UT University Health Services

Resident Assistants

Promoting Well-Being: Where to Start

RAs have a direct impact on the health and wellness of their communities. A great place to start is understanding how setting community expectations and being knowledgeable about resources can impact each resident in a positive way.

Creating a Well Environment: Quiet Hours and Roommate Agreements


  • Send weekly reminders to remind residents when quiet hours start throughout the week.
  • Explain why quiet hours and quiet hour violations are in place and how they impact resident health. For example, quiet hours exist to help residents maintain a regular sleep schedule, which can improve the quality of their sleep, increase their productivity and support their mental and physical health.
  • Encourage roommates to look over their roommate agreements together mid-semester and communicate about any present issues that may be impacting their wellness.
  • Consider creating a separate questionnaire to accompany the standard roommate agreement, elaborating on sleep habits, nighttime routines and noise/light preferences.

Campus Resources


  • Collaborate with a Longhorn Wellness Center coordinator to create a bulletin board or outreach campaign on a health topic/area to promote wellness (see consultants below for each topic).
  • Request a Longhorn Wellness Center workshop or check out the Longhorn Wellness Center’s Virtual Offerings for accessible activities to plan for your residents.
  • Share campus resources and services found on this web page, making sure that residents know what is available for them.
    • Check in with residents and ask what resources they specifically need or would like to know more about. Browse the health topics on the page to better direct residents to resources.

RA-Specific Activity Ideas


Utilize the Healthyhorns Sleep Page:

  • Plan a week for residents to utilize the Healthyhorns Sleep Diary to track their daily sleep habits and learn what may be helping or hindering their sleep.
  • Throw a “get ready for bed” event as a hall and walk residents through setting up their room for a successful night’s sleep using this Healthyhorns guide.
  • Direct residents to the Healthyhorns Sleep Strategies Worksheet to identify barriers that could be impacting their sleep and strategies to address these barriers.

Share information about Play It Safe Post, where residents of all on-campus residence halls can request free condoms, internal condoms and dental dams, delivered weekly in discreet envelopes.

  • RAs can get free and low-cost resources and condoms for hall events they organize by submitting a bulk condom request.



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