The Wellness and Resilience Summit will be held on Sunday, February 18th at Gutman College House.Credit: Abhiram Juvadi 
Penn Wellness and Penn’s Center for Positive Psychology have partnered to host the Dowd/Sanders Wellness and Resilience Summit to teach students strategies to manage stress and strengthen relationships.
At the Resilience Summit, students learn how to cope with the demands of student life, increase their well-being, achieve their academic goals, and launch their careers after graduating from Penn. The first full-day iteration was held on February 4th at Gutman College House and had approximately 50 participants. The second one will be held on February 18th.
According to the Wellness at Penn website, the event provides an opportunity to meet other Penn students and share experiences. Funded by the Pamela and Arthur Sanders Family Foundation.
Chief Wellness Officer Benoît Dubé said each Resilience Summit is aimed at helping students become more successful and acquire life skills that will enable them to be “successful not only on campus but also off campus.” He said it has been adjusted to respond.
Students listened to a four-part presentation by instructors from the Center for Positive Psychology that focused on building an optimistic mindset, avoiding thought traps, evoking positive emotions, and increasing joy. Each part of the presentation included open floor discussions and small group discussions, allowing students to meet new people, share ideas, and bond through shared experiences.
In the Optimism presentation, students were encouraged to self-assess their level of optimism and come up with “optimism cues” that remind them to remain optimistic in the face of adversity. In the Thinking Traps section, we covered different types of “false thinking” and taught you skills to overcome them.
Shree Patel, a first-year chemical and biomolecular engineering doctoral student, said she participated in “Learning Strategies for a Thriving Mindset” to support her Ph.D. Journey. He took away “a solid strategy of optimism” from the public forum.
In previous semesters, Wellness at Penn has offered a series of short wellness and resiliency workshops at various locations, with virtual opportunities also available.
“We’ve tried something a little bit new each time because we’re trying to figure out what works best for Penn students. At the end of the day, there’s probably no one thing that’s most effective for Penn students. This By continuing to offer this in a variety of formats, we are making it accessible to more people,” said Ashley Halbritter, Executive Director of Public Health and Human Services.
Judy Saltzberg, a licensed clinical psychologist and instructor at the Center for Positive Psychology, further emphasized the importance of making Penn State students “feel like they are thriving in a college environment.”
“We have a desire to help [students] “It’s important not only to manage stressors well, but also to live as fully as possible,” Saltzberg said.
She added that her team and Penn Wellness will listen to student feedback and continue to improve the program for the future.
Xueying Lyu, a fourth-year bioengineering doctoral student, said she hopes this semester’s program will help her develop the skills she needs to deal with overthinking. Liu said the group discussions were fun and she felt like she “made friends and met new people” and bonded over similar issues.
Students can sign up for the final day of the Resilience Summit using this link.
