Introducing hEARt @ Home
When the going gets tough, school (and life) keeps going.
At this point, it hardly needs to be stated, but we’ll say it anyway: things aren’t great. For anyone, really. Every single student and young adult is facing challenges to their well-being. Some of us are trying to stay productive and motivated as we make the transition to online school and work. Some are trying to maintain a sense of calm and hope in the face of a constant deluge of political vitriol, poor pandemic prognoses, and overall bad news. Others are simply trying to maintain positive mental health as they struggle with missing friends and family under stay-at-home orders. Most of us are facing multiple adversities: as Vaile Wright, American Psychological Association's senior director of health care innovation, said:
"I can't remember any time in my lifetime, or most people's adult lifetimes, where you've had this many adversities... It's the cumulative effect of one thing on top of another on top of another -- to the point where I think people are either just going numb to it or feel so overwhelmed that they're frozen."
Needless to say, coping isn’t easy.
In times like these, it is so very easy to feel lonely. Discouraged. Anxious. Depressed. That’s why it has never been more important to seek out support. hEARt makes it simple for students to access help. Just text the hEARt Line at 734-292-8006, and within hours, you’ll be anonymously connected with a student peer supporter who has been trained in skills like active listening, smart referral, and crisis management. Access to the Line is free, anonymous, and available to all UM-Ann Arbor students. On the Line, we offer you an empathetic ear– because we all need one sometimes.
The hEARt Line was developed by students, for students. It’s operated by students, too– hEARt Supporters who can relate to the challenges Michigan students are facing right now.
It’s easy to brush off the offer of help. Some people may feel like they’d prefer to talk to friends or family, rather than an anonymous peer supporter. And that’s ok– we understand that the hEARt Line isn’t for everyone! But that doesn’t mean that hEARt Listens isn’t here for you. Our new series, “hEARt At Home”, is designed to engage every student on campus, and we are so excited to share it with all of you.
hEARt @ Home is a five week series of well-being tips, tricks, and inspiration. hEARt Listens has created new content that includes workout routines, recipes, mindfulness tips, and focusing tricks. As we mentioned before, it hasn’t been easy to prioritize well-being at home, and we hope that these posts will help you regain a sense of balance. To access, just follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter - we’ll be posting sneak peeks until our kickoff on November 16th!
This semester may be hard. But with optimism, support, and most of all, self-care, we’ll get through it. We hope that you’ll join us for a little of that self care through the hEARt @ Home series.