Activities and Community
Wellness and Engagement
The Office of Graduate Student Life strives to provide resources and programming to help graduate students manage common stressors and discover personal enrichment opportunities so they can better enjoy their graduate school experience.
With programming, facilities, and experiences available from various campus units, graduate students have many options to create a safe, fun, and engaging environment for themselves and others on the graduate school journey.
Activities Around Campus
It is important to take time out as a graduate student to rest, reflect, and have fun! The UCF campus offers many activities and spaces for students to do so. Here are just a few ways graduate students can reset without going very far.
Sweat it out at the Recreation and Wellness Center (RWC). Students who have paid their Activity and Service Fee can enjoy an unlimited membership to all the RWC facilities and programs; at no cost.
Take advantage of outdoor activities such as paddling and volleyball right on campus at the Lake Claire Recreation Area.
Decompress by visiting the UCF Arboretum, where you can go for a quiet walk on a nature trail (UCF has 14 miles worth!), volunteer in the community garden, or even take a guided tour.
Connect with the UCF Arts community by attending a concert, inviting a friend to a play, or visiting the UCF Art Gallery. Don’t forget about UCF Celebrates the Arts, held over two weeks each spring.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
The Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is the free-of-charge campus agency designated to provide comprehensive psychological services to university-enrolled students. CAPS offers crisis intervention, counseling (including individual appointments and group sessions), presentation services, professional consultation, and graduate training.
Pathways to Success partners with UCF CAPS to provide workshops, programming, and resources. See below for additional information.
CAPS Workshops
Workshop topics include Time Management: Strategies for Personal and Academic Success as a Graduate Student, How to Achieve Your Goals, Creating Balance in Your Life, and more. See the Pathways to Success Events Calendar for upcoming sessions.
Therapy Assisted Online (TAO) Self Help
Provided by UCF CAPS, Therapy Assisted Online (TAO) Self Help is an interactive, web-based program that provides assistance to help overcome anxiety, depression, and other concerns. TAO is based on well-researched and highly effective strategies.
You can choose to view short helpful videos, take part in brief exercises, use logs to track moods and progress, and access a Mindfulness Library. All UCF students are eligible for TAO Self-Help. You need a Knights email address.
Kognito
Provided by UCF CAPS, Kognito is a set of role-playing avatar modules to educate faculty, staff, and students about mental health and suicide prevention (which we know supports improved academic performance, student retention, and campus safety).
It is an aviator/simulation online tool that allows users to enter a virtual environment and engage in role-play conversations with emotionally-responsive virtual humans. Through the practice and receiving personalized feedback, users learn and assess their competency to lead similar conversations in real life.