Health Promotion
Health Promotion services educate, promote and advocate for student health and wellness.
By working collaboratively with students, faculty and community agencies, we aim to provide programs, events and resources that empower students to adopt a healthy lifestyle, and achieve personal health goals. We offer class talks and support, on-campus outreach and one-on-one appointment requests.
Interested in having our team talk to your students about health and wellness resources and services at Ontario Tech? Send an email with your request to healthpromotion@ontariotechu.ca.
If you're running an event on campus related to health and wellness, let us know! Our Health Promotions Co-ordinator and Peer Wellness Educators want to collaborate and can assist with the event.
Follow @otstudentlife and @dcotcampusrec on social media, or visit our events page to learn more about upcoming programs and events.
What is wellness?
Learn more - What is wellness?
Wellness is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity; it's the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. It's a dynamic and ongoing process that involves working towards an optimal state of health and wellbeing.
As we think about health and wellness through an equity lens, we recognize that the activities, choices and lifestyles that are available to us as individuals are affected by our social identity, which is made up of the many diversities that make us who we are such as our age, racial identity, ability, sexuality, gender, religion, and more. We must strive to incorporate those diversities in our health and wellness journey so that we are fulfilled in all aspects of our identity, as we work towards achieving a state of holistic health.
We encourage you to structure your health and wellness journey in a way that best meets your individual needs and we will be here to support you along the way!
Social determinants of health and health equity
Learn more - Social determinants of health and health equity
The social determinants of health (SDH):
"The non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and political systems.”
- World Health Organization
The SDH have an important influence on health inequities—the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen between different population groups.
The following are examples of the SDH:
- Disability
- Early childhood development
- Education
- Employment and working conditions
- Food insecurity
- Gender
- Health services
- Housing
- Income and income distribution
- Indigenous status
- Personal health practices and coping skills
- Physical environment
- Race
- Social exclusion
- Social safety network
- Unemployment and job security