Well-Being Learning Community
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This “whole person” education equips students to make important decisions such as choosing a major and career path. Topics include positive psychology, mindfulness, compassion, meaning, life purpose, and self-awareness are approached through experiential learning and discussions. Stress is a significant challenge for most college students. Accordingly, the Well-Being LC devotes significant time each week exploring techniques for managing stress along with increasing mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
Learning Communities (LCs) provide a supportive, educational, and exciting experience for students and allow them to make friends who share their passions and interests. With a variety of LCs to choose from and teams of dedicated staff here to create a positive and supportive experience for the students, LCs make it easier to find connection to the Mason community.
Each individual LC is partnership between at least two campus offices to create a collaborative and holistic environment for the students engaging in that community.
What is a Learning Community (LC)?
A Learning Community is a group of students who share common interests and come together in order to explore those passion areas more deeply.
Each LC has a dedicated team comprised of faculty members, professional staff, and student staff who are invested in the student experience and are passionate about the topic area. In addition, LCs have a connected course around the topic area which allows students to not only interact outside of the classroom but in the classroom as well.
LCs will have fun and engaging activities that students will enjoy based on the interest of their specific community and will have access to opportunities and elevated experiences.
Benefits of an LC include:
- A social lounge and home, curated for students to be fun, engaging, and supportive
- Connection with other students, both academically and socially
- Access to academic resources and support from tutors, campus resources, and faculty
- Connected courses are taken with like-minded individuals designed to engage their passion and help them learn outside of the classroom
- Mentoring from upper-level students in many of our LCs who have experience in the LC topic.
- Events and virtual programming tailored to the LC by content experts connected to that LC
In the end, LCs bring connection to students. It doesn’t matter where you are — you will find friends, mentors, and support here!
Eligibility
The LC experience is open to all students, including both residential and non-residential students. While the experience is open to all class years, preference will be given to first-year students and upper-level students who were already accepted into an LC for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
The Learning Communities’ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page has answers for you! Also, the official website is a great resource.
Overview of the Guiding Principles
The Well-Being LC program is grounded in, and supports, the development of the following principles:
Strengths-based: Focusing on strengths rather than deficits is an integral part of the Well-Being LC. From the first days of the start of a semester together, it is important that each of us make the choice to regard each person in the community as a growing and evolving individual, with unique strengths and challenges. As we engage in practices that expand our mindful awareness, we choose to focus on valuing and building on strengths, capacities, resilience, talents, and inherent worth. Making the choice to view ourselves and each person in the community from a strengths-based perspective enhances positivity, efficacy, increases hope and optimism, cultivates well-being, and develops creative problem solving skills.
Mindfulness-focused: Developing basic mindful awareness skills involves deliberately paying attention in the present moment, to whatever is unfolding, with a non-judgmental approach that includes curiosity, kindness, and acceptance. Without mindfulness, situations involving psychological or physical distress can sometimes deteriorate rapidly. With mindfulness and with other self-management practices, students are better equipped to respond skillfully rather than react unskillfully to the complexity and immediacy of their lives.
The Well-Being LC not only teaches students about mindfulness theory, practices, and skills, but also provides opportunities for students to peer teach, and express what they are learning in a hands-on environment. Students often have the chance to present their research, interpretations, opinions, revelations, and ideas to the community and foster a conversational and guided discussion.
Values-guided: The Well-Being LC supports students in actively and continually clarifying their personal values in addition to the embodiment of mindfulness, compassion, creativity, self-efficacy, and community resilience. Sharing their values, experiences, knowledge, and healthy coping skills is an important aspect of peer support in the Well-Being LC program.
Self-directed: Well-being is a process that must be directed by the individual student, who defines her or his own goals and designs a unique path towards those goals in the context of college life. The most empowered students assume personal responsibility for their own self-care, practice healthy coping strategies, seek appropriate support, and utilize campus resources.
Responsibility: We must all assume responsibility for our own self-care and journey of adult development. Being a member in the Well-Being LC supports students in working to understand and give meaning to their experiences and supports them in identifying coping strategies and integrative processes to promote personal well-being and community flourishing.
Respect: A key principle of well-being is respecting and appreciating the highest good within each person, including protecting everyone’s rights to safety and eliminating discrimination and stigma. Self-acceptance and tolerance of others who have different beliefs ensures full participation and inclusion in the Well-Being LC, and more so, within the broader campus community.
The Well-Being LC community offers a nurturing and encouraging environment for students who may be struggling with confidence and identity. The community traditionally and naturally creates a strict non-judgment environment in which students feel comfortable exploring new aspects of identity and make connections with an exceptionally compassionate group of individuals.
Holistic: Well-being encompasses a person’s whole life, including mind, body, spirit, and campus culture and community. Students’ well-being is linked to housing, financial stability, family support, social networks, community participation, spirituality, mental and physical health, and academic courses. Because of this holistic approach to well-being, students are in a constant state of experimentation, reflection, and development.
Individualized and Person-Centered: Each person’s vision of well-being is unique, based on their unique individual needs, preferences, experiences, and cultural background. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to well-being or mindful living. What well-being and mindful living mean is subject to many interpretations rooted in value judgments that vary across cultures, among individuals, and may change depending on stages of development across the lifespan.