This roundtable will discuss how to help academic institutions understand the need for, and implement, well-being classes. In my 24 years as a professor (and a recent researcher of mindfulness and well-being), I have seen a steady incline in student anxiety and depression. In response to this, in 2014, I started teaching well-being courses on campus, which have been quite successful. To move forward, and scale up, my students and I started a grass-roots initiative at UCSD, called “Learning Sustainable Well-Being”, which takes a “preventive” mental health approach. The ultimate goal is to implement a mandatory 1-unit well-being class for students (using a variety of wisdoms, practices and methods), taught by professors (who will need to learn well-being themselves!). This roundtable will discuss the questions and obstacles that arise when working with universities to implement a comprehensive system of guidance so that students can flourish both academically and personally.
