The Associated Students of Cosumnes River College and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging hosted a two-day Stress Relief event in the library on Nov. 28 and 29.
The event featured crafts such as decorating holiday ornaments, pizza, therapy dogs and a workshop for students to de-stress.
“I think that the buzz words of mental health and Adverse Childhood Experience (ACES) are finally in the forefront but we need more mental workouts,” said Social Wellness Practitioner Marianna Sosua. “Physical workouts are the same as mental workouts and what I call emotional hygiene workouts, you can’t just do it once.”
Sosua said she has been working with CRC as a facilitator, consultant and keynote speaker for 10 years.
“One tool that I am going to share with them today is having an inner compass. One thing I remind people is when they are lost and have to get somewhere or they need directions they turn on their GPS most of the time,” Sousa said. “Sometimes our GPS gets off-track.”
Sosua started the workshop by having students draw a big circle on a piece of paper. In the circle, students were asked to split it into three sections: mental turmoil, emotional challenges and physical disconnect.
Sosua asked students what was making them stressed and various students who attended shared responses. Among some of the responses the most common stress factors for students who attended were school, family drama and breakups.
Sousa asked students to share some ways they de-stress themselves and their answers included listening to music or drinking caffeinated beverages.
After discussing and acknowledging some of the challenges students are faced with, Sousa had them turn the paper over and draw another circle on the back side. She had the students divide the circle into sections of truth, justice and righteousness.
Angelina Brenich, an 18-year-old pharmacy major, said she saw a poster outside the library building that said there were going to be crafts and therapy dogs at the event.
“The main takeaway of this event is learning how to deal with stress. You have to confront people with the truth, you have to tell them why it’s not fair,” Brenich said.
Brenich said she de-stresses by going to a coffee shop every Tuesday to do her homework there.
Jeo Adrei Dela Pena, a 19-year-old RTVF major, said he heard about the event through the gaming club’s discord server that publishes announcements of events happening on campus.
“I wanted to go here just because I heard there were dogs, but then I saw it was a Stress Event and you know what I’m pretty stressed out,” Dela Pena said. “I was just interested in seeing what the event was.”
Dela Pena said the workshop allowed him to develop better coping mechanisms by utilizing the things he learned.