As the fall semester ramps up, Wellness at Penn highlighted support services for students dealing with stress and anxiety in a series of interviews with The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Wellness at Penn offers a wide breadth of support for students that ranges from traditional counseling services with licensed clinicians to peer wellness coaching.
“Our goal is to try and make sure that every student finds something that they’re comfortable with so that they can receive the support they need,” Wellness at Penn Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé told the DP.
“There’s not just one solution for everyone. For some students, it’s uncomfortable to be one-on-one with their emotions with a therapist, but there’s safety in finding validation and support by peers who have shared similar struggles,” Dubé continued.
Wellness at Penn offers a Let’s Talk program that provides access to free and confidential drop-in conversations with a trained professional at different locations around campus, including Van Pelt Library, the ARCH, Houston Hall, and the LGBT Center. Students can talk about academic concerns, stress, family and financial problems, and work through their emotions.
In addition to the short-term counseling services offered by Student Health and Counseling, various weekly group therapy options are also available to students. Group therapy has numerous benefits for participants, including helping them "less isolated, more self-aware, and more connected to others," according to the Wellness at Penn website.
Therapy groups include the Gender Expansive Process Group, the Grief Support Group, and the Support Group for Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault, and can be found on Wellness at Penn’s website.
Peer Wellness Coaching — which launched in February — provides students with free, one-on-one support from a Peer Wellness Coach trained to offer support in the “8 Domains of Wellness.” These domains include physical health, emotional health, time management, relationships, transitions, finances, career, and spirituality.
The program serves as an option for students seeking support but who do not feel like they need care on a clinical level, according to Wellness at Penn.
Wellness at Penn Director of Communications Mary Kate Coghlan explained that this service will help make Wellness at Penn more accessible to students, as well as destigmatize seeking help. Students can sign up for individualized, in–person sessions to set wellness goals and create actionable plans to reach them.
Wellness at Penn Director of Wellbeing Initiatives Jackie Recktenwald told the DP that the feedback from Wellness Coaching has been “overwhelmingly positive.” She said that they are currently in the process of hiring more Peer Wellness Coaches for the semester.
Another program, the Substance Use, Prevention, Education, and Recovery program aims to reduce harm related to substance use on Penn’s campus. The SUPER Recovery Community — which is part of the program — provides a space for Penn students who “identify as in recovery, no matter what that looks like for them." The group meets weekly on Monday evenings at the Wellness at Penn office at 3535 Market Street.
Applications for Wellness at Penn’s Student Wellness Advisory Group are currently open. The group is a team of students who meet monthly to shape wellness initiatives around campus. Wellness at Penn hopes to form a group that has undergraduate and graduate student representation from all 12 of Penn’s schools.
“We ask for input on a lot of our programming and marketing. It’s a great opportunity for students to get involved, especially if they are particularly interested and invested in wellness,” Coghlan said about the Student Wellness Advisory Group.
"Our goal is really to find different ways to support students," Dubé said. "Because we know that different students have different needs," he continued.
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