Hillary Thompson, Staff Writer
With the pressure of assignments, presentations, and upcoming finals, students have stress that can affect their mental health. Practicing self-care is essential to keep ourselves at our best. Self-care is a process where using behaviors that promote health to take care of oneself. The counseling center is known to have resources to help students with self-care and their mental health, anxiety, and stress. Dr. Lindsay Meyers, the director of the counseling and wellness center, discusses the importance of self-care. “Self-care is important because we are important. Our body, mind, emotions, spirit, matter; we deserve care”. Meyers shares some self-care ideas for students. “There’s actually a science to self-care! So instead of giving you my opinion about what you can do, I’ll summarize what the “wellness science” literature has found. Also, keep in mind, these results are generalizations. So, while they apply to many people, they may not apply to you. Do your own experiment and find what self-care activities work best (and are sustainable) for you:
“First, don’t put all your eggs in one self-care basket; find multiple avenues to honor your body and mind. Second, practice mindfulness; meaning, take time to pay attention to purpose, in the present moment, without judgment. This could be as simple as noticing how your feet feel as you walk from class to class or trying out a mindfulness exercise on YouTube. Practice gratitude. This does not mean life is perfect or that we should ignore our burdens. But gratitude invites us to find and attend to the goodness in life. It reminds us that those around us, or higher powers if you’re spiritual, have gifted us incredible things. Taking a moment to appreciate those can be healing. Cognitive-behavioral and acceptance and commitment therapies that focus on positive psychology have also been shown to improve self-care. Outside of what the research tells us, I’d also add that self-care should not be used to minimize or ignore your concerns. Self-care is a personal process that can be used in tandem with actively addressing your needs. Finally, self-care does not only have to include adding things to your life like mindfulness or a gratitude journal. Self-care can also be intentionally taking time away from things that are hurtful, e.g., toxic relationships, excessive alcohol or drugs, etc.”
Dr. Meyers discussed Saint Martin’s partnership with timely care and how it benefits students. “In January 2021, SMU observed behavioral health trends and predicted an increase in demand for behavioral health support as students return to in-person living and learning in Fall 2021. We were fortunate to secure a partnership with TimelyCare over the summer and despite only launching in early July, we have already seen consistent utilization by students. TimelyCare provides free mental health support to students 24/7 anywhere in the US. Not all students are interested in coming to the CWC for therapy and many students are unable to schedule with us during business hours. TimelyCare is virtual, on-demand, most providers in WA are BIPOC, and the services are available anywhere in the US (so you can use TimelyCare if you leave WA state over winter break). If you are a student interested in accessing counseling through TimelyCare, please visit http://www.timelycare.com/smusaints and if you need any support with the program, please let us know.”(counselingcwc@stmartin.edu).
The Belltower 