Our Approach

Supporting and improving the well-being of our people, places and planet

The University of Michigan Well-being Collective is an interdisciplinary group of students, staff, and faculty who have been brought together from across campus to support and implement our commitment to improving the well-being of our people, places and planet.

We aspire to make U-M a health-promoting university and global leader in championing the well-being of students, faculty, staff and community. We’re developing a holistic, campuswide approach, recognizing diversity of identity and prioritizing resilience and sustainability as central to the health and well-being of the U-M community. 

We understand that mental health and well-being are not simply matters of individual experience, but a state connected to one’s environment, as well as social and policy factors. This effort cannot be accomplished by a single unit or department alone. It must be something we create collectively as a community, with everyone contributing to making U-M a better place to live, work and learn.

We are implementing our work through the collective impact approach:

• Collective impact describes an intentional way of working together and sharing information for the purpose of solving a complex problem / challenge
• Collective impact is more likely to solve complex problems than if a single entity were to approach the same problem(s) / challenges on its own
• Collective impact centers equity and inclusion in making sustainable change

The Guiding Principles for the work of the Well-being Collective are as follows:

Transparency & Accountability

• Ensuring intentional, regular communication across the Well-being collective infrastructure as well as to UM faculty, students, and staff, and the wider community which is inclusive of
• Providing thoughtful, meaningful, timely, and relevant updates
• Tracking and communicating progress, including updates, successes, and failures
• Proactively engaging the community stakeholders to create recommendations that meet the evolving needs of the UM students, faculty, and staff and the community

Collaboration & Cooperation

• Modeling a culture of institutional and individual humility to promote openness, curiosity, and a willingness to learn from others
• Working proactively across organizational structures, silos, and historical responsibilities to foster collaboration
• Leveraging, elevating and sharing existing capabilities and programs and integrating the range of disconnected resources that already exist

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Building health promoting structures and systems that are available to all and strive to be representative of the needs of a diverse community
• Showing compassion and courage, so that people feel safe enough to voice their unique perspectives and be vulnerable
• Responding to the sharing of varying life experiences with affirmation, empathy, kindness, and care