UREC Promotes Emotional Wellness at NC State through the Happiness Project.

Suzanne Hunt, Wellness Outreach Coordinator, thinks that mindfulness has contributed to the NC State community’s desire for methods to increase their happiness. “In mainstream wellness right now, mindfulness is huge. People use mindfulness to boost creativity and reduce stress. The same thing is true for happiness.”

University Recreation will seek to fulfill students needs for an effective approach to happiness through the implementation of the Happiness Project. The Happiness Project uses methods from the book “The How of Happiness” along with a few other sources to provide a comprehensive approach to help people grow in happiness. Hunt says that the Happiness Project has been around for a while but has recently gained a lot of stamina. “There’s a lot of organizations around the world trying to promote it. Everyone wants to be happy.”

Hunt sees happiness as something that is desperately needed at NC State, and something that UREC could have a hand in contributing towards. “We know that stress is a huge academic impediment. The counseling center sees a huge amount of students everyday whether it is group counseling, one on one, or even just drop in sessions” To continue to support the campus’ needs Hunt wants to expand the resources available to students to benefit them emotionally and the Happiness Project will aid in the promotion of happiness through UREC.

“People will register online and they will come once a week for 45 minutes to an hour,” Hunt says The Happiness Project will use small group coaching methods to reach its goals. “Our thought is if we can coach people in small groups to learn what works best for them and to coach them through these activities and give them resources and time to reflect on if these activities work for them, then not only are they building a social and emotional environment within that group coaching setting, but also the learn how to boost their own happiness in a way that works for them.”

One of the aspects of the Happiness Project that is most important according to Hunt is the individualized nature of the coaching that students will receive. “There’s a screening that asks you about how you react to certain situation, called a Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic “It shows you what the things are that you can do that will help your happiness in particular.” This allows the Happiness Project to assist individuals without a one-size-fits-all method.

“The first session is going to be October 18 and we only want our groups to be 8-10 people and that way it’s a good small group coaching atmosphere. Our hope is to implement it again in the spring semester and to have more people and coaches involved. Another step would be for us to figure out how this could work for faculty and staff” Hunt feels that by coaching faculty and staff, the Happiness Project can influence some of the underlying factors that impact students’ happiness. “The way the faculty and staff act is directly correlated with how students perceive their situation at state, and how they act too.”

Ultimately, the goal of the Happiness Project is to simply make students happier. “We are trying to create awareness about happiness and how students can actually do it for themselves, and hopefully create lifestyle habits and changes to be happier and healthier.”