Health Promotion & Wellness Services

Your Wellness Hub at UMD!

Health Promotion & Wellness Services is committed to creating a culture of well-being across campus. We offer wellness programs, services, resources, and consultations.

You can find us on the ground floor of the University Health Center, or at programs and events across campus.

8 Dimensions of Wellness

Social

Social Wellness focuses on connecting with your community and the people around you, which includes being aware of your own social and cultural background as a bridge to understand the diversity and depth present in other backgrounds. This dimension encourages taking an active part in improving your communities, connecting with others, establishing supportive social networks, developing meaningful relationships, and creating safe and inclusive spaces.

Physical

Physical wellness is not merely the absence of illness, but about maintaining a thriving lifestyle. This area of wellness includes adopting healthy habits such as routine medical exams, immunizations, safety precautions, sexually transmitted infection screenings, adequate sleep, a balanced diet, regular exercise, and more. It is also about avoiding or minimizing risky behaviors like alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Most importantly, physical wellness is about discovering what healthy habits make you feel better and suit your lifestyle and level of mobility and fitness.

Emotional

Emotional wellness encompasses optimism, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and the ability to experience and cope with feelings independently and interpersonally. Emotional wellness includes: practicing self-care; fostering inner resources and resiliency; finding unique ways of coping with stressors; creating satisfying relationships; empathizing with others; being realistic about expectations and time; and knowing when to ask for help.

Intellectual

Vocational

Spiritual

Spiritual wellness involves seeking and having a meaning and purpose in life, as well as participating in activities that are consistent with one’s beliefs and values. It is more than prayer and believing in a higher being. A spiritually well person seeks harmony with the universe, expresses compassion towards others, and practices gratitude and self-reflection. When we integrate practices of spiritual wellness we are able to connect in mind, body, and soul.

Environmental

Environmental wellness inspires us to live a lifestyle that is respectful of our surroundings. It involves understanding the dynamic relationship between the environment and people and recognizing that we are responsible for the quality of the air, water, and earth that surrounds us and in turn, that social, natural, and built environments affect our health and well-being. Our environment and the way we feel about the environment can play a big role in how we live our lives. Examples of our environment include our social environment (i.e. bullying, fat talk, and racism), our natural environment (i.e. air, nature, and climate), and our built environment (i.e. proximity to resources and living conditions).

While the University Health Center does not have environmental-specific resources, the environment plays a big role in how we achieve our wellness goals. We’re passionate about working with you to achieve these goals and understanding how they may be impacted by the environment

Financial