Health & Wellness

Balance is key. We understand that student wellness is a critical component to thriving at Penn. Our goal is to keep our community members healthy on every level, providing many resources to empower students to achieve a healthy state of balance.

Committing to wellness is a lifelong pursuit; it starts with learning the tools that help you be successful - emotionally, physically, educationally, socially, financially, and professionally! One of the key components to being successful is creating connections and developing a support system to move you forward.

Nursing Wellness Program

The Nursing Wellness Program is a student-centered wellness program supported by the School of Nursing that aims to keep our students healthy on every level by engaging them in opportunities that foster well-being across the eight dimensions of wellness: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual.

Passionate about wellness? Get involved!

Each academic year the Nursing Wellness program invites students across all Nursing academic levels to sit on the Nursing Wellness Advisory Board. Students on the board engage in dialogue about the needs of the Penn Nursing community to inform intentional programming developed by the Nursing Wellness program.

Additionally, a student from each academic level is elected to serve as a Wellness Ambassador for their academic level. Wellness Ambassadors are the primary leader and representatives for their respective programs, BSN, ABSN, MSN, DNP, and PHD in matters surrounding student wellness.

Contact pennnursingwellness@gmail.com

See What We Do:

The Penn Nursing Wellness Newsletter is released every other week.

View the Newsletter

Resources at Penn to help you thrive:

The Wellness at Penn initiative provides support, resources, and practical tools for wellness across the Penn community. It affirms wellness as a core priority and necessary driver of life on campus; and it offers a wide range of opportunities to reflect and engage on issues of wellness, stress, mental health, resilience, happiness, personal and academic goals, and the meaning of success.

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Student Health and Counseling: Medical Care is a state-of-the-art primary care center dedicated to the health and well-being of Penn students. It provides accessible, cost-effective, culturally sensitive, and student-focused healthcare, including care for acute and chronic health problems, preventive health services, and health and wellness education.

SHS also manages the Penn Student Insurance Plan (PSIP), which is offered through Aetna and meets Penn’s insurance requirement.

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Student Health and Counseling: Counseling provides professional psychological and psychiatric services to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who need support in fulfilling their academic, social, and personal objectives. Along with health and wellness partners throughout the Penn community, Counseling directly supports student mental health through counseling, crisis management, consultation, education and outreach, and training.

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Penn Violence Prevention (PVP) is a collaborative program that grew out of the Penn Women’s Center. PVP aims to engage the Penn community in the prevention of sexual violence, relationship violence, and stalking on campus. The goal is to not only ensure students have access to safe and effective resources, but to provide preventative education focused on building healthy relationships, understanding consent, reaching out to friends in need, and being an active bystander. The director works closely with a team of colleagues across campus to provide education and outreach. The Director also serves as a confidential resource for students affected by sexual violence, relationship violence, and stalking.

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Disabilities Services, part of The Weingarten Center, provides comprehensive, professional services and programs for students who self-identify with disabilities to ensure equal academic opportunities and participation in University-sponsored programs.

Professional staff evaluate current documentation, determine individual students’ eligibility according to program guidelines, and determine reasonable accommodations for all qualified students with documented disabilities on a case-by-case basis, including academic adjustments, e-text, accessible campus housing, and transportation and parking. Disability Services also coordinates auxiliary aids and services such as sign language interpreters and Computer Aided Realtime Translation (CART) reporters, as well as the loan of equipment and assistive technologies.

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Penn’s Department of Recreation facilities include Pottruck Health and Fitness Center, Fox Fitness Center, Ringe Squash Courts, and the Tse Sports Center Locker Rooms. Graduate students are required to purchase a membership plan in order to have access to the facilities.

Penn Recreation also offers additional services, including intramural sports and club sports, instructional and group exercise classes, indoor climbing wall, and outdoor adventure programs.

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The Family Resource Center at Penn is a hub for information, resources, activities and advocacy for students and post-docs with children. The Family Center provides a forum for student parents to connect and develop supportive networks, and offers a welcoming environment for Penn students, post-docs, caregivers, and children.

The space includes a lounge, a family reading room, and a children’s playroom complete with toys, games, books, stuffed animals; two private lactation rooms equipped with a Symphony breast pump; and community bulletin boards.

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The Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Program Initiatives (AOD) oversees critical areas of health and wellness that can challenge the academic success of Penn students. The office comprises alcohol policy initiatives, violence prevention, data collection, strategic project management, and (in collaboration with Student Intervention Services) proactive crisis management.

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The Graduate Student Center, located at 3615 Locust Walk, provides a centrally-located space to relax, eat lunch, and connect with other graduate and professional students from across the university. In addition to providing a central gathering and study space for students, the Grad Center holds hundreds of events each year designed to help students gain the skills, experiences, and community they need for a truly successful graduate experience.

We also provide a range of services and resources to empower graduate and professional students to participate fully in the graduate community at Penn. Whether students need help finding mentorship, building connections on campus, accessing accommodations, or something else, there are a range of resources and staff at Penn who are here and ready to help. Because it can be difficult to find the exact resource you need at a complex institution like Penn, the Grad Center has an updated and expanded resource guideto make it easier for students to connect with the help they need.

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