Wellness and Health: NYU Takes Care of You!

The Student Health Center (SHC) is located on 726 Broadway, right by our beautiful NYU bookstore. Their mission is to offer matriculated students medical and counseling services. What’s more, they provide a safety net for any health issues at a very reduced cost. The SHC offers appointment-based and urgent same-day services for students. They can access these services through the SHC portal or by calling their 24/7 hotline.

The center also offers physicals for students who want to join club sports or competitive sports on campus. On my last visit, I got my physical for the cheerleading team, and they offered me a free flu shot! If you ever get sick, they have an on-site pharmacy where students can buy medicine at discounted prices. Particularly for international students like me, having access to the SHC is a huge relief given health costs in the United States. Plus, learning how to navigate the health systems in a foreign country can be daunting.

As I mentioned before, the SHC offers professional counseling and mental health services for all students. This includes individual counseling, group counseling, wellness workshops, referral to other mental health services, and medication. You can access the counselors through their 24/7 hotline or chat. Alternatively, you can make an appointment directly on the SHC online portal.

Additionally, SHC hosts wellness workshops focused on informing the community about pressing mental health issues and the development of life skills to better understand mental health. For example, they explore topics like academics, mindfulness, emotion regulation, athletics, identity, relationships, eating concerns, and substance use, among others. Their mindfulness workshops happen in collaboration with MindfulNYU, a university-wide life initiative that aims to promote wisdom, compassion, and well-being on campus through meditation, yoga sessions, and seminars. When I first went to a counselor at the SHC, they referred me to MindfulNYU, where I started my journey with meditation and yoga. Today, it has been almost a year since I started practicing yoga every week, for free, with NYU!

In addition to practicing yoga, my counselor recommended reaching out to the on-campus dietitian to restore my healthy behaviors around food as part of my well-being journey. NYU offers nutrition services for all its students through one-on-one virtual counseling. There, they offer assistance with eating concerns, such as irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, eating disorders, and any type of dietary restriction.

I understand that yoga classes might not be everyone’s cup of tea, and that is why NYU also offers many other fitness options that accommodate all preferences, levels, and needs. We have drop-in fitness classes open to the NYU community every single day of the week. These include Pilates, cardio high-intensity interval training sessions, salsa classes, hip-hop classes, strength and conditioning, and stretching classes, among others. For those who are more interested in getting individual training, NYU also offers personal trainers at a reduced price.

Our four athletic facilities have gyms that are available to the whole community. Furthermore, the NYU gym staff supports any athlete who needs guidance with the equipment at no extra cost. What’s more, there are many intramural sports that students can join, including basketball, soccer, cheerleading, volleyball, kendo, karate, taekwondo, wrestling, and more. Finally, my personal favorite: you can also buy fitness class packs for learning specific skills. I just started my first swimming classes by joining the NYU beginners swim course!