This short animated video explores the Eight Dimensions of Wellness and helps people understand the practical strategies and ways they can begin developing healthy habits that can have a positive impact on their physical and mental health.
Well-being Resource Hub
This well-being page is comprised of eight mutually co-dependence dimensions of wellness: emotional, physical, occupational, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental and financial. If any one of these dimensions is neglected over time, it will adversely affect one's health, well-being and quality of life.
Coping effectively with life and creating satisfying relationships.
Recognizing the need for physical activity, diet, sleep, nutrition.
Personal satisfaction and enrichment derived from one’s work.
Developing a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support system.
Expanding our sense of purpose and meaning in life.
Recognizing creating abilities and finding ways to expand knowledge and skills.
Good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being.
Satisfaction with current and future financial situations.
Check the Gillings calendar for student events.
Emotional wellness
Emotional wellness involves being able to cope effectively with the difficulties of life, being emotionally aware and having healthy relationships with yourself and others. People with healthy emotional wellness are confident, have control over their feelings and behavior and have good coping mechanisms for dealing with difficult situations. Building resiliency allows us to overcome the hurdles of life.
Reveal more emotional wellness resources
- Gillings Embedded Counselors
- CAPS
- Heels Care Network
- Connect with Peer2Peer Services
- Emotional Wellness Toolkit (National Institutes of Health)
- Healthy Heels – Support Resources
- Peers for Progress Support Pods
- Dean of Students
- Togetherall
- Mental Health Wellness Awareness Association
Coaching for students is a specialized form of coaching that provides targeted support and guidance to students in higher education. Coaches help students identify their strengths and weaknesses, set realistic goals, develop effective learning strategies, and overcome obstacles hindering academic progress. Coaching for students can be a transformative experience, providing students with the tools and strategies they need to thrive in higher education. By investing in yourself and seeking the support of an academic coach, you can unlock your full potential and achieve your academic goals. Coaching is very different from therapy. Therapy is focused on addressing emotional, psychological and mental health issues. It aims to explore and heal past wounds, traumas, and patterns that may be causing distress and negatively impacting a person’s mental and emotional well-being. If students need therapy they can schedule an appointment with the Gillings Embedded Counselor or CAPS.
Coaching can help to:
- Improve communication with peers.
- Improve communication with faculty mentors or instructors.
- Set goals for academic work – discuss priorities, plan strategy, and demonstrate accountability.
- Reach/maintain work-life balance.
- Address imposter syndrome.
- Set up healthy boundaries- get better at time management and navigating competing interests.
- Maintain work motivation.
- Get support in facing many other challenges students encounter
To schedule a coaching appointment contact Student Affairs or an Academic Coordinator. Gillings Academic Coordinators and several Student Affairs staff members have been certified by the UNC Chapel Hill Coach Approach Training.
Physical wellness
Physical wellness involves eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, doing enough regular physical activity, and preventing and managing illness and health conditions. Not being physically healthy can lead to numerous health problems or diseases. Developing a healthy lifestyle and making healthy choices will improve your overall wellness.
Reveal more physical wellness resources
- Gillings CJ’s Cupboard
- Carolina Cupboard
- Edible Campus UNC
- Bike racks around Gillings
- Showers in basement of Rosenau
- UNC Campus Rec
- Student Wellness
- Carolina Recovery Program
- Gillings School Culture of Health
- Campus Health
- Pharmacy at Campus Health & Student Stores
- Free Yoga Class Videos at Core Power
Occupational wellness
Occupational wellness involves having a fulfilling and enriching occupation, whether that be professional work or academic work. A common cause of stress for many Americans is their jobs and the demands that come with it. Having a work-life balance is extremely important to your overall health and wellness. The first step to achieving this is having a job that you enjoy and are passionate about. It is also important to have a positive work environment and be surrounded by people who support you and your goals.
Reveal more occupational wellness resources
Social wellness
Social wellness involves having a strong support network, feeling connected to other peoples, and having a sense of belonging. Feeling isolated, lonely, or disconnected from others can lead to negative physical and mental health outcomes. Healthy relationships we make with family and friends are essential to our well-being, both social, emotional, and spiritual.
Reveal more social wellness resources
Spiritual wellness
Spiritual wellness is about having a sense of purpose and meaning in life that revolves around your personal beliefs and values. Spiritual health can involve a connection with nature, self-reflection, meditation, prayer, and more. Being spiritually healthy means you have strong values, a feeling of inner peace, and meaning in life.
