Dam Good Growth
Mental health made simple: host, share, thrive
Dam Good Growth Group Activities
Are you on the lookout for an engaging and enjoyable approach to enhance wellness and foster positive mental health within your community? Dive into our selection of materials and take the lead in organizing a meeting centered on mental well-being. Whether you’re a part of Greek life, a student leader, a club president, or a Resident Assistant, these resources are designed to empower you to conduct your own enriching programs.
Dam Good Growth offers a suite of guided activities focus on different topics, each of which come with a guide and one easy slide presentation. Engage with topics in positive psychology, self-care, personal growth, and relationship building through interactive group activities. Dam Good Growth is based on the PERMA Theory of Well-being, which was created to help people flourish in their lives.
Explore and Download the Dam Good Growth Materials Below
Each letter from the PERMA model stands for one aspect of well-being. There are Dam Good Growth activities for each topic, so you can download as many or as few as you wish.
Positive Emotions
Increasing the amount of positive emotions you feel can be a key to improving your well-being. It’s important to recognize that positive emotions can be directed towards any time in your life: the past, present, and future. We can fondly remember the past, actively look for positives in the present, and have optimism for the future.
Positive emotions aren’t limited to just happiness, either - tranquility, excitement, thankfulness, and joy are all examples of positive emotions. These emotions help us to build resilience and work towards mental well-being.
The facilitation materials focus on cultivating positive emotions through expressions of gratitude.
Engagement
In the PERMA model, “E” stands for engagement. The definition of engagement is actually up to you - your interests, hobbies, and enjoyed activities create engagement in your life. Gardening, reading, biking, good conversations, and music are all great examples. Why is engagement essential to our well-being, though? When we regularly absorb ourselves in activities that we find enjoyable, we are able to experience flow. Flow is a gratifying feeling that arises when we are fully engaged in the present activity. Flow and engagement allow us to appreciate our lives in the moment and create good experiences through the things we do.
The facilitation materials focus on trying new things and other techniques for improving well-being through engagement. Learn more about how you can conquer your fears and find new hobbies.
Relationships
In the PERMA model, “R” stands for [positive] relationships. Our individual well-being can be greatly influenced by our connections with other people. When we have positive relationships with others, we feel a sense of closeness and belonging. We feel supported and we support in return. Meaningful connections with those around you have the potential to cultivate positive emotions, strengthen your immune system, lessen anxiety, and enhance empathy and self-esteem. Examples of positive relationships are individual and varied, such as: your significant other, a parent, the study group you meet with regularly, or the friend that you call when you need to vent. Connection is not one-size-fits-all, but finding meaningful and supportive relationships can be life changing.
The facilitation materials focus on how positive social connections can improve well-being. The activities are great for both groups of people who know each other well or those who are new to each other.
Get the Social Connection slides
Meaning
In the PERMA model, “M” stands for meaning. Humans are unique creatures in this way - we tend to search for meaning in our lives. Our overall mental well-being comes partially from our sense of purpose, belonging, and involvement in something “bigger.” We can derive this meaning from community, religion, social justice, family, friends, and so many more areas of our lives. Our sources of meaning are not stagnant, and as we grow, where we feel a sense of purpose can change with us. Don’t be afraid if your meaning in life evolves over time, and don’t be afraid if you find yourself searching.
The facilitation materials focus on awe and skills to cultivate meaning and find beauty in everyday life.
Accomplishment
In the PERMA model, “A” stands for accomplishment. When we accomplish something, we tend to feel proud of ourselves, confident in our abilities, and a sense of achievement. These feelings can contribute positively to our overall well-being. Accomplishment can come from many areas of our lives: sports, work, hobbies, growth, etc. One effective way to regularly experience accomplishment in our lives is to set goals. Goals allow us to create specific plans to achieve things we think are important - for example, “I want to read 10 pages of a good book every day for a month.” By setting and achieving realistic goals for ourselves, we can boost our self-confidence and well-being.
The facilitation materials focus on values and goal setting. It can help you understand not only what's meaningful to you, but how to work these things into your daily life.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Our website scavenger hunt is designed to help students discover the services and resources we offer, and how to get help when it's needed most. This activity can be completed on paper or digitally, making it easy to complete as an in-class or organization meeting activity, homework assignment, or for extra credit. By the end of the scavenger hunt, students will be experts on where to find us and how to make the most of our resources.