Health & Wellness offers wellness coaching, counseling, and educational services to help students build stronger communication skills and set boundaries.
Setting boundaries in one area of your wellness can positively impact other areas.
Ways UNH students set boundaries for their well-being
- Choosing to stay in to relax, study, or get a good night’s sleep instead of going out
- Saying “no” to drinking in order to feel their best emotionally, physically, and academically the next day
- Deciding to study alone when group studying becomes distracting
- Asking ing roommates to share responsibility for the living space, such as taking out the trash or doing dishes
- Setting limits on the amount of time spent on their phone
Wellness Coaching
Wellness coaching uses a forward-looking framework to help you overcome fear and start making choices to become more assertive and set boundaries in your day-to-day life.
Appointments
- All Confidential
- Available to UNH students who have paid their tuition/fees.
- Make an appointment online or by calling (603) 862-3823.
The Meaning of Stress Program
Stress is a natural part of human experience. Transforming our relationship with stress can generate energy and motivation, allowing us to skillfully address it rather than avoid it. This program helps participants understand the causes and manifestations of their stress, enabling them to utilize effective coping skills. Participants will also learn about emotions using the Mood Meter and practice mindfulness techniques.
Request the program here for your student organization, group, class, department.
Lifetime Activity Program (LAP): Wellness
We offer an 8-week, 2-credit course taught each semester by our well-being educator/counselor in collaboration with the . The class uses a well-being framework to cope with stress. You’ll learn about your wellness and how to utilize self-compassion, boundaries, values, and strengths to move towards your personalized wellness vision.
Additional Services
Becoming a Clear Communicator
You social wellness will get better with clear communication. This means expressing your thoughts, needs, and feelings in a way others can understand.
You can become an assertive communicator which means communicating directly, honestly, and respectfully while valuing both your needs and others’. Assertiveness is a skill you can learn and get better at with practice and time.
Assertive communication helps you:
- Build self-respect and confidence
- Set and maintain healthy boundaries
- Strengthen trust and relationships
- Manage time and energy
- Reduce stress and enhance emotional wellness by addressing concerns directly
How to Communicate Assertively
1. Know what you want to say
- Take time to identify your needs before speaking
- Practice what you want to say so that your are prepared and confident
2. Listen actively and respectfully
- Make eye contact
- Listen, allow there to be pauses
- Keep an open mind to other perspectives
3. Be direct and honest
- Say what you mean clearly and respectfully
- Use “I” statements to express your feelings without blame
- Example: “I feel frustrated when plans change last minute.”
4. Check for understanding
- Ask questions instead of assuming
- Reflect back what you hear: “What I’m hearing is…”
- Be clear about both your needs and theirs
5. Use confident and open body language
- Keep a calm tone and steady voice
- Maintain open body language and natural eye contact
6. Close the conversation with clarity
- Summarize key points
- Agree on next steps if needed
- Aim for mutual understanding, even if you don’t fully agree
How to Set Boundaries
Boundaries are cues to others about how you want to be treated. Boundaries help you move towards your goals and well-being. Setting boundaries can feel uncomfortable at first, but they ultimately support healthier, more respectful, and more meaningful connections with others. You can set boundaries with yourself or others.
Setting boundaries allows you to
- Manage your time
- Manage your energy
- Build stronger relationships with yourself and others
- Enhance other areas of your wellness
Signs you need boundaries
- You feel responsible for other people's well-being
- You let others make decisions for you
- You are emotionally and physically exhausted and overwhelmed
- You feel resentment when people reach out to you for help
- You avoid social interactions
- You have trouble trusting and expressing yourself, seeking external validation
- You don't have time for yourself to meet your responsibilities or do things you enjoy
- You aren't present and daydream about the year being over, spring break, or your studying abroad
- You escape into habits like social media, shopping, or gambling can sometimes come at the expense of your well-being
Freedom and respect
At their core, boundaries are about your freedom and your right to be respected in different areas of your life:
- Behavioral - The freedom to make your own choices
- Physical – The freedom to have your personal space and body respected
- Sexual – The freedom to give clear, expressed consent
- Intellectual – The freedom to express your thoughts, opinions, and ideas
- Emotional – The freedom to feel and express your emotions and have them acknowledged
- Material – The freedom to have ownership over your belongings
- Time – The freedom to manage your time and decide how others may use it
Boundaries create connection
Fear is a common emotion that prevents people from setting boundaries. We may worry about negative reactions or how others will respond if they don’t agree with or respect our limits. However, to move beyond fear and isolation, it’s important to remember that healthy boundaries actually create stronger, more authentic connections.
Setting your boundaries
- Be clear by using assertive communication
- Be direct about what you need
- Be consistent, stick to your boundaries and keep reinforcing them
