By: Maliek Watkins
With so many people struggling with stress, anxiety and other forms of mental illness across the world, it can take the smallest act to help those affected to deal with it. On Sept. 11, 2019, just in time for the anniversary of 9.11, the campus had the ability to relieve stress while expressing their feelings through art.
The event “Art of Wellness” was hosted by the Department of Counseling and Prevention Services. The event gave a safe space for students to express themselves, through various forms of visual arts such as drawing, painting, shading and crafting while providing refreshments, like a Paint and Sip.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Adjunct Professor, Tiffany Nelson joined forces with the school of Arts and Sciences in an attempt to help teach students how to express their emotions in the form of art, as art is one of the purest forms of expression.
“Art of Wellness” was hosted by the Department of Counseling and Prevention Services.
This event was just one part of the University’s “Wellness Week” activities held the week of Sept. 9 -14. This entire week is geared towards encouraging students to live a much healthier life, with events such as “Yoga” and “Tell Me About Your Day” planned.
Evident by the smiles on every face students were enjoying their time at the event as some students expressed their happiness that the University held this. Ashley Smith, a freshman and undecided major expressed that she found the event rather relaxing. Smith said she finds herself being so busy with classes and extracurricular activities, that she finds it hard sometimes to get the time to do something relaxing so she truly appreciated the gesture.
Nelson said when speaking on the objective of the event, that she wanted to do it because it is definitely a stress reliever. Nelson feels like art is a great way to relieve oneself from the rigidity and structure of life and gives individuals a chance to just slow down for a bit and just relax.
Nelson continued stating that she felt like this event was good for the mental health of the students who attended the event and was a nice addition to “Wellness Week”.
The school encourages everyone to try and take an active part in taking care of their well-being, by taking charge of their mental, physical and emotional health with the activities of the week being used as a start for a healthier lifestyle.