Reveal more spiritual wellness resources
Intellectual wellness
Intellectual wellness is about exercising the mind, learning new things, and expanding upon one’s knowledge and skills. Being intellectually healthy can help you with mental growth which helps with your concentration, memory, and critical thinking skills.
Reveal more intellectual wellness resources
Environmental wellness
Environmental wellness refers to being in a nurturing and healthy environment as well as having awareness and respect for the environment around us. The environment around you can greatly impact how you feel. For example, people who live in countries that have a lot of rain and cloudy days might suffer from seasonal depression which will affect their emotional health, social health, spiritual health, and possibly more. Having a positive environment around you as well as doing your part to take care of the earth will help you to feel overall more fulfilled.
Reveal more environmental wellness resources
- Campus lactation rooms
- Gillings Lactation Room Ros 227A
- Gillings quiet room – Ros 016
- Gillings facilities department
- Gillings Study Rooms
- Day lockers
- Lost and found
- Showers in Rosenau
- Local transit/bus system
- Ackland Art Museum
- North Carolina Botanical Garden
- Accessibility Resources and Services
- Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office
Financial wellness
Financial wellness refers to being financially literate, in charge of your finances, and responsible with your money. Struggling with finances and having an unsettled financial situation is a problem that can cause a lot of stress for you and your family. Staying on top of your finances is important for improving your everyday life.
Reveal more financial wellness resources
Student Wellbeing and Mental Health Task Force
Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Task Force was established in the summer of 2021 by Dean Emeritus Barbara Rimer. The goal of this task force was to develop a set of recommendations for structuring our Gillings resources and environment to (a) help reduce Gillings students’ stress and to (b) support and improve their overall mental health and well-being.
The task force used the “Eight Dimensions of Wellness” framework to address all aspects of well-being (emotional, financial, occupational, physical, intellectual, environmental, social, and spiritual). In developing recommendations, we were asked to do the following:
- Specify goals specific to the Gillings context and tied to the 8 dimensions of well-being; and recommend both short-term (achievable in about 12 months), and longer-term (achievable over several years) actions that can help us meet those goals.
- Specify resources currently available at Gillings and/or our campus to achieve the recommended goals; also identify additional resources we may need.
- Recommend optimal ways to structure our plans to harness synergies and to make the most of the resources we have.
- Outline communications approaches to ensure that people know about, and can access, well-being resources.
- Recommend who would lead, and who would participate in, (a) implementing, (b) communicating, and (b) monitoring progress/outcomes. These individuals and groups will likely include some of the people on this task force.
The task force includes students, faculty, and staff and to date, many recommendations have been implemented including the following:
- Academic/Intellectual
- Created a mentoring program for faculty
- Email reminders to faculty about Wellness Days
- Faculty added Heels Care website to syllabi
- Career Services/Wellbeing Events slides created for instructors to add to class slides
- MPH steering committee voted for some concentrations to have part-time residential programs for MPH degree-seeking students
- Emotional, Physical and Spiritual
- Movement and hydration signs posted around the school
- Movement Challenge implemented for students, faculty and staff
- Mental health/wellbeing moments on the LCD screens
- Ensure people know about supportive spaces at Gillings by sharing at orientation and then reminding people of these resources via social media, posters, etc.
- Student Wellbeing Coordinator hired
- Gillings collaboration with Carolina Special Interest Group (SIG)
- Financial
- Offer funding sessions at Open House and Admitted Day to better educate prospective and admitted students.
- Met with a potential donor to secure funding for a full-time Culture of Health Coordinator (well-being coordinator)
- Created a video to help navigate student loans posted on the website
- Create a loan FAQ posted on website
- Offer Awards and Funding “Office Hours”
- FAQ signs outside Student Affairs suite with QR codes to access resources
- Social
- Two lounge/study areas were created (MG 3rd & 4th floor)
- Environmental/Occupational
- Created a Wellbeing website
- Hired a 2nd Career Services Coordinator
- Reservation time limit extended to four hours ROS 004
- Added more plants in the school
- Specifically, those that NASA has recommended for air-filtering properties.
- Two Ficus trees were added to the Atrium
- Plans to add a plant in room 2301 and more to the Atrium after furnishing completed
If you have comments, questions or would like to join the task force please email us at sph-osa@unc.edu.
