What is Wellness?

Northeastern defines wellness as fostering your emotional, social, intellectual, physical, environmental, spiritual, occupational, and financial wellbeing. The goal of wellness is to promote a healthy, joyful, purposeful, and well-balanced life.

Emotional Wellness

Recognizing and navigating stressors, building resilience skills, and prioritizing self-care.

Social Wellness

Developing a sense of connections and belonging; establishing meaningful relationships.

Intellectual Wellness

Recognizing creative abilities and finding ways to expand knowledge and skills.

Physical Wellness

Finding ways to strengthen, nourish, and care for your body.

Environmental Wellness

Finding safe and supportive environments that promote positive health and well-being.

Spiritual Wellness

Expanding one’s sense of purpose and meaning in life.

Occupational Wellness

Personal satisfaction and enrichments from one’s work.

Financial Wellness

Satisfaction with current and future financial situations.

Wellness Week

This week is dedicated to developing and supporting holistic wellness through network-wide events, programming, and promoting the health and wellness resources available to support student wellbeing. Check out the 2024 Wellness Week website here:

National College Health Assessment

Student Life administers the National College Health Assessment biannually, surveying students on a wide array of health behaviors. The NCHA is given to a random sample of all degree-seeking students on the Boston campus and allows the university to track trends in student use over time.

Online Modules

OPEN offers online modules on a variety of topics, including wellness. Northeastern community members can self-enroll in courses like “How to Make Friends That Stick in College” and “Building Resilience Skills” to learn helpful strategies that boost their overall mental health and wellbeing.

Building Resilience Skills

According to Dr. Karen Reivich of the The Penn Resiliency Project, resilience is “having the ability to bounce back from adversity and the ability to grow from challenges.” Resilience is not something you have or don’t have, it’s a skill set which we all have the ability to build and grow. This course is designed to teach you skills to build resilience.

How to Make Friends That Stick In College

We know it can be challenging to make new friends. This brief course offers research and strategies for finding and building friendships that stick in college.