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disorders, fitness, interpersonal violence, mental health, nutrition, safety
on social media, sexual health, sleep, stress, sustainability, tobacco and
other health-related topics. Healthy Campus also coordinates Aspire to Be
Well, a peer-led, health- and safety-focused dialogue presented by Healthy
Campus facilitators. This 90-minute dialogue covers areas key to maintaining
a healthy and safe lifestyle including overall wellness, alcohol and other drug
misuse prevention, mental health and suicide prevention, and interpersonal
violence prevention, while focusing on bystander intervention.
Eating on Campus
The infamous “freshman 15” is something most people are familiar with
when it comes to college students and food. Fortunately, we have found that
to be a myth and the actual weight gain is only five to eight pounds the first
year of college. Still, there are great ways for your student to stay healthy
when it comes to eating on campus. Clemson’s dining halls are committed
to healthy food and dining programs that make it easy for them to eat right.
Visit
clemson.campusdish.comfor more information.
Encouraging Emotional Wellness
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Help your student overcome, recover and draw strength from difficult
situations. “Resilience skills can help students not just get through college,
but actually thrive and flourish while doing it,” said Paula Davis-Laack, who
designs resilience training programs for professionals and organizations.
“Resilience skills bring out the best qualities in a person and activate
desirable behaviors. Resilient students can tolerate change, stress,
uncertainty and other types of adversity more effectively. They are less
likely to experience setbacks and diminished work/school performance,
‘learned helplessness’ and other problems.”
“Resilience has been very conclusively shown to be a bundle of skills that
everyone can learn, develop and practice. One of the leading researchers
calls resilience ‘ordinary magic,’ because it doesn’t require anything fancy
or sophisticated to build,” said Davis-Laack. External supports matter too,
including, “the capacity of the institution to create opportunities for
students to succeed,” said Ungar.
What Builds Resilience?
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• Hanging in through a challenge.
• Learning from experience.
• Strong relationships.
• Seeing a current situation as a turning point.
• Humor and realistic optimism.
• Appropriate environmental support.
Protective Factors for Resilience
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• Supportive, nurturing parents or other adults.
• Stable housing and income.
• Regular physical activity.
• Mindfulness meditation.
• Access to religious or faith-based services.
• Access to health care.
STUDENT TESTIMONIAL
“I was very pleased that the
people running Aspire touched
on depression, anxiety and
suicidal tendencies. I’ve
noticed a lot of people my
age don’t really understand
depression/anxiety and think
that suicide is a joke, and it’s
definitely not a joking matter.
I’m hoping that everyone who
takes Aspire will take into
consideration the valuable
information that was provided
and possibly help save
someone’s life.”
Anonymous
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