Wellness and Resilience for Success

Course Number:
CG 150
Transcript Title:
Wellness and Resilience for Success
Created:
May 01, 2026
Updated:
May 01, 2026
Total Credits:
2
Lecture Hours:
11
Lecture / Lab Hours:
22
Lab Hours:
0
Satisfies Cultural Literacy requirement:
No
Satisfies General Education requirement:
No
Grading Options
A-F, P/NP, Audit
Default Grading Options
A-F
Repeats available for credit:
0

Course Description

Explores practical resilience and wellbeing skills for (college) success, including stress management, mindfulness, healthy habits, flexible thinking, understanding and managing emotions, communication skills, and building supportive routines. Focuses on everyday tools students can use to handle challenges, strengthen relationships, and stay balanced in school, career and life. Audit available.

Course Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Practice a variety of resilience, mindfulness, and emotion regulation skills.
  2. Develop positive routines that support physical and mental health.
  3. Identify personal values and commit to aligned goals and behaviors.
  4. Manage unhelpful thoughts and intense emotions using evidence-based strategies.
  5. Strengthen interpersonal communication and social connection.
  6. Create a personalized resilience plan for the future.

Suggested Outcome Assessment Strategies

The determination of assessment strategies is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: writings (journals, self-reflections, pre writing exercises, essays), quizzes, tests, midterm and final exams, group projects, presentations (in person, videos, etc), self-assessments, experimentations, lab reports, peer critiques, responses (to texts, podcasts, videos, films, etc), student generated questions, Escape Room, interviews, and/or portfolios.

Suggested assessments by the department:

  • Attendance & Engagement (25%)
  • Weekly Reflection Assignments (25%) – Written reflections on skill use, activities, and readings
  • Skill-Tracking Diary Cards (25%) – Weekly submissions documenting real-life skill practice
  • Final Exam or Project (25%) – Synthesis of learned skills and personal application plan

Course Activities and Design

The determination of teaching strategies used in the delivery of outcomes is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: lecture, small group/forum discussion, flipped classroom, dyads, oral presentation, role play, simulation scenarios, group projects, service learning projects, hands-on lab, peer review/workshops, cooperative learning (jigsaw, fishbowl), inquiry based instruction, differentiated instruction (learning centers), graphic organizers, etc.

Course Content

Outcome #1: Practice a variety of resilience, mindfulness, and emotion regulation skills.

  • Meditation, Gratitude, Habits, Goal Setting, Willpower Skills and Strategies

  • DBT: Dialectics, Distress Tolerance, DEARMAN, GIVE, FAST

  • CBT: Automatic/Unhelpful vs Helpful Thoughts, Thought Records, Cognitive Restructuring

  • Interpersonal Effectiveness/Communication Skills and Social Connectedness

  • TLCs: Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes and Self Care

Outcome #2: Understand impact of stress/distress and develop positive routines that support physical and mental health

  • Understanding Stress

  • Stress and burnout for college students

  • Impact of high allostatic load

  • How you think about stress matters

  • Dual factor model of mental health

  • Subjective vs objective well being

  • APT framework

  • Neuroplasticity

  • Dialectics: Acceptance vs Change

  • Definition of mindfulness

  • Mindfulness and mental clarity

  • Three states of mind

  • Mindfulness “what” skills

  • Mindfulness “how” skills

  • What are TLCs: Sleep, Movement/Exercise, Nutrition, Meaningful Rest/Recovery

  • The Mind-Body Connection

  • REFRESHERs

  • Difference between distress tolerance and REFRESHERs

Outcome #3: Identify personal values and commit to aligned goals and behaviors

  • Defining values

  • Values directed behavior

  • Imposter syndrome

  • Dialectics

  • Goals

  • Difference between goals and values

  • WOOP

Outcome #4: Manage unhelpful thoughts and intense emotions using evidence-based strategies

  • Cognitive Diffusion: You are not your thoughts

  • Meaning making

  • Cognitive Behavioral theory

  • Automatic Thoughts and Core Beliefs

  • Unhelpful vs helpful automatic thoughts

  • Using a thought record

  • Emotion thermometer

  • Types of Distress Tolerance Skills

  • Crisis survival skills and when to use them

  • Defining and Developing Willpower

  • Goals of emotions

  • Emotional regulation

  • Model of emotions

  • Skill key for model of emotions

  • Cultivating positive emotions

  • Radical Acceptance: Why bother accepting reality?

  • Turning the Mind: Why bother turning the mind?

  • Mindfulness of current thoughts

  • Negative Confirmation Bias

  • Attention Training

  • Choosing to see the positive

  • Gratitude as a special type of positive attention

  • Practicing gratitude

  • Checking the facts

  • Opposite actions

  • When to use opposite action

  • Steps for problem solving

  • Wave skill

Outcome #5: Strengthen interpersonal communication and social connection

  • Deciding how strongly to use an IE (interpersonal effectiveness) skill

  • 10 factors to consider in making a request

  • Evaluating options for intensity

  • Connecting with others in meaningful ways

  • Functional View of Social Support

  • EMR model of relationships

  • Dialectics and Developing authentic relationships

Outcome #6: Create a personalized resilience plan for the future

  • Emotion Response Roadmap

Suggested Texts and Materials