How Campus Wellness Programs Make Students Healthier, Happier and Smarter

1. Sabina White Sabina.White@sa.ucsb.edu Director, Health Education & Wellness Student Health Center University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 Carole Pertofsky perto@stanford.edu Director, Health Promotion Services Vaden Student Health Ctr Stanford University Palo Alto, CA 94305-8580 How Campus Wellness Programs Make Students Healthier, Happier and Smarter

2. GOALS • Define Positive Psychology • Describe key research-based benefits of positive psychology • Describe how the principles of positive psychology can be programmatically integrated into the domains of college health and student development · Describe courses and programs currently offered · Utilize discussion and brain storming to tap into group wisdom

3. 1. Define Positive Psychology by describing the concepts that underlie the UCSB Wellness Program

4. Wellness concepts & the Big 5 Ideas

5. Many different definitions of Wellness • What is your personal definition?

6. 1948 definition of health: “A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

7. UCSB’s working Definition: • Wellness is making positive, proactive choices to balance our physical, mental, and social life.

8. BIG IDEA # 1 WELLNESS Choices Are Universal

9. Universal Strategies Intensive Individual Interventions (1-3% of students) Intensive Individual Interventions (1-3% of students) Intensive Individual Interventions (1-3% of students) Tertiary Targeted Classroom and Small Group Strategies (7-9% of students) Targeted Classroom and Small Group Strategies (7-9% of students) Targeted Classroom and Small Group Strategies (7-9% of students) Secondary Universal School-Wide Systems of Support (90% of students) Universal School-Wide Systems of Support (90% of students) Universal School-Wide Systems of Support (90% of students) Primary Adapted from George Sugai, 1996 Adapted from George Sugai, 1996

10. BIG IDEA # 2 WELLNESS has Multiple dimensions

12. UCSB’s Dimensions

13. These dimensions work together to make us healthier: • Ryff and Singer identified 2 ways psychological and social strengths enhance the body: • Buffer the body against stress • Increase immune competence

14. BIG IDEA # 3 BE POSITIVE

15. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: • The science of conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of positive: • Emotions • individual traits • institutions

16. The field of Psychology has been more concerned with problems because: • Compassion: who needs help first • Funding after WWII • Evolution

17. “Ice Age” brain: “Because our brain evolved during a time of ice, flood, and famine we have a catastrophic brain…looking for what’s wrong. The problem is, that worked in the Pleistocene era. It favored you, but it doesn’t work in the modern world.” -Martin Seligman, 2005

18. Emotions: • 4/5 basic emotions and their messages are negative: • Fear: danger is near, run • Anger: deter aggressor • Disgust: avoid contamination • Sadness: warning, save energy • JOY: “something’s good, don’t change anything” (Dan Nettle)

19. Positive and Negative emotions are both necessary for survival: • Negative emotions: give us ability to narrow our responses to avoid threat • Positive emotions: give us ability to expand our responses

20. Martin Seligman, Director, Positive Psychology Institute, University of Pennsylvania Author of Learned Optimism & Learned Helplessness Positive Emotions aka Happinesscurrently being researched by a team led by:

21. Routes to Happiness: • The Pleasant Life: increasing positive emotions about the past, present, and future • The Engaged Life: using positive strengths in pursuit of enjoyments • The Meaningful Life: using positive strengths in pursuit of belonging to and serving something larger than ourselves

22. Each corresponds to a dimension of Wellness:

23. MENTAL WELLNESS

24. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Enhance positive emotions

25. The Pleasant Life Increase positive emotions about the: • Past: gratitude and forgiveness • Present: savoring and mindfulness • Future: hope and optimism

26. Activity: • What: • Are you grateful for? • Do you like to savor? • Are you hopeful about?

27. PHYSICAL WELLNESS

28. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Enhance positive individual traits

29. The Engaged Life: Use positive strengths to identify enjoyments • VIA Signature Strength Questionnaire • http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/

30. STRENGTHS discussion • Share your top 5 strengths • Do you agree with your list? • How is it helpful to have your strengths identified for you? • How could you use your strengths to identify enjoyments?

31. Enhance Enjoyments by pursuing Flow • NOTE: FLOW can be applied to mental, social & physical activities!

32. Elements of FLOW • Time • Concentration • Focus • Concern • Control • Challenge & Skill • Clear Goals & Immediate Feedback

33. Personal Application Think of an activity that you engage in & discuss how to apply FLOW: • Time • Concentration • Focus • Concern • Control • Challenge & Skill • Clear Goals & Immediate Feedback

34. SOCIAL WELLNESS

35. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Enhance Positive Institutions

36. The Meaningful Life use Strengths to pursue belonging to and serving something positive that is bigger than you

37. Keyes: 5 levels of Social Wellness • Integration • Acceptance • Contribution • Actualization • Coherence

38. ACTIVITY • How can knowing your strengths help you belong & serve? • What do you do for your social wellness in each of Keyes’ 5 levels: • Integration: • Acceptance: • Contribution • Actualization • Coherence

39. Big Idea # 4: BE PROACTIVE Wellness involves intentional activity Set Point Intentional Activity Circumstances

40. HOW? Find new activities to become engaged in based on your: • Strengths • Balance of your dimensions Which brings us to our last “BIG IDEA”

41. BIG IDEA # 5: BALANCE

42. Athletes: are they well? • They strive for physical health to perform at a higher level of functioning However: • They are OUT OF BALANCE unless they engage with the same commitment to their mental and social wellness

43. Why be balanced? • Better grades! • Less Stress! • More out of school than just going to class! Source: Law, 2007

44. Do you do more activities that are: • Mental ? • Physical ? • Social ? • What ideas do you have for balancing your activities?

45. UCSB Definition: • Wellness is making positive, proactive choices to balance our physical, mental, and social life.

46. The 5 BIG IDEAS of WELLNESSare research based… • Universal • Multi-Dimensional • Positive • Proactive • Balance

47. What is the goal of the Wellness Program? • The UCSB Wellness Program is designed to connect UCSB students to campus and community wellness resources and opportunities.

48. Wellness services: • Website • Over 75 event calendars have been consolidated, receiving over 3,000 hits per day. • Drop-In Centers • Mondays: The Student Resource Building 12-1pm with FREE MASSAGE • Tuesdays: The Library 12-1pm with FREE MASSAGE • Wednesdays: The University Center 12-1pm with FREE MASSAGE • Thursdays: Carrillo Dining Commons 12-1pm • Programs provide evening and weekend activities: • Faculty- Student “Night” Programs provide evening opportunities to connect outside of the classroom • Weekend field trips include hikes, visits to art museums, volunteering, sailing trips, and food tastings. • Prizes are awarded for attendance at “Passport to Wellness” events: • Each attendance provides students a chance to win FREE IPODs, bikes, skateboards, books, readers, sailing tickets, arts and lectures tickets, adventure program trips, and groceries. • Wellness Interns • trained peer health educators in INT 185 WE (taught here). http://wellness.sa.ucsb.edu

49. 2. Describe key research-based benefits of positive psychology • The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky • The Road to Wellbeing http://www.roadtowellbeing.ca • VIA Signature Strength Questionnaire http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/

50. Seligman et al, Positive Psychology: Empirical Validation of Interventions,July – August, 2005, American Psychologist Wellness study Research Question: