Abstract
College can be a time of uncertainty and unfamiliarity for many students, especially incoming college freshmen. This new environment and shift in routine commonly leaves students overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed. While mental health and wellness have been becoming less taboo in recent years, there are still misconceptions and stigma surrounding mental health and wellness. Through this project, I contend a wellness course situated in the communication discipline should be implemented into college curriculum for first year students. The leading questions I posed when creating this project included “what can the communication discipline offer for students’ understanding of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills regarding wellness,” and “how might instructors help students feel comfortable with communicating they need help and encourage them to utilize campus resources?” The need for offering this course and the answers to my guiding questions were supported and strengthened by existing communication literature that explores the benefits of healthy interpersonal communication in academia, how social support increases resilience, the importance of reducing anxiety and uncertainty levels in students, and how critical mindfulness and intrapersonal awareness are to overall well-being. In addition to completing a literature review on the topics of mental health, wellness, and well-being, I created a syllabus for a first-year college wellness class I titled “Communication and College Wellness,” including a semester-long tentative course calendar with 16 weeks’ worth of exploratory classroom topics. The class is divided into three modules and appendices are offered for in-depth lesson plans for module one and the rationale for the topics and work included in each day of class.