Coping with Current Events - Centering Well-being in Challenging Times: University Wellness Program Solutions
Centering Well-being during challenging times is a core value of our program. By offering expressions of care, we provide faculty and staff with tools they can immediately implement to handle present challenges and support their health and well-being. With a focus on population health through relationship building, strengthening of social connections and enhanced mental and physical well-being, as well as encouraging self-care, we foster individual and community well-being.
Weekly Wellness Breaks - Continuing!
Take 30 minutes each week throughout the rest of the semester to focus on your own well-being through self-care activities such as relaxation, mindfulness, movement and stretching. Weekly facilitators will include some of your favorite presenters as well as University Wellness Program leaders. Offering a consistent time each week to focus on self-care activities will help you maintain a high level of well-being during our current chaotic and stressful times.
Tranquil Tuesdays - June 3 & 17; July 1, 15 & 29; Aug. 12 & 26 from 9-9:30 am via Zoom
Register for Tranquil Tuesdays
Wellness Wednesdays - June 11 & 25; July 9 & 23; Aug. 6 & 20 from 3-3:30 pm via Zoom
Register for Wellness Wednesdays
Good Nurtured
After participating in the 2-week preview of Good Nurtured – a program from the organization that we partner with for wellness challenges like Walktober – this past December, we have decided to offer the full 6-week program this summer as part of the Expressions of Care initiative!
Good Nurtured raises awareness of the mental, emotional, and physical health benefits of kindness, civility, and graciousness by encouraging participants to select and engage in various "Good Things" activities that are the most important to them. Each Good Thing that participants record online within the platform/app adds a new element to a whimsical, animated scene.
Good Nurtured takes place July 7 through August 17 and is open to all benefits-eligible faculty and staff. Registration will remain open through July 14.
Succeeding Through Change
Managing change for individual health and well-being, as well as for organizational success, can be challenging for many of us. Our lives are busy, change is ever-present, and while we usually have the best of intentions, our other commitments and the fast pace of daily life can get in the way of our change efforts or even block them entirely. Thankfully, a variety of best practices exist and have been used to foster individual well-being and organizational success. This new, 9-week series will offer a variety of perspectives, that uniquely blend individual and organizational change management, to maximize your capabilities. Six different speakers will present their suggestions on the power of mindset, intention, optimism, and leading change.
June 10 - The Science of Optimism: Fostering a "Can do!" Attitude with Kim Langley, MEd [Listen to the recording]
June 17 - Change Your Habits Change Your Life: Discover the Way Your Habits Are Negatively Impacting Your Life and Learn How to Change Them! with Tamsin Astor, PhD [Listen to the recording]
June 24 - Change Starts From Within: Cultivating a Change Ready Mindset with David Worden, MBA
July 1 - Mindset Management: Communicating in a Digital World with Tamsin Astor, PhD
July 8 - Adopting a Solution-Focused Mindset with Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC (V)
July 15 - Making Lemonade From Lemons with Judith Eugene
July 22 - Practicing Resilience: Stress Hardiness and Flexibility During Change with Kim Langley, MEd
July 29 - Leading Change With Heart: Empowering People In Transformation with David Worden, MBA
August 5 - Here We Go Again: Strategies for Successful Workplace Change with Andrea Peck, BA, MA
12-1 pm via Zoom
Register for Succeeding Through Change
Small Acts, Big Impact: Be Healthier, Happier, and More Successful Through Kindness
In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven world, essential dynamics like collaboration, cohesion, and validation are often overlooked - if not outright dismissed. This is a missed opportunity, as scientific evidence shows that these positive interactions boost productivity, enhance problem-solving, spark innovation, and strengthen team spirit, leading to significantly improved overall performance. Moreover, research reveals that the benefits of kindness extend beyond the workplace - promoting physical health, longevity, and reducing stress and discomfort in ways that modern medicine can’t fully explain. Join MJ Shaar, MAPP, to explore the transformative power of kindness in the workplace and learn how to turn “have a good day” from polite lip service into reality. Together, let’s create the culture we want to thrive and grow in.
Key Take-Aways for Participants will Include:
- How kindness contributes to physical and mental health improvements
- How being kind provides competitive advantages that lead to higher success levels at work
- How to make kindness an uplifting and sustainable part of our daily lives
Tuesdays, March 25 - May 20, 2025 from 12:30-1:30 pm via Zoom (no session on 4/8/25)
*Eligible for a Wellness Program Incentive in the Community Well-being category
How to Manage Your Emotions
2025 has been a chaotic and stressful time for many of us as we have been presented with challenges to our work and our daily life experiences. The focus of this session will be on developing awareness of our feelings, becoming familiar with the critical skills and tools related to hope, and empowering individuals to practice self-regulation during conversations. This skills-based session will be led by Rhonda Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the Sustained Dialogue Institute.
Friday, April 4, from 1-2 pm via Zoom
How to Manage Your Emotions Recording
Mental Health Matters
Mental Health Matters is an 8-session series focusing on various topics surrounding mental health, from managing personal challenges to helping your team thrive. This series is being presented to foster mental well-being in spite of the challenges we all face on a daily basis.
