Dartmouth College is expanding its commitment to student-athlete well-being through its distinctive Dartmouth Peak Performance (DP2) program. DP2 supports student-athletes not only in competition but also in the broader demands of academic, personal, and athletic life. By bringing together mental health resources, performance coaching, and leadership development, the program takes a holistic approach to student-athlete success.

The Spaht Family Foundation has endowed a DP2 leadership role to strengthen the integration of mental health, leadership development, and high-performance training across Dartmouth Athletics. The endowed role provides long-term stability for the program and ensures that student-athlete well-being remains an institutional priority rather than a time-limited initiative.

Through individualized support and team-based programming, DP2 equips Dartmouth student-athletes with strategies to manage pressure and navigate setbacks in real time. Student-athletes learn to manage stress, build resilience, and lead effectively. By integrating well-being into the foundation of the student-athlete experience, Dartmouth is preparing students for long-term success beyond athletics.

Directly from a student-athlete: “DP2 is helping me stay healthy and prepared to perform consistently throughout the year. Our hockey season is long and demanding, spanning almost the entirety of fall and winter terms. Through strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition, mental performance, and academic support, DP2 has provided me with resources and guidance to build strong habits, maintain my physical and mental health, and perform at my best all year.”

Other student-athletes have noted that the mental-performance workshops have helped them develop pre-competition routines that lower anxiety, supporting more top performances; and that nutrition counseling created clear plans for fueling during competition, improving results.

During the 2025–26 academic year, DP2 completed more than 2,000 individual and group sessions focusing on academics, nutrition, leadership, and mental performance. In the area of leadership and mental performance, the program achieved 100% engagement across all 35 varsity teams for the first time this year.

The newly endowed position ensures that this work is both sustained and scaled, embedding well-being into the daily experience of athletes. This integrated model recognizes that peak performance is closely tied to mental and emotional health, and that long-term success depends on supporting the whole person.

The position also reflects a growing recognition in collegiate athletics that mental health and performance are deeply interconnected and that supporting one strengthens the other. Expanded coordination across departments allows for more proactive support and a more consistent experience for student-athletes navigating high-pressure environments.

The Spaht Family Foundation has further supported Dartmouth’s commitment to student well-being through an endowed mental health and wellness fund, while also helping expand access and affordability through support for the Dartmouth College Fund.

DP2 staff are collaborating with Dartmouth’s Teevens Center in Athletics, an interdisciplinary hub for research and programming focused on student well-being, leadership, and performance,to extend select components of DP2 to the broader undergraduate community. Scaling parts of DP2 to all undergraduates is one of the Center’s three core pillars, alongside advancing performance science research and developing best practices that strengthen Dartmouth’s Division I athletic competitiveness.

Through this work, leadership development, nutrition, and mental wellness and performance workshops will be available to any undergraduate student who chooses to participate. These programs foster resilience, strengthen leadership skills, and support both physical and mental health, key components of Dartmouth’s Commitment to Care initiative. The response to the Teevens Center’s initial programming has been positive: 97% of participating students reported they could immediately apply what they learned, and 96% expressed interest in further programming.

Dartmouth’s commitment to the well-being of its varsity athletes and all students has the potential to influence how universities nationwide approach student well-being and development. By investing in infrastructure that prioritizes well-being alongside performance, the program is helping redefine what it means to support students in high-pressure environments.

Click here to learn more about Dartmouth Peak Performance and student-athlete well-being initiatives.

“Embedding mental health support and overall well-being into every facet of student life lies at the heart of Dartmouth’s Commitment to Care. Through Dartmouth Peak Performance we blend evidence based wellness strategies with performance science and leadership training, giving every student the tools to cultivate resilience, maintain peak performance and lead purposely – whether on the playing field, in the classroom, or beyond Dartmouth.”

– Jennifer Rosales, Senior Vice President for Community and Campus Life and Chief Student Affairs Officer