About Us
Who Are We?
The Wellness Center is the place for your health education and promotion needs! We provide accurate and relevant health and wellness information, educational programs and events, and skill-building activities and workshops to the UIC community. We encourage students, staff, and faculty to make healthy choices that integrate knowledge and understanding with their personal values while maintaining a responsibility to the community.
Our Mission
The mission of the Wellness Center is to support student learning, academic success, and retention by providing wellness services that promote healthy attitudes and behaviors, empower students to make informed choices and enhance holistic well-being.
Wellness is not just the absence of illness; it is an active process of awareness by making healthy choices that impact a person holistically. The Wellness Center addresses 8 dimensions of wellness to support a healthy and well-rounded individual. The 8 dimensions of wellness are: emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, sexual, occupational, social, and spiritual.
8 Dimensions of Wellness Heading link
Physical: The physically well person eats when hungry and selects a varied and nutritionally balanced diet. They also get an adequate amount of sleep, engages in moderate to vigorous exercise 3-5 times a week, get routine medical check-ups appropriate to their age and risk factors, and takes safety precautions.
Occupational: The occupationally well person fulfills a socially defined role that is both stimulating and inherently rewarding. They choose a role (or several roles) that are consistent with beliefs, goals, lifestyle, personality and values.
Spiritual: The spiritually well person displays a sense of purpose in life and makes life choices with integrity. They acknowledges a higher power of some kind, and engages in prayer, meditation or other means of connecting to humanity.
Environmental: The environmentally well person recognizes the earth’s preciousness, and strives to minimize wasteful consumption or unnecessary destruction of animals, plant, elements or energy. They engage in recycling and conservation, protect natural resources, and strives for living spaces free of health hazards.
Financial: The financially well person takes a responsibility is their personal finances and is always mindful of their spending. This person always lives within their means. This person is not just concerned about the “here and now” but they are also concerned and take an active role in saving for their future.
Social: The socially well person has a network of friends and family to whom they can turn to for support, validation and sharing of life experiences. These relationships are based on interdependence (rather than codependence), mutual trust and respect, equity of power and cultural competence.
Intellectual: The intellectually well person values education and engages in lifelong learning, and pursues activities that increase knowledge, develop moral reasoning, foster critical thinking and expand worldviews. In addition, they appreciate the fine arts, and values intuition, empathy and understanding as forms of knowing.
Emotional/Sexual: The sexually well person accepts his or her sexual orientation, engages in sexual relationships that are consistent with his or her values and development, and refrains from using sex to manipulate or influence others. In addition, they minimize unwanted consequences through communication and protection. The emotionally well person is able to appropriately express and manage the entire range of feelings, including anger, fear, happiness and sadness. They possesses high self- esteem, a sense of humor, and positive body image. This person also seeks support from a mental health professional when needed.