpful for nighttime hours, when fewer staff are present (Lindley Health is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week while classes are in session). The infirmary boasts six rooms designed for students staying overnight for longer illnesses, which provide ample space for students to recover.

“Washington and Lee is only one of a handful of colleges and universities in the nation that still offer infirmary care,” Blackwood says.

Lindley Health provides comprehensive primary care services, making it students’ first stop for most health care needs, and provides health advice and immunizations for students going abroad as well as women’s health education and services. The new space now also offers an in-house pharmacy where students can get many prescription medications without having to utilize an off-campus pharmacy.

Blackwood says that he and his staff are deeply appreciative of their new workspace.

“We want students to know that we are not just here for you when you are sick but can provide education and advice on how to foster a healthy lifestyle,” Blackwood says.

This ethos, Miller says, is infused into W&L’s philosophy.

“We are deeply committed to providing students with the tools and habits to be the agents of their own well-being,” says Miller. “We believe that this skill will not only serve students well while at W&L, but for the rest of their lives.”

Watch a time-lapse below of the center’s construction: