UC Santa Cruz Radical Resilience Training Program

Radical Resilience Training Program banner

The Radical Resilience Initiative (RRI) is part of the UC Santa Cruz Healthy Campus Network and the Student Health Center’s Be Well campaign. The RRI honors the rich diversity of students, staff, and faculty. RRI celebrates existing practices of resilience and seeks to shift campus culture by implementing a shared vision for radically boosting the mental health, well-being, and holistic success of all our campus communities. Learn more about the RRI by visiting our website (https://ucsc.edu/resilient).

The Radical Resilience Training Program (RRTP) -- this course -- is an online, self-paced course that supports the goals of the RRI. It is comprised of six accessible online training modules that offer resilience-promoting frameworks and restorative practices for self- and community care. The training is designed to be utilized and applied by anyone on campus, including undergraduate and graduate students, staff and faculty to holistically support personal and campus mental health.

Operating through a set of core concepts that include social and healing justice, self-compassion, community and belonging, purposeful action, collective care and support, the RRTP provides learning and engagement opportunities for both individuals and campus communities. See defining our terms.

The RRTP provides six (6) educational modules (video format) as well as Orientation and Closing video tutorials that will walk you through best practices for how to get the most out of your time with this series. Each Module is accompanied by an in-depth Participant Toolkit that will support your personal learning with concepts and activities.

Facilitator Guides are included in each Module to guide use of the RRTP resources in small and large group settings, 1:1, as well as within the classroom. See the Facilitator Resources page for links to all six Facilitator Guides as well as a video recording and the presentation slides from the Facilitator Training conducted on July 27, 2021.

You have access to and can view ALL of the content materials in this course without a Canvas account. However, if you do have a UC Santa Cruz Canvas account, you can log in and self-register, thus saving this course to your Canvas dashboard.

The RRTP Modules are as follows:

The time it takes to complete each core Module is approximately 75 minutes (includes Module video + time for completing practice activities.) Learn more by watching our program overview video:

This program was developed through support provided by the University of California, Santa Cruz with funding from the Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor and the Jacques M. Littlefield Foundation. We are indebted to Silvia Austerlic as well as members of the Radical Resilience working group for their help in making this happen.

This curriculum was researched and developed by Nikita Gupta, a passionate and dedicated educator, program director, mentor, and resilience expert practicing and applying resilience-based approaches for over 22 years. Nikita Gupta, M.P.H., specializes in designing and implementing Trauma Healing and Resiliency programs and initiatives in educational as well as public and private settings. She is a recognized leader and educator and has worked nationally with diverse communities, educational leaders, and service providers. Nikita's work is rooted in practices of personal empowerment and community healing, and she is dedicated to creating spaces of connection, belonging, and transformation. Nikita is also a long-time Yoga Teacher and Meditation Facilitator who received her Master’s in Public Health from UCLA. For additional support or training on how best to integrate this series into your campus program, please contact Nikita Gupta at RRTP@nikitagupta.com (website: http://nikitagupta.com/ Links to an external site.).

Want to provide feedback so we can improve this program? Please complete this Feedback form Links to an external site..