About

What is DoingWell?

DoingWell was developed to empower students to prioritize their wellbeing. Prioritizing your wellbeing is a journey that looks different for everyone and what works for you one day might need to change another day. What’s most important is that it’s what YOU need. Sometimes, DoingWell means reaching out for support because you’re not feeling good or need help. Other times, DoingWell means going for your weekly run or writing in your journal. This website serves as a place for all MIT students – undergraduate and graduate – to access resources that help you prioritize your wellbeing and get support.

How did you decide on the Wellbeing Pillars?

We did a lot of research, looked at how other schools and organizations defined wellbeing, and we talked to a lot of members in the MIT community. From these conversations, it was clear that we needed to identify pillars that were backed by research, and clear and easy to remember. With the help of MIT’s Institutional Research team and data from the 2017 Student Quality of Life survey, we learned that there are four predictors that positively influence MIT undergraduate and graduate student wellbeing:

  • Student feels confident in their ability to get along socially at MIT
  • Student feels that they belong at MIT
  • Student feels they are prepared for life after graduating from MIT
  • Student has friends at MIT

Using those predictors and the abundance of research that highlights the important connection between physical and mental health, we landed on mind, body, relationships, and purpose.

Who’s involved in this?

One group in particular, the Health Promotion Working Group, meets regularly to talk about ways to coordinate support and wellbeing resources for students. They also work closely with students on the UA Support and Wellness Committee, GSC Housing and Community Affairs Committee and many peer education groups to coordinate this work. Wellbeing Ambassadors, students who are equipped with the tools and resources to help positively influence the culture of campus by serving as a resource to their peers, also play a critical role in advancing our culture of wellbeing on campus. If you have any feedback on this page or want to learn more, contact the Office of Student Wellbeing – we’d love to hear from you!

When did all of this work start?

MIT has done a lot over the past decade to coordinate support resources for students. We are now excited to be in the early stages of coordinating our efforts that help students prioritize their overall wellbeing so that they can practice and maintain healthy habits. The Health Promotion Working Group was formed in December 2019 to begin laying the foundation for this work and the Office of Student Wellbeing was created in October 2020 to lead the coordination of these efforts. 

Why is all of this work important?

Prioritizing your wellbeing – DoingWell – can help you be a better student, friend, partner, and overall person. We want MIT to be a place where innovation, research, and creativity allow us to solve the world’s most challenging problems and we want the people who are doing that work to be the best possible versions of themselves. Our goal is to create and promote a culture at MIT that prioritizes wellbeing and serves as a model for others. With your help, by DoingWell yourself and encouraging others to do the same, we believe we can do that. 

The resources and information on this page are primarily intended for MIT undergraduate and graduate students. We recognize that in order to promote a culture of wellbeing at MIT, every community member plays an important role and must also prioritize their own wellbeing. For additional information, please be sure to visit the additional resources below: