A new spring semester

Happy new spring semester Hokie families!

A new year, new semester is upon us in Blacksburg. If only the weather would match the joy and possibility a new spring semester brings each year!

I am a child of the '80s and early '90s and I have fond memories of afternoon and Saturday morning cartoons. (Kids these days who can watch on demand have no idea the waiting those of us who were kids then did!) Perhaps you recall the NBC public service announcements called, “The More You Know.” Perhaps you even hear the jingle and see the star racing across the graphic. These PSAs covered a range of social issues like education, literacy, and health. While they were an interruption to my preferred programming, the budding educator in me loved them.

So, in the spirit of “The More You Know,” my spring newsletters will highlight amazing people at Virginia Tech who are doing really important work with our students. They will each share a bit about the work they do and a strategy that you can share with your student to ensure that they make the most of their semester.

This month I turned to Amy Epperley, a dear friend of mine and esteemed Senior Director for Hokie Wellness, for some sage advice about building positive emotional health and holistic well-being. She shared these tips to build sustainable self-care strategies:

Start the day with a few questions.

Dr. Emily Falk, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted a study in 2015 exploring how self-affirmation — that is, thinking about what’s most important to you — can affect your brain and lead to positive, healthful behaviors. Her team found that when people are asked to think about things that they find meaningful, a brain region that recognizes personally relevant information becomes activated. When people took time to attach their values to their goals, they were more likely to be successful in their endeavors.

Every morning, Amy starts the day by reconnecting her values to her goals by asking herself some guiding questions:

• What is one thing I deeply appreciate about my life?
• What is the most important thing that I have to do today?
• What quality would I like to showcase to the world today?
• How do I want to show up for myself, my loved ones, and my peers?

Determine and maintain your pillars of well-being.

In article published by the National Library of Medicine, author Debbie Stoewen says, “Wellness necessitates good self-stewardship, for ourselves and for those we care about and who care about us.”

Amy offered some of her own pillars of well-being, which serve as pillars in her model for maintaining her personal day-to-day health.

• Ensure that your sleep is adequate
• Get some sunshine, and find a way to move your body
• Make sure you’re eating well
• Do something you enjoy for relaxation
• Contribute to something meaningful and greater than you

Amy shares, “you cannot pour from an empty cup. Prioritizing these pillars daily fills my cup and allows me to be my best self when I show up for my family, my colleagues, my friends, and others that I may interact with daily.” What are the pillars in your life that fill your cup?

Each of our strategies for self-care will look a little different; it’s about what makes you feel joy. What fills my cup might not fill yours, and that’s O.K.!

Build your self-care toolkit and use it!

“Building a personal toolkit of self-care strategies helps you to be prepared to handle situations that you may not have planned for.” Amy says. “I always recommend trying things that may seem a little scary or uncomfortable. You may find that you love them!”

There are countless ways to engage in self-care and improve or strengthen our mental health. Hokie Wellness offers mental health skill worksheets as “bite-size lessons to introduce, enhance, or continue the practices we have in our wellness toolkit.” Each worksheet contains concepts, instructions, and questions that will guide students through each skill and offer options for developing consistent, healthy habits.

• For students seeking in-person counseling: students can schedule a Cook Connect Session through Cook Counseling Center. At this initial meeting, a clinician will review student concerns, discuss available resources, and collaboratively develop a support plan.

• For students seeking immediate or virtual care: Virginia Tech and the Cook Counseling Center have partnered with TimelyCare. TimelyCare offers free health and well-being resources that are designed for college students:
• TalkNow, a service that offers unlimited and on-demand mental health support 24/7
• Twelve scheduled counseling sessions per academic year, available to all students located in the United States
• Health coaching resources
• Self-guided care modules, such as Self-Care for Healthy Eating, Self-Care for Healthy Relationships, and A Journey to Bouncing Back
• For students seeking to be proactive in their wellness: Hokie Wellness offers educational and empowerment resources to support students’ wellness
• Classes and workshops cover topics from mindfulness and financial wellness to opioid overdose emergency response training. Personalized coaching and community- centered outreach opportunities are also available to students.
• Cook Counseling support groups offer space for students to connect in peer groups.
• Cultural and Community Centers support underrepresented and underserved students through education, advocacy, advising and leadership development, striving to promote a welcoming campus in which students feel a sense of belonging and can find support in expressing pride in their social identities.
• Recreational Sports offers many ways for Hokies to get moving. With activities from fitness challenges and group exercise classes to intramural sports and hiking trail recommendations, there is something for everyone.

Spring offers an opportunity for us to refresh our routines. It’s a reminder to be intentional with our time and energy and to find new ways to care for ourselves. Between now and Spring Break, the demands of academics, the pull of campus life, work obligations, and planning for the future may make it feel like it leaves your student with little time to do anything other than focus on what is imminent. I hope that when you talk to your students you will remind them to ask themselves questions like those shared by Amy; and, if they don’t come to the answers they want, that you’ll encourage them to reach out for help.