50-minute seminars covering various mental health topics will be held via zoom each Friday of this month courtesy of Campus Health and Wellbeing’s (CH&W) Counseling Services. Any member of the Cal Poly Community can attend anonymously.
Counseling Services outreach coordinator Sarah Colwell said the Zoom events are designed to be available, approachable and obstacle-free.
“One thing that we’ve found with drop-in groups and spaces is someone usually had to have some experience with therapy before to feel comfortable dropping into a space where other people are gonna be,” Colwell said. “That’s where this seminar series came from.”
Each session is lecture-based, and the only people attendees can see are the speakers from Counseling Services.
“We wanted to create a presentation format where no one had to be seen, no one knows you’re there,” Colwell said.
Topics were selected based on students’ interests and concerns. On Feb. 3, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) Conrad Mendoza hosted, “See Something, Say Something, Do Something,” which covered how to best support friends struggling with their mental health.
On Feb. 10, LMFT and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Amelia Ramirez will lead “Body Image and You,” diving into internalized body image perception and steps to have a better relationship with oneself. LMFTs Cheri Love and Noah Chaflin will also cover the “Community Resiliency Model (CRM),” which dives into the body’s physical response to stress and six core wellness skills to help restore natural balance in the nervous system.
Colwell will discuss test anxiety on Feb. 17, explaining the body’s reaction to high stress situations along with coping skills and testing strategies to help mitigate anxiety.
To conclude, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) Johneen Manno will host “Loss, Grieving, and Mourning” on Feb. 24, discussing the different types of grief, the mourning processes and methods to help process grief and loss.
Colwell hopes Mental Health Fridays can be a starting point for people to seek help and learn more about what counseling services are available on campus.
“We want to help with the message, one, that people are more important than their academics, and that what they’re going through matters and that they matter,” they said.
For more information along with times and Zoom codes for the seminars, visit https://chw.calpoly.edu/counseling/events. Previously recorded seminars can be found here.
Those interested in submitting topic ideas for future seminars can fill out the Counseling Services Request Form.