Tuesdays from 12-1 pm via Zoom
April 1 - Work Life Balance with Patricia Schultz, MBA, CTTS. Session 1 Recording
April 8 - Realistic Optimism: Improving Life Satisfaction with Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC (V). Session 2 Recording
April 15 - Mindset 2.0: An Innovative Approach to Managing Your Mind to Reduce Costs with Tamsin Astor, PhD. Session 3 Recording
April 22 - Grief at Work with Julia Ellifritt, LISW-S. Session 4 Recording
April 29 - Help! I Can't Stop Thinking with Daron Larson, BA. Session 5 Recording
May 6 - Emotional Roots of Clutter with Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC (V). Session 6 Recording
May 13 - Take Control! Simple Stress Management Strategies with Patricia Schultz, MBA, CTTS. Session 7 Recording
May 20 - Laugh for the Health of It! with Christine Smith, MA. Session 8 Recording
*Eligible for a Wellness Program Incentive in the Stress Management category
Interpersonal Relationships at Work
Managing relationships with others at work can be challenging at times. Learning best practice strategies to enhance your ability to establish, maintain, and grow healthy interpersonal relationships is important and will foster greater well-being at work. Useful strategies will be shared by a variety of expert presenters in this new series.
April 3 - We're All in this Together: Supporting Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace - Andrea Peck, MA [Listen to the recording]
April 10 - Dealing with Difficulty and High Maintenance People - Kelsey Loushin, BA, LICDC-CS, CDP [Listen to the recording]
April 17 - Teaching Assertiveness: The Art of Speaking Up & Self-Advocacy - Andrea Peck, MA [Listen to the recording]
April 24 - Handling the Stress of Interpersonal Relationships - Judith Eugene [Listen to the recording]
May 1 - Enough is Enough: Why Professional Boundaries Matter - Andrea Peck, MA [Listen to the recording]
May 15 - Take Charge of Your Emotions Around Difficult People - Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC (V) [Listen to the recording]
May 22 - Working with You is Killing Me - Kim Langley, MEd [Listen to the recording]
*Eligible for a Wellness Program Incentive in the General Wellness category
Coping with Current Events: Cultivating Attentional Agency
Join Daron Larson, BA, originator of the term "Attentional Fitness", for a mindful approach to coping with events this fall. Topics of this 4-week mini-series include:
More Than Calm: Mindful Habits for Thriving in an Attention Economy
Your attention is a scarce resource. The most valuable companies in the world are competing for it. Reflect on your current attention budget, use your values to help you revise it, and learn how mindful habits equip you to pull it off.
Inside Out for Grown-Ups: How Becoming a Connoisseur of Feelings Prepares You to Respond More Effectively
Regulating emotions is one of the most empowering skills a person can develop. Instead of instructions on how to do this, we get a steady stream of stories about conflict and escalation. Learning how to relate to our real-time emotional reactions helps us get better at feeling them without making them worse or blaming them on other people.
Setting Limits: Navigating News, Technology, and Social Media-Related Stress
The problem isn’t information overload. It’s social and emotional overwhelm. Profitable companies design their content and marketing to grab and hold onto your attention. Explore ways you can start to decide what to pay attention to instead of defaulting to what demands it.
Less Dramatic Holidays and a More Mindful New Year
Learn ways to sneak a mindful awareness into the holiday season to savor the pleasant moments more and avoid making the unpleasant moments worse. Discover how small, doable mindful habits help equip you to navigate work pressures, family dramas, and the challenges of ordinary life—throughout the year.
This program may return in 2025.
Improve Your Well-Being Through Meaningful Connections at Work
Full-time employees spend more than half of their waking hours engaged in the workplace environment, including meetings and communications with coworkers. It’s no surprise that our interactions with coworkers have a significant influence on our mental, emotional, and social well-being. This interactive mini-series will offer a unique opportunity to explore the science behind meaningful workplace relationships and how they contribute to overall job satisfaction and well-being.
Over four sessions, Jessica Grossmeier, PhD, MPH, will delve into a science-based framework designed to help you cultivate authentic and impactful interpersonal relationships in your professional life, as well as emphasize the importance of finding a balance between personal and professional aspects of your life - enhancing both your workplace performance and overall happiness. Guided by a skilled instructor, you will participate in breakout rooms and large group discussions to apply the concepts learned and practice integrating them into your daily conversations. Each session will focus on a specific approach to enhancing your social connections with coworkers. You will have the opportunity to implement these strategies during your workweek, allowing you to seek feedback and support from your peers in the subsequent class.
This program may return in 2025.
Building Blocks of Civil Discourse
Fall 2024 brings the U.S. election and ongoing world affairs which may present challenges in regard to interactions with others. Being familiar with the critical skills and tools to manage healthy dialogue and conflict, give hope, and empower individuals to engage in civil discourse will be the focus of this new mini-series. Learn more about key interactive skills that build consensus through a civil discourse approach in this skills-based series led by Rhonda Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the Sustained Dialogue Institute. Each session will provide an in-depth overview of the specific topic as well as time for reflection and large group discussion. Session topics include:
- Us and Them: Resisting Dehumanization and Polarization
- How to Manage Your Emotions (practicing self-regulation during conversations)
- What can Dialogue Do? Stories of Successful Dialogue
- Processes and Tools for In-Group and Affinity Group Conflicts
This program may return in 2025.