A University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point faculty member is helping people to achieve the reset they need to reconnect and rediscover their purpose.
Associate Professor Brian Krolczyk, health sciences and wellness and business administration, traveled to Tuscany, Italy, in October 2024 to lead a five-day wellness retreat. Sponsored by the Conscious Workplace, a consulting firm based out of London, the group aims to provide insights and skills that will prevent burnout, improve morale, optimize well-being and performance and promote engagement and belonging.
Krolczyk’s teaching experience and connections with wellness leaders and international colleagues led the Conscious Workplace to reach out to him. The firm offered him the opportunity to co-lead their first retreat and connect with executives looking to reclaim balance and clarity in their personal and professional lives.
Krolczyk wanted the retreat to have a foundation of personal renewal. He noted the shift he has seen in the workforce over his years, explaining how many business leaders his age are very transactional in nature.
“Workers today are looking to be appreciated, known and developed, while striking a healthy balance within their career development and personal life,” said Krolczyk.
He aimed to help reconnect people with their purpose through building emotional resilience, a person’s ability to adapt to stressful situations.
“The retreat provided attendees with the opportunity to recalibrate emotionally by transforming past experiences into valuable insights and cultivating gratitude for the lessons they offer,” said Krolczyk. “While emotional challenges naturally surface during this process, our focus is on channeling these feelings into constructive growth. We guide participants to leverage their inner strengths and resources, empowering them to move forward with clarity and purpose.”
He also helps individuals build relationships and identify resources to seek additional help. Krolczyk understands first-hand the importance of knowing where to go in a time of need.
During his undergraduate studies, Krolczyk dropped out of UW-Stevens Point due to challenges from mental health, substance abuse, relationships and problems focusing on schoolwork. He later came back to the university and sought out the resources needed to help him graduate. He then attended West Virginia University where he earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees in counseling psychology.
Krolczyk is now a national board-certified executive health coach, director of the UWSP Health and Wellness Coaching Certificate program and teaches neuroleadership in the UWSP Master of Business Administration program.
Past experiences of adversity have given Krolczyk a specialized perception within his current work to be a proponent of being proactive rather than reactive in the care of personal wellbeing. Krolczyk says he has now come full circle, having fostered substantial areas of his life to get to a position where now he can support students in the way he needed when he was a student at his alma mater.
Guiding his students on how to be a better health practitioner, Krolczyk utilizes the knowledge learned from the retreat by sharing stories to explain the consistent themes he observed. He notes that a majority of people today are dealing with similar categories of stressors in varying degrees.
He tells his students that the opportunities for career experiences such as his are waiting for them. “There is high demand for experts who know how to support others in health behavior change,” Krolczyk said. “So again, be proactive and not reactive. Pay attention and look for these opportunities.”
Krolczyk’s deep commitment towards student success allows him to aid the journey they are on and making them feel invited to belong at UWSP.
“I am honored to be part of a dedicated community at UWSP that collaborates tirelessly to support and inspire student success,” said Krolczyk.
“Now is a good time to heal and to love. The present is the only place you can truly live, so fill it with gratitude.”
Courtesy of University Communications and Marketing Point of U