A series on wellness and well-being

Wellness and well-being are woven into the life of Penn's campus for students, faculty, postdocs, and staff. A six-part series featured in Penn Today highlights many University resources aimed at supporting the campus community. The series begins with resources for behavioral and mental health and well-being, followed by financial wellness, physical health and well-being, online safety and best practices, public safety resources, and family friendly policies and resources.

Mental health and well-being

The series begins with behavioral and mental health and well-being, highlighting the Wellness at Penn programs for behavioral and mental health and well-being for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, with additional resources available to faculty and staff.

Resources are also available for the Penn community seeking help for friends and family as intervention and outreach tools. An interactive training program for students, faculty and staff, i care, aims to build a caring community with the skills and resources to intervene when someone is dealing with stress, distress, and crisis.

Penn studies have highlighted the benefits of nature for well-being, and Penn's campus has earned Tree Campus Higher Education recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation. While Penn's campus is situated in a large city, there are numerous settings within the landscape that offer peaceful oases in the outdoors, including The Penn Farmand Kaskey Park(also known as the BioPond).

Financial well-being

The second installment in the wellness and well-being series addresses financial wellness services.

Financial Wellness @ Penn (FW@P) is a program for undergraduate and graduate students launched in 2020; the program is student-driven and supports students of all backgrounds, from all 12 Schools at Penn. FW@P provides several options for students to navigate their financial concerns and start planning for the future.

Additionally, the Division of Human Resources provides several programs focused on financial wellness and planning for faculty, staff, and postdocs, and University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) employees have access to additional financial and retirement planning and student loan forgiveness assistance.

Physical wellness and safety

Physical wellness is a priority at Penn; the physical wellness on campus installmenthighlights outreach measures, from the annual fall flu clinic to free biometric screenings, and preventive care for students, staff, and faculty. Aimed at a wholistic wellness approach, the Peer Wellness Coaching offered by Wellness at Penn provides a range of services to promote good physical health including support and resources to help students' manage sleep, nutrition, and physical activities.

The personal safety installmenthighlights Penn's Division of Public Safety, which helps keep the University community safe through programs like the 24/7 Walking Escort Service, the UPennAlert Emergency Notification System, Penn Guardian, and the HELP Line.

The Division of Public Safety also offers property registration for bicycles, electronic equipment, and other valuables. There is also the Penn Alternative Response Unit (AR-1),a partnership between Penn and the Philadelphia Fire Department for students with non-traumatic injuries.

IT safety

With cybersecurity threats continually evolving, information security remains a top priority. The IT safety and wellness installmenthighlights Information Systems & Computing resources that the Penn community can use to secure data, email, and privacy. ISC partners with the Division of Public Safety (DPS) and local law enforcement to act fast when incidents like phishing and security breaches occur. Beyond financial scams and phishing attacks, ISC works with DPS to monitor threats to the campus' overall digital security.

Reproductive and family wellness

The final installment of the wellness series spotlights family, from sexual and reproductive health to resources for parents of young children. Offices and centers such as the Penn Women's Center, Wellness at Penn, the Family Resource Center, the Division of Human Resources, the LGBT Center, Penn Violence Prevention, and University Life work together to support students, faculty, staff, and postdocs.

Numerous resources available to the Penn community include reproductive health and Sexually transmitted infection testing. Access to a new Wellness Express Vending Machineis coming soon to the third floor of the ARCH (3601 Locust Walk), with wellness products, including Plan B, condoms, menstrual products, COVID tests, hand sanitizer, cold medicine free for distribution with a PennCard.

For members of the Penn community wanting to start a family, there are fertility resources, and assistance throughout pregnancy and early childhood. There are additional resources for emergency adoption assistance, emergency childcare, lactation spaces, and parenting workshops.

Numerous links to various wellness resources are available throughout each installment of the series. Below are introductory links to some of Penn's resources:

• Office of the Chaplain

• Employee Assistance Program

• Office of the Ombuds

• Penn Violence Prevention

• Special Services Department

• Division of Public Safety

• Student Health and Counseling, including its Sexual Trauma Treatment Outreach and Prevention team also known as STTOP

• University Life Cultural Resource Centers

• Wellness at Penn

Penn's HELP Line is also available every day of the year, 24 hours a day at (215) 898-HELP (or 215-898-4357) to assist members of the community who are seeking help in navigating campus resources to support health and well-being.