WED-074 - Resilience Remix: The CHOMP Journey — from Pandemic to Possibilities

Brief Abstract Summary: After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
1. Describe how CHOMP integrates cooking, movement, and mindfulness activities to engage students in well-being practices.
2. Explain how collaborative leadership, peer facilitation, and flexible program design contribute to resilience at the program, peer leader, and coordinator levels.
3. Apply Self-Determination Theory, the PERMA model, and resilience theory to the development and sustainability of campus wellness initiatives.

Detailed abstract description: Our teaching kitchen and wellness initiative designed to engage students while building resilience across multiple layers of health promotion work. While students experience hands-on cooking, movement, and mindfulness activities, the program’s deeper impact emerges through the collaboration it fosters. Peer leaders gain confidence and adaptability as they co-facilitate sessions, navigate real-time challenges, and grow leadership skills. Health education coordinators strengthen partnerships and program sustainability, learning to pivot effectively in the face of funding limits and changing campus needs. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, the PERMA model, and resilience theory, CHOMP demonstrates how interactive wellness programming can simultaneously engage students and build the capacity, confidence, and collaborative resilience of the people and programs who deliver it.
Problem Statement
College students face rising stress, food insecurity, and mental health challenges, as documented in recent ACHA-NCHA reports. Health education programs often operate under significant resource constraints, with limited funding, staffing fluctuations, and shifting campus priorities. These challenges not only affect student well-being but also strain the sustainability and capacity of peer leaders and program coordinators tasked with designing, delivering, and maintaining effective wellness initiatives. There is a critical need for models that simultaneously support student engagement while strengthening the resilience of the programs and people who deliver them.
Theoretical Framework
CHOMP is grounded in three key frameworks: the PERMA model (Seligman, 2011), which highlights Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment; Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), emphasizing autonomy, competence, and relatedness; and resilience theory (Panter-Brick & Leckman, 2013), which focuses on the capacity to adapt positively to adversity. Together, these models inform CHOMP’s focus on fostering leadership skills, sustainable partnerships, and program adaptability in addition to providing engaging student wellness experiences.
Rationale for 'Possibilities'
The phrase 'From Pandemic to Possibilities' signals a shift from disruption and limitation to growth, collaboration, and hope. For students, peer leaders, and program coordinators, “possibilities” reflect the opportunity to build new skills, adapt to change, and co-create resilient health promotion initiatives that thrive even under constraints. This aligns with Self-Determination Theory's focus on autonomy and competence, the PERMA model’s emphasis on engagement and accomplishment, and resilience theory’s core principle of adapting positively in the face of adversity.

• Collaboration mapping: A visual exercise highlights the partnerships and cross-campus relationships essential for sustaining programs under resource constraints.