Well-Being Program
Date June 19, 2022
All News

June 2022 Newsletter

The importance of belonging, tools for stress reduction, building community, and much more--all in the June 2022 Wellness Newsletter.

Belonging is a core aspect of wellness.  As human beings nearly every aspect of our lives are organized around belonging to something.  Studies have found a positive link between a sense of belonging and greater happiness and overall well-being, as well as an overall reduction in the mental health outcomes including a reduction in: anxiety, depression, hopelessness, loneliness, social anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.  There is value in taking the time to adjust our own lense to improve our sense of belonging.

Improve your own sense of belonging by: 

  1. Challenging and confronting your core beliefs (ie “I don’t belong”).

  2. Practice unconditional self acceptance.

  3. Understand that you can feel multiple ways at the same time because you each hold more than one identity.  Allow that to be okay.

  4. Prioritize healing yourself.

Additionally, we each have the power to make spaces inclusive so that others have the opportunity to feel a sense of belonging. Building safe spaces and community takes time, effort, and intention. When we engage in this work together we help to improve our wellness.

What will you do differently for yourself?  For all of us?

Wellness Offerings

Below you will find wellness programs, information, and opportunities.  As always, I encourage you to engage in the things that work best for you. 

Stress Reduction GIFT to Students

Dr. John Kennedy, cardiologist and Brown graduate, is the creator of breathewithdrkennedy.com. He has gifted his program to you. medical students can get a free lifetime membership by entering the coupon code: MEDSTUDENT

We are extremely grateful for his generosity to our community.  If you use the program, please share your feedback with me via email: kelly_holder@brown.edu.

Well-being Articles

Free Course/Practice

Often we’ll listen to a conversation partner without really hearing them. In the process, we miss opportunities to connect with that person—and even risk making them feel neglected, disrespected, and resentful.

This exercise helps you express active interest in what the other person has to say and make them feel heard—a way to foster empathy and connection. This technique is especially well-suited for difficult conversations (such as arguments with a romantic partner) and for expressing support. It may also help facilitate constructive conversations across political, cultural, or other differences; however, studies have found that, when there's a power imbalance between people of different groups, it's more important for the person with less social power to give their perspective while the person with more social power listens and tries to take their perspective. Research suggests that using this technique can help others feel more understood and improve relationship satisfaction.

Active Listening via  Greater Good Science Center

Tomboy Exhibit

This exhibition interrogates the history of cultural expectations and gender norms for girls and women, especially in the interplay between lifestyle, aesthetic, play and self-identity. It looks at historical shifts in definitions of femininity and gender to understand how tomboys have challenged cultural norms to have a dynamic influence on fashion, literature, sports and popular culture. This exhibit is produced in partnership with the Providence Public Library and is on display at their downtown location at 150 Empire Street, Providence.

 Pride Month

Guided Meditation on the Pride Flag

Brown Mindfulness Center Free Community Sessions 

Brown Mindfulness Center offers community offerings once a day. All sessions are live-online, free and open to the public. 

Register Online 

Questions? Contact us at mindfulnesscenter@brown.edu. Want to sign up for the newsletter? Sign up online.

Please note: The Zoom Link for the Community Sessions has changed as of 5/20. Please re-register for these programs to get the new Zoom link.

Parent Resources in Medical Education

Do you want to help make medicine a more inclusive field for parents? Apply for a leadership position with the Parent Resources in Medical Education (PRIME) initiative!

PRIME aims to bring together parents and non-parents to make medicine a more equitable field for all by fostering community, promoting advocacy, and creating resources at both an institutional and national level.  PRIME is looking to recruit passionate medical trainee leaders, both parents and non-parents, for their national leadership team. As part of PRIME leadership, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse team to fight for improved work-family balance for all. They have a variety of positions open in the categories of operations, community, advocacy, and resources, each with varying levels of commitment. Please see the position description for more background, details about leadership positions, and a link to the application. 

The application is due June 15, 2022. Sign up online to receive the quarterly newsletter.

If you have any questions, please contact parentsinmedicine@gmail.com.

Program for a Healthy Learning Environment

The Program for a Healthy Learning Environment is an initiative launched in 2022 to support the promotion of a healthy learning environment through: 

  1. Supporting Students: If and/or when a student experiences mistreatment and/or microaggressions, they should be supported, heard and when appropriate, acted upon. Their experience will be taken very seriously and responded to in a timely fashion.
  2. Supporting the Broader Community: Mistreatment and/or microaggressions are often not a reflection of a moral or ethical failing but are skills gaps that can and should be bridged. Supporting community members in both a proactive and reactive manner is a central goal of the Program.
  3. Tracking Mistreatment and Microaggressions: We are committed to identifying and responding to any patterns (on an individual or institutional-basis) that promote an unhealthy learning environment.
  4. Identifying & Recognizing Positive Champions:Community members who consistently demonstrate behaviors that promote a healthy learning environment should be celebrated and rewarded; this contributes to a community of affirmative change.

Check out the new website

Wellness Activities

Check out the Wellness Calendar.  There you will find meditations organized by Med^2, wellness workshops hosted by SHC, and Self-Care Sundays journal prompts submitted by Becca Berube.  Please reach out to our student group leaders if you have any questions or want to be involved.

Wellness App

 Wellness programs and updates are located in this one location.  Follow this link on a mobile device to install: https://my.yapp.us/F6K2BP.  Note: Additional directions are online. The app ID is F6K2BP.

Wellness Resources

Remember that you are not alone!

You have a community of support that includes: