School of Medicine

Student Physician Wellness

Physician well-being is a curricular key theme at Tufts School of Medicine that aims to promote student physician wellness in medical school and beyond. We support medical students in maintaining a healthy lifestyle with the goal of becoming positive wellness role models for their patients. While medical training is undoubtedly challenging, Tufts encourages students to continually assess and preserve their overall wellness in all of its distinct forms.

If you are transitioning to the Boston area, you will need a local Primary Care Physician (PCP) for regular preventative services and sick visits throughout your time at Tufts. The Boston Health Science Campus does not have an on-campus student health center so all of your health services will be provided via your local network of health providers. If you currently see additional health professionals who are located out of state (medical specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc.) you should identify similar providers here in Boston, as well. Our Wellness Adviser (see below) is able to assist student who have difficulty identifying providers in the local area.

There are a variety of wellness resources available to Tufts School of Medicine students – some (but not all) are included below. For further information, please contact the Office of Student Affairs (617-636-6534) or the Office of Education Affairs (617-636-6934).

Other Resources

Student Wellness Advising
The Boston Campus has an on-campus Wellness Advisor who works with all students to offer practical approaches to manage every day stressors and challenges.

Student Advisory Health Administration
The Student Advisory Health Administration (SAHA) Office supports students on the Boston and Grafton Health Sciences Campuses providing advice to students regarding general well-being, collection and screening of all immunization documentation and oversight of the student health insurance program required by Tufts University and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Office of Educational Affairs Wellness Programs:

  • COMPASS: Co-leader Orientation in Mindfulness for Patients and Student Support (COMPASS) is a mindfulness-based stress reduction and support program for incoming first year students. Taking place in optional, biweekly groups during fall of the first year curriculum, COMPASS teaches students techniques to reduce stress and enhance coping and studying skills. Groups are co-led by two second-year student volunteers who have gone through an intensive training to prepare them for this role. Contact the OEA for more info.
  • PAWs: The Practical Approaches to Wellness (PAWs) course stems from the work of the Physician Well-Being curricular theme committee and espouses the notion that in order for students to develop into healthy and balanced physicians, they must learn the rudiments of self-care early in their medical school career. PAWs is an optional, six-session series for first-year students. Each one-hour session is organized around a different topic (e.g., Time Management; the Physiology of Stress; Sleep Hygiene; Nutrition) and includes a guest lecture followed by time to practice meditation techniques. Contact the OEA for more info.
  • Healer's Art: The Healer's Art is an optional 15-hour elective for first year medical students. The course explores the topic of humanism in medicine using an innovative discovery model, encouraging medical students to consider and discuss themes such as sustaining idealism and altruism; cultivating compassion; healing loss; and, preventing stress and burnout. Through large and small group discussion facilitated by specially trained faculty, Healer's Art takes an interactive and contemplative approach to enabling students to perceive the personal and universal meaning in their daily experience of medicine.

Talk One2One Student Assistance Program

Talk One2One provides confidential access to counselors both in-person and by telephone. For non-emergent issues, students can schedule an appointment with a TalkOne2One counselor by sending an email to a secure group email account: Tuftscounseling@allonehealth.com. The emails will be responded to by the confidential Talk One2One team and you will receive an immediate reply requesting time preferences, etc. A personal response with your appointment time should be received within 24 business hours of your email.

Students can reach out to Talk One2One counselors at any time 24/7 by calling 1-800-756-3124 for “in the moment” support by a master’s level licensed counselor or can schedule a future in-person (or telephone) appointment. The in-person appointments can be scheduled with Talk One2One counselors who will be located on the Boston Campus during the following hours:

  • Monday: 12pm – 7pm
  • Tuesday: 8am – 3pm
  • Wednesday: 12pm – 7pm
  • Thursday 8am – 3pm
  • Friday: 8am – 3pm

Additionally, students may be seen by Talk One2One counselors at off-campus locations that are convenient to where you live or near a clinical site that you are working at.

Talk One2One is provided by AllOne Health and is available to all matriculated School of Medicine students free of charge. This service is not intended to replace ongoing therapy or psychiatric services but is an additional resource to address short-term mental health counseling needs. The Talk One2One Student Assistance Program includes up to six (6) counseling sessions per student (either in-person or by telephone) for each issue addressed with the counselor.

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