Penn Bens, the University’s student-run peer counseling program, is unveiling new wellness social events.
Credit: Jean ParkPenn Benjamins, the University’s student-run peer counseling program, will unveil new wellness social events this semester.
This spring, Penn Bens is seeking to expand outreach through social events including a therapy dog event and dialogue dinners. The group was founded in 2014 with the goal of providing a confidential and comfortable space for students to talk.
Through these events, College senior and Penn Bens Outreach Chair Sophia Young says that Penn Bens is aiming to become more proactive in reaching out to students.
“We’re planning to have a therapy dog event for next semester, for students to have spaces to go to that aren’t necessarily for counseling, but are social spots or places people can connect with others and learn more about wellness,” Young said.
Through events like the dialogue dinners, she said that students, faculty, and administration involved in wellness spaces on campus can work together and discuss how to “increase access to services on campus and also increase awareness.” The dinners will address topics such as creating more community spaces on campus as well as supporting other wellness subsections including financial, physical, academic, and social wellness, according to Young.
Following COVID-19, College senior and Penn Bens Board Director Brian Dinh said the group's mission has expanded to include more social events including their ‘free brownies on Locust’ event.
“Something that we’re trying to do differently is to move away from just working in Van Pelt to going back to working in the high rises in College Houses,” Dinh said.
Despite the new initiatives, Penn Bens will maintain their commitment to confidential and free peer counseling. Dinh emphasized listening and confidentiality in particular as priorities for the organization.
Young said that speaking with a peer counselor can be a great way to “connect with other students in a way that sometimes can be missing when you’re talking to somebody who’s several years…removed from the college experience."
Penn Bens counselors go through an “extensive training process,” according to Young. Counselors undergo training for one semester, which is led by student training directors as well as professional staff from Penn Wellness.
Penn Bens provides both virtual and in-person peer counseling sessions from Sunday to Thursday, 8-11 p.m. in the Van Pelt library on a drop-in basis. The group is currently opening spring semester applications for prospective counselors. College senior and Recruitment Chair Pranav Kancherla explained that Penn Bens is seeking people who are “active listeners and empathetic.”
“We’re more about listening and understanding what a student might come in to say, rather than giving out advice,” Kancherla said. “That’s an important distinction that we want to make.”
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