Health Promotion Services works to help you build healthy decision making skills, reduce risk, and take care of yourself and your friends. We support you reaching your full potential in academics, outside the classroom, and beyond Washington University in St. Louis.
We use resources and programming to promote the expertise of our colleagues in Medical Services and Mental Health Services and help you access what you need.
We train student leaders in Residential Life, Fraternity/Sorority Life, and Campus Life, and advise students involved in peer health education on key topics, including: alcohol/other drugs, fitness/nutrition, mental health, sexual health, and basic self-care.
Popular health promotion efforts include:
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- Alcohol and other Drugs Awareness Week
- “Dine with the Dietitian”
- Prescription Drug Take-Back Program
- “Sex in the Dark” program
- Free STI (sexually transmitted infection) Screening Days in the DUC
- Stressbusters
- Stress Free Zones
If you would like to learn more about any of these topics, contact us or visit us at the Habif Health and Wellness Center or in the Zenker Wellness Suite in the Sumers Recreation Center.
In addition to the programs listed on this page, Health Promotion Services provides experts (and/or peer health educators) and resources for a variety of health-related programs on campus. If you would like to request programming for your group, please fill out this form.
Information about programming and resources (PDF)
Mental Health Services (MHS) Groups
Often, the support and points of view of others can be particularly helpful. In group counseling, students consider and try out new ways of dealing with people and situations in relatively safe surroundings. Some groups explore relationships. Others may focus on particular topics, such as self-esteem, grief, anxiety, dissertation support or alcoholic families. All groups are led by members of the Mental Health Services staff.
Online Resources
Am I at risk? Do I need help? What if I am worried about a friend?
ASK LISTEN REFER
This WashU Suicide Prevention Training Program is designed to help faculty, staff and students prevent suicide by teaching them how to recognize warning signs of suicide, and how to respond to people at risk.
Health Screenings
This free online screening for depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol use and post-traumatic stress disorder is made available to all Washington University students. The survey is taken anonymously and your results are confidential. The screening is provided so that you may quickly receive feedback about whether or not professional consultation is right for you. At the end of the survey you will be given the contact information necessary to set up a mental health appointment.
ULifeline
You can complete a self-assessment at ULifeline to learn insights about your current state of mind. The Self e-Valuator provides a valuable and objective perspective if or when you’re struggling with troubling thoughts.
Student Health 101
SH101 covers a variety of college health issues including stress, sleep, nutrition, alcohol, unhealthy sexual practices, colds, flu, and more. Notice the “WASHU” tab and click for posts by students and staff on the Danforth Campus.
Go Ask Alice!
Go Ask Alice! is a health Q&A internet resource from Columbia University. It provides readers with reliable, accurate, accessible, culturally competent information and a range of thoughtful perspectives so that they can make responsible decisions concerning their health and well-being.
Student Involvement in Health Promotion
- Volunteer as a Stressbuster
- Work for pay in Health Promotion Services department.
- Serve as a communications intern (earn course credit for designing health promotion communications). Earn course credit for designing health promotion communications/serving as communications intern
- Serve on the campus-wide health and wellness committee
- Boost health promotion communications and attendance at programs
- *Volunteer as a Peer Health Educator (PHE)
- **Earn concentration practicum credit in Health Promotion Services (See Symplicity listing or contact for more information)
- **Join Graduate Student Health Advisory Committee (G-SHAC)
*Undergraduate students only
**Graduate students only
A Peer Health Educator (PHE) is an undergraduate student volunteer on the Danforth Campus who is deeply interested in health promotion/harm reduction and committed to creating a healthier WashU. PHEs serve as “ambassadors” for the Habif Health & Wellness Center and the Zenker Wellness Suite/Sumers Recreation Center. Their activities include outreach, program planning and implementation, and communications. PHEs receive training on priority health- and wellness-related topics. PHEs work on these subgroups: alcohol/other drugs (AOD); fitness/nutrition; mental health; and sexual health. A PHE may serve on one subgroup only. Staff members – full-time employees of SHS and Sumers and practicum students from the Brown School – train PHEs and supervise the subgroups.
Stressbusters is a comprehensive community health initiative that helps WashU students, staff and faculty rediscover relaxation. Student volunteers, trained by a licensed massage therapist, and health promotion staff members provide free five minute backrubs and wellness information at events on campus.
The graduate/professional student members of Graduate Student Health Advisory Committee (G-SHAC) serve as liaisons between Habif Health and Wellness Center and the Washington University in St. Louis student body.
G-SHAC representatives from the graduate and professional schools meet with the Director of the Habif Health and Wellness Center to discuss topics of interest to their constituencies.
With help from Habif staff advisors these undergraduate student groups connect their peers to health information and resources in order to raise awareness, boost knowledge and skills, and contribute to a healthy learning community:
- Active Minds (decreasing stigma about mental health issues)
- Phi Lambda Psi (women’s health and wellness honorary)
- Reflections (body image concerns)
- Uncle Joe’s (peer counseling)
To connect with these and other health related student groups, go to WUGO.
To get involved in health promotion on campus, please e-mail.