Wellness at Penn recently launched “be aware” this August — a new online program designed to educate students in understanding mental health signs, skills, and resources at Penn.
The "be aware" program provides a self-paced guide for students, faculty, and staff on how to be aware of signs of struggle, know what steps to take, and build a community of people who take care of themselves and each other. Wellness first introduced the initiative to increase student engagement with the division and create accessible resources for the Penn community.
Wellness staff psychologist Alaina Spiegel told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the program, which is located on Canvas, is designed to increase accessibility to wellness resources at Penn.
“We’re meeting students where they are, and offering this pretty short, around 20 to 30 minute program that’s designed to help people recognize signs of stress, distress, and crisis, learn skills to care for yourself or others, and really know how to connect with resources at Penn,” Spiegel said.
She added that, a lot of the program "goes over Wellness at Penn resources as well as self-care tools and links, and even has resources for faculty and staff who may need support for their own well-being.”
Director of Integrated Care Initiatives Batsirai Bvunzawabaya said that “be aware” helps individuals develop a greater understanding of “how we’re supporting each other, where to get help, how we’re engaging in self-care.”
She added that having the information centralized into one location helps to promote “mental health literacy specifically for our campus.” The program serves as a complement to other Wellness at Penn initiatives such as “i care” and the “i share” video.
Spiegel said that Wellness worked to “put together the best kind of pieces of all the different programs that we’ve promoted over the years to try to create something both concise and thorough at the same time.”
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A few of the program’s primary goals are to help develop a deeper understanding of wellness, destigmatize conversations around mental health, as well as promote a greater awareness of available mental health resources within the Penn community, according to Spiegel.
Spiegel said the program strives to help develop a “shared language” in the community around mental health struggles and an effective skillset for supporting wellness.
“We all have a role to play, not just in our own wellness, but in the wellness of other people,” Bvunzawabaya said.
