Life Management & Wellness are key to professional success. Understanding your physical and mental health needs, acting in accordance with your values, and taking into account your relationships and other dimensions of your life will all affect your progression through your program. Figuring out what is important to you and what works for your individual circumstances is crucial to making good decisions during and after your graduate school years.
Life Management & Wellness
In this Professional Development Toolkit, we center Life Management & Wellness because students cannot develop the other four key competencies without this one. Life Management and Wellness encompasses a holistic set of skills to care for personal needs and promote overall effectiveness, notably: caring for mental and physical health; community building; and time & money management.
Life Management & WELLNESS in practice
Develop individually customized self-care routines and rituals you can fall back on through stressful times in graduate school and beyond.
NYU offers many resources for students to take care of their physical and mental health, such as: Student Health Center; The Moses Center; Athletic Facilities and Club Sports; Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness Classes; Wellness Workshops, Group Counseling, and resources for students in recovery.
Find community across your department, the university or NYC with those who share your values and with whom you can speak honestly.
Social media groups and community support pages for academics can be great resources. NYU students can avail the university's subscriptions to various platforms, such as: Versatile PhD and The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity
Join initiatives where your identity is respected, understood, and celebrated, like student groups in your department or affinity groups across the university. The Center for Multicultural Education and Programs (CMEP) and the LGBTQ+ Center offer educational and social events, programs, and resources to support and celebrate students of color, those of historically marginalized and excluded groups, and LGBTQ+ communities. Global Spiritual Life offers faith-based support for students of diverse religious and spiritual traditions.
GSAS- and University-wide dissertation support groups, such as the winter and summer GSAS Dissertation Write-Ins, the Bobst Writers' Rooms, and the Provost's Global Research Initiatives can be great resources for staying on track and feeling supported during the dissertation writing process.
Reflect on what is important to you in your life overall, and how your professional aspirations fit into those priorities, perhaps with your partner and/or family, career counselors, or financial advisors.
Financial security can greatly impact students' graduate school success. NYU offers many resources for Financial Education.
Support for students with housing and childcare includes: GSAS Lease Guaranty Program, Child Care Subsidy, and NYU Child Care Google Group