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2021 Stress Relief Guide

Have fun! This guide is full of lots of self-care and entertainment ideas from Fant Library, and it's the perfect antidote to 2021 stress.

Mental Health Resources at MUW

For information on resources MUW offers, visit the Counseling Center's homepage--or contact them at 662-329-7748 with questions or to make an appointment. 

Resources for Mental Health and Coping

diagram of contemplative practices, organized by type, in the shape of a tree

Guided practices from the Center for the Contemplative Mind in Society can be found here: 

http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/recordings 

CDC: Coping with Stress provides information and advice on stress and coping during a pandemic. It also lists many resources you can access to learn more about coping strategies and mental health.  

The CDC explains why wearing masks and face coverings is an important part of stopping the spread of disease and ways to prevent yourself from getting sick.  The New York Times provides a graphic with step by step instructions and a template for how to make your own fabric mask.

HelpGuide dedicates a webpage to Coronavirus Help which provides articles about managing stress, staying healthy, and coping with trauma and grief.  They also offer free meditation exercises.  

Mental Health America provides a guide with mental health and COVID-19 information and resources.  It includes information for individuals with pre-existing mental health issues, caregivers and parents, frontline workers, LGBTQ+ individuals, BIPOC communities, older adults, and individuals dealing with domestic abuse. 

PsychHub offers COVID-19 specific mental health resources, videos, news, and downloadable PDFs. 

The Trevor Project provides is "the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people."  They have a 24-hour text line (Text “START” to 678678).

Ulifeline.org is "an anonymous, confidential, online resource center, where college students can be comfortable searching for the information they need and want regarding emotional health."

Mental Health and Wellbeing

  • Moodfit allows you to "track and improve your mood and gain actionable insights into what brings you up and down like sleep, exercise, medications and more."  The app also offers a CBT thought record tool, grounding tool to reduce anxiety, and meditation guides.
  • MoodMission allows you to assess how you’re feeling, and the app "will give you a tailored list of 5 Missions that can help you feel better and improve your wellbeing."
  • Sanvello is a mental health app that allows you to rate your mood, track your progress, write journal entries, and access guided meditations.  Most features do not require a subscription. 

Connecting with Others Online

  • Active Minds has a page dedicated to resources that can help you with stress and anxiety you may be feeling.  It provides links to more information, a Slack channel to connect with others of your age, and an opportunity to check in with a staff member. 
  • The Mighty is "a safe, supportive community for people facing health challenges and the people who care for them."  Read the others' stories, share some of your own, and connect with others who are going through similar situations.  
  • OK2TALK "is a community where teens and young adults struggling with mental health conditions can find a safe place to talk about what they’re experiencing by sharing their personal stories of recovery, tragedy, struggle or hope. Anyone can add their voice by sharing stories, poems, inspirational quotes, photos, videos, song lyrics and messages of support in a safe, moderated space." 

Studying and Soundscapes

  • Coffitivity "recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe. This is based on research showing that such background sounds really do make your brain more creative." 
  • Listen to Wikipedia allows you to "listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note."
  • MyNoise is an online website that "uses the noises you most enjoy to mask the noises you don’t want to hear."
  • A Soft Murmer provides ambient sounds.  You can adjust the level of different sounds to create personalized study music. 

Art

  • Color Our Collections offers free coloring content featuring images from the collections of libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural institutions around the world.
  • Happy Color app for Apple and Andriod is a color by number game for adults.  The app includes many inspiring pictures to color digitally. 

Cooking

  • Enjoy cooking?  At Spoon University, find recipes and articles about food, health, and lifestyle.  This website is tapered just for college students. 

Relaxation 

  • Try UCLA's guided meditations that range from 5-19 minutes. 
  • DoYogaWithMe offers over meditation 100 tracks for free. 
  • SoundDrown offers sounds of fire, nature, coffee shops, rain, white noise, and several other noises that will help you drown out the sounds of your surroundings.  You can mix the sounds to create your perfect atmosphere. 

Writing 

  • FutureMe allows you to write a letter to yourself and have it delivered digitally in the amount of time and on the date you specify.
  • 365 Days of Writing Prompts offers a prompt for each day of the year.  Follow along with the calendar or pick and choose which prompts sound interesting to you! 
  • Contribute to a digital collection by sharing your experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Write and submit a poem or story to COVID Narratives who publishes works from people across the world.   
  • Creativewritingprompts.com provides 346 ideas and prompts for you to create stories, poems, and other creative pieces from your imagination.