Campus & Community

More of a ‘Good’ thing: A popular center for student wellness expands

The Good Life Center, a popular sanctuary for students seeking to unwind and de-stress, has been expanded to include, among other amenities, a treehouse, a music room, and a game room.

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Corinne Coia, Vanessa Blas, and Laurie Santos cutting a ribbon

(from L to R) Corinne Coia, director of student well-being, Vanessa Blas, Woodbridge fellow and director of programming, and Laurie Santos, professor of psychology and the center’s founder and faculty director, snip a ribbon stretched across a hallway leading to five new wellness spaces.

Photo by Dan Renzetti

More of a ‘Good’ thing: A popular center for student wellness expands
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The Good Life Center, a serene refuge located on the second floor of the Schwarzman Center, gives students a quiet place to unwind and de-stress with programming and themed spaces that embody the evidence-based practices that aid in mental and physical well-being. 

The center, which opened at Schwarzman in 2021, is a space where students can roll out a yoga mat in the comfy lounge, unplug in the “offline oasis,” take in the nourishing effects of nature in the “green room,” or catch up on some sleep in the nap room. (It was originally located at Silliman College, which remains one of the center’s four satellite locations.)

It is so popular that, on any given day, “every seat is usually taken,” said Corinne Coia, the center’s director of student well-being. 

Now, students will have twice as much room to relax, meditate, study, and snooze. The center just added five additional physical spaces, which were officially unveiled by Laurie Santos, a professor of psychology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the center’s founder and faculty director, at a Jan. 16 celebratory ribbon cutting. 

“We’re especially excited about this next set of spaces,” Santos said, “because they incorporate scientific principles that we weren’t able to include in our first four spaces.” 

Take a photo tour of the new retreats: the treehouse, music room, game room, sensory room, and balance room. 

The Treehouse Room at the Good Life Center

The treehouse incorporates natural elements and themes, like these leaf shapes strung across the ceiling.“We know that being in natural spaces is really good for peoples’ well-being,” Santos noted.

Photo by Dan Renzetti
Student playing a thumb piano

Students can experiment with a variety of instruments in the music room, an amenity that many students had requested.

Photo by Dan Renzetti
Student dunking a small basketball through a hoop while a friend records

“Fun and games are an incredible way to de-stress,” Santos said. In the game room, students are invited to shoot some hoops or play wall-mounted checkers and chess.

Dan Renzetti
Two students sitting in a sphere-like chair at the Good Life Center

The center collaborated with Student Accessibility Services on the sensory room, which is equipped with sound-proof chairs and other aids for calming down and engaging the senses.

Photo by Dan Renzetti
"The Good Life Center" sign

The balance room is all about ergonomics — the workstations can be adjusted for sitting or standing, so students might “think about their well-being, even when they’re in study mode,” Santos said. 

Photo by Dan Renzetti