Being isolated from your social life and practically doing everything virtually is hard! Many of us thrive on interaction, and this year, hasn’t provided us with many opportunities to interact with others at the capacity we used to. It’s been hard for us all but let’s talk about it.
This week is the annual Bell Let’s Talk event, which raises awareness about mental health. The proceeds will fund both mental health supports and research in Canada.
It’s important to remember that mental health isn’t a one time “event”, it affects many people every single day. With the pandemic, the need for support has increased more than ever.
Take the time out of your day to reach out to others or ask for support if you feel you are struggling. It’s ok to talk about it.
Did you know, Brock provides great resources that are accessible, even during the pandemic.
- The Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre (SWAC) website provides a confidential personal counselling, mental health nurses, drop in Peer to Peer support and other resources for students.
- My Student Support App (My SSP) is free 24-hour confidential text and talk counselling and also has videos, self-screening, and fitness programming.
- Follow @BrockSWAC for resources and workshops available to you!
It is easy to forget to focus on your well-being when life gets busy.. Here are a few tips to stay positive and healthy.
- Enjoy the small things: take this time to reset and focus on the little details you would often overlook. Watch the sunset, browse at nature, enjoy the smell of homemade cookies baking in the oven.
- Set a routine: Build a calendar and write it out!
- Study in a different space than you sleep: Get 8 hours of sleep each night and enjoy it! It’s tempting to keep your laptop by your bed, so you can wake up and join that synchronous class without getting up – but keep your bed for relaxation!
- Eat breakfast
- Move every single day: exercise, go for a walk, join an on-line class (Brock Recreation has a whole library of on-demand and live classes and there are classes on your My SSP app), use some soup cans for small weights.
- Take a snack break. Research shows that short bouts of exercise is valuable! (is this about snacks or exercise?)
- Relax: breathe deeply, take an on-line yoga class, schedule this time in your day!
On Thursday, January 28th, use #BellLetsTalk for every applicable text, call, tweet, or TikTok video and Bell will donate 5 cents for mental health initiatives. We’re all here to raise awareness about mental health and take action. This year, more than ever I encourage you to lend the hand a little further and talk about it. Reach out, stay in touch, express how you feel and together we can help.
Let’s talk about it,
Your friendly neighborhood Badger
