Mercer’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) are continuing their Wellness Wednesday programming through the 2021-2022 academic year.
“Wellness Wednesday is an opportunity for the CAPS staff to offer useful techniques and resources to our students on a live social media platform,” said Crystal Allen-Joyner, the assistant director at CAPS.
According to Allen-Joyner, during Wellness Wednesdays students are able to view live streams on Instagram and discuss important topics relating to mental health and wellness with staff to help promote physical, mental, and emotional well-being that provides students with 24 hours access to mental health resources.
“As an effort to extend our services and stay abreast of the current trends in reaching targeted populations, what better way than to reach students on a platform in which many of them currently use to stay informed of information and news?” Allen-Joyner said.
CAPS originally started the Wellness Wednesday programming in Oct. 2020 due to the influx of virtual learning and limitations from COVID-19 restrictions.
The program will continue even after the end of the pandemic and they plan on continuing to deal with issues that college students face. They will be incorporating an outreach form on the CAPS website for students to submit requests in the future, along with an option for organizations to reach out for CAPS to present on specific topics.
Allen-Joyner said that they pulled topics for Wellness Wednesdays from students’ survey responses and statistical data about the most common issues that college students face.
So far, they have covered an array of topics, including breathing exercises, healthy relationships, anxiety, sleep hygiene, self-esteem and more.
“The goal of Wellness Wednesday is to reach as many students as possible, by equipping them with useful wellness techniques, skills, and encouragement,” Allen-Joyner said. “It is our desire to dispel myths regarding mental wellness as well as remove any potential barriers to anyone in need of services and support.”
CAPS hosts Wellness Wednesdays every Wednesday on their Instagram account mercer_caps, where students can find past Wellness Wednesdays as well.
