We sat down with Mininni to discuss her current work and to learn more about her perspective on wellness.
What are you working on now?
My mission at UCLA is to inspire a campus-wide culture of well-being. In my current role, I design curricula and teach strategies to foster personal and professional resilience among staff. This includes strengthening emotional intelligence and enhancing a stress-hardy mind-set. In addition, I consult with departments to assess and promote healthy functioning within their organizations. I also participate in the chancellor’s UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative and the UCLA Mindfulness Collaborative.
Dr. Mininni on Stress
We all need to be better informed about stress. What should we know to increase our stress IQ?
Stress resilience is a skill that we can all learn.
Dr. Mininni on Resilience
How do you define resilience?
Resilience is the ability to recover from the inevitable hard times we all face. Although some people find it easier to bounce back than others, we can each learn how to be more resilient. That’s because resilience is built upon a collection of teachable skills that strengthen our mental flexibility, emotional awareness, and feelings of connection. Resilient people use these skills to navigate the ups and downs of their lives, and they benefit from a greater sense of well-being, optimism, and life satisfaction. As with learning anything new, it takes practice to become more resilient, and it’s worth the effort.
We all at one time or another have a life experience that challenges our resilience. Can you describe what you learned about your own resilience after such an experience?
I’m deeply thankful that I cultivated resilience skills before I needed them. In that way, building your resilience is similar to preparing for any disaster. You might stock food in your basement to ready yourself for a hurricane or keep a first-aid kit handy in case of an earthquake. In terms of resilience skills, I’ve practiced mindfulness over the years. So when I faced my biggest challenges, I was able to tap into a skill I had honed over time: the ability to stay centered when life’s storms arrive.
