Today, I had the honor of being a part of UConn Avery Point’s first ever Fresh Check Day!

At the event, I ran the Uplift activity table where students came to make their own self-care kits. We provided boxes they could decorate as well as various items to put into their self-care kits. Some of the items they could add into their boxes were:

• A paper clip: to help hold your life together when it seems like it is falling apart!
• A rock: to help keep you grounded when your life seems to get out of hand!
• An eraser: to make all of those little mistakes disappear!
• A Hersey’s Kiss: to remind you that you’re always loved!
• Fidget toys: for a distraction when you’re feeling anxious!

They also had the option to create their own stress balls out of balloons and flour.

The students really seemed to have a great time putting together their self-care kits and making their own stress balls. And the best part is, they left with a useful tool kit to turn to when they’re having a hard time!

Yesterday, we teamed up with CT Stay Strong to run the Mood Matters booth at Capital Community College’s Fresh Check Day!

Fresh Check Day, the signature program of the Jordan Porco Foundation, is an uplifting mental health promotion and suicide prevention event for colleges that includes interactive expo booths, peer-to-peer messaging, support of multiple campus departments and groups, free food, entertainment, and exciting prizes and giveaways. Fresh Check Day aims to create an approachable and hopeful atmosphere where students are encouraged to engage in dialogue about mental health and helps to build a bridge between students and the mental health resources available on campus, in the community, and nationally.

At our Mood Matters booth, we did an activity where we asked students the question “How Do You Maintain Your Mental Wellness?” The wrote the ways they like to maintain their mental wellness on sticky notes and put them on a poster board where others could see.

The point of the Mood Matters booth was to raise awareness, educate, and decrease stigma about anxiety and mood disorders, including bipolar disorder and depression, among college students. We also shared resources and treatment options for mood and anxiety disorders.

Fresh Check Day @ NCC – On Wednesday, April 22, 2016 we celebrated #FreshCheckDay at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut. The West Campus cafeteria was filled with students, parents and campus/community organizations as everyone cheerfully engaged in conversation  and participated in more than 12 different booth activities that in one way or another, captured an aspect of mental wellness. Each booth provided an activity that engaged students and visitors and helped to facilitate the dialogue on mental health, opening the door for the first for many who, and I quote, “have never really thought about it”. From yoga to painting to even designing t shirts, NCC Fresh Check Day had it all and everyone that contributed surely made the event worthwhile but even more importantly, educational and comforting. The event saw over 150 students and as tradition goes, one student walked off with an awesome flat screen TV after winning the raffle. Huge shoutout to the one and only Miss. Lisa Slade (NCC Mental Health Counselor) for once again pulling it all together, NCC is on a roll!

Check out our visit and more here: Explore Featured Events

Hey everyone!

I came across a really cool page by an artist Toby Allen, who came up with designs featuring manifestations of mental health labels. I think they are very creative and eye catching. I Found myself really paying attention to detail with a few of them. (The Body Dysmorphic Disorder Had broken shards of glass, representing a mirror or even shattered reality?!)

Allen was quoted saying:
“The project originated from imagining my own anxieties as monsters and finding it to be a cathartic and healing process to draw them, It made them feel weaker and I was able to look at my own anxiety in a comical way. I wanted to expand upon this idea and draw other representations of mental illnesses that could help people in the same way it helped me.”

Definitely check it out!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/toby-allen-real-monsters-mental-illness_55dde039e4b04ae497053e34?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living