This was supposed to be an exciting year. Many of us are students at the school of our dreams and are thrilled to live in Chapel Hill. Filled with allure, UNC is full of prospects: for new friendships and creating lifelong memories.

This fantasy was soon smashed by the pandemic. Classes were converted to online and the campus was shut down. We found ourselves in a new situation with few opportunities to meet new people. As the months of isolation dragged on, the feelings of loneliness lingered with limited hope of dissipating. Our ability to engage in school became stunted. The academic requirements that once ignited passion and captivation became daunting. The lack of social distractions, in theory, should have allotted more time to engage with academic responsibilities, however, it seemed to cause the opposite.

Many students have expressed feelings of extreme powerlessness, since the start of the pandemic. We feel displaced, lonely, angry, and sad. Many have given up the comfort and communities of their homes only to find themselves feeling distraught and distanced.

Data confirms these feelings – you’re not alone! A representative sample of UNC students completed a well-being survey in the fall and confirmed that many UNC students are having feelings of loneliness and low rates of self-esteem. This can have profound effects, especially when combined with the pressures of academia. Social isolation can deplete mental health, and can also have damaging effects on one’s physical health including higher blood pressure and increased rates of diabetes.

Within all of this hopelessness, where does one turn to for hope? Amongst the powerlessness, where do we turn to feel empowered? 

We know getting together while being apart is hard, but it’s worth it. Social connections are an important key to happiness and well-being. Although socializing during a pandemic may not look the same, there are a number of low-risk activities to increase overall wellbeing and help to create stronger connections in your community.

•  Move your body with a friend, ideally outside. Local hiking spots abound! Check out:
  • Occoneechee Mountain in Hillsborough
  • Eno River in Durham
  • Bolin Creek in Carrboro

• Reach out to new Tar Heels who express similar outlooks and interests in your classes and school groups. To some, this may provoke fear and anxiety. Putting yourself out there and reaching out to new people is not necessarily easy. But we are all struggling in one way or another. Send someone a direct message over zoom after you enjoyed what they shared in class, reach out to someone privately in your GroupMe chats and ask to schedule a zoom coffee date or socially distanced walk.

•  Engage in student groups. Finding a group may help promote a feeling of community within the university. Loads of student organizations are available that have the potential to create a sense of community around similar interests and identities.

We must view our mental health as an essential part to a constantly moving vehicle. When one part fails to function, the rest are also compromised. In order to reach our academic potential, we must allow ourselves the space to be present and mindful of our social well being. 

Campus Resources

Upcoming Social Events

• Small Fest: Re-imagine the start of the spring semester with a variety of events and opportunities to connect on Heel Life |Monday Jan 25th – Friday Jan 29th at 5pm-6pm
• Mental Wellbeing Series: Lovin’ Da Crew: Join Healthy Heels and Wellness experts on Instagram live to chat about challenges, barriers and strategies to increase social connections| January 28th at 12pm
• Virtual Paint Nights: Sign up to paint, relax, have fun, be creative, and social| January 27th at 6pm
• Virtual Game Nights: Celebrate FWOC with your favorite virtual games | Jan 28th at 7pm
• SOLR (Student Organization Leadership Retreat): The theme of the retreat is “2020 in Review” – this half-day retreat includes social opportunities and roundtable discussions | Jan 30th at 9am-1pm

Support Groups

Health and Wellness services

• Campus Rec offers  in-person workout reservations at Rams Head and, on-demand and live fitness classes.
• Campus Health offers both in-person and telehealth visits every day (including weekends) 8am – 5pm. Scheduling an appointment is the most efficient way to be seen – call 919-966-2281 or visit healthyheels.unc.edu to request an appointment online.
• CAPS offers 24/7 phone support at 919/966-3658. Initial screenings offered by phone 9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm M-F. Follow up appointments by Zoom. Group therapy during spring semester includes over 20 groups to help you connect with students like you via Zoom
• Student Wellness will continue to provide virtual support, program requests, appointments and wellbeing interventions. Learn more at studentwellness.unc.edu.

It’s not enough to be against racism – we need people to be actively anti-racist. Don’t be a bystander in the fight to dismantle white supremacy. We deserve to live in world where every person is treated like a human being. Here are some ways to move towards anti-racism:

Look in the mirror. Look at yourself and your communities. Consider how people of color are treated – on the sidewalks, when socializing, in classes. Racism manifests itself in a variety of ways, some obvious, but more often subtler. Identify – to then dismantle – the ways behaviors uphold and perpetuate white supremacy.

Listen, learn, and empathize. Become a student of racism historically and today. You can attend webinars and workshops, read works written by BIPOC, watch documentaries that highlight social issues, listen to podcasts – whatever learning style works for you. You can start with this robust compilation of Anti-Racism Resources from the Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

Make the commitment. Be a person of action. Plan how you’ll respond when issues of discrimination arise, and then follow through. Consider how to amplify and elevate diverse voices in your community and into leadership opportunities. Become an influencer in big ways and small to help create a new normal and inspire those in our circles to become anti-racist.

UNC Services Centering BIPOC Students

CAPS

The CAPS Multicultural Health Program serves Black, Indigenous and Students of Color with brief therapy, group therapy, outreach events, and liaison relationships between students and CAPS. The program includes 4 mental health clinicians and 2 co-facilitators who all identify as people of color and are dedicated to meeting the needs of communities of color on campus.

CAPS Groups including:

Dancing Mindfulness Open to BIPOC students, fusing small group discussion and self-reflection with dance and mindfulness.

Brother 2 Brother: A Support Group for Black Men This group gives a space for Black men to support each other through the journey of navigating higher education and life.

Empowering Black Women This group provides a safe space for Black women to openly and honestly discuss their experiences to facilitate empowerment and encouragement.

Intersections: A QTPOC Support Group This group welcomes all Black, Indigenous and POC students on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and those who are questioning. The purpose is to value, nurture, respect and celebrate QTPOC students at UNC.

We Gon’ Be Alright A space for Black students to gather, share experiences and gain support from one another.

Feeling Seen Podcast

Feeling Seen is hosted by Dr. Erinn Scott, Psy.D. and Dr. Anthony Teasdale, Ph.D., staff psychologists at CAPS to discuss and demystify mental health, therapy, and help seeking, and have some fun in the process. This podcast speaks directly to UNC and its students, giving listeners a more personal side of CAPS and its staff. There’ll be insights, laughs, and mistakes, but always with the intention of reducing stigma and helping people “feel seen.”

Find it on all the places you listen: Spotify | YouTube | Anchor | Google Podcasts | Apple Podcasts

Identity-based Support Outside of CAPS

• American Indian Center support and resources for American Indians
• Carolina Asia Center resources for Asian students including student orgs
• Carolina Black Caucus membership open to grad students, fac, staff
• Carolina Latinx Center resources for Latinx students including student orgs
• Carolina Women’s Center supporting gender equity
• LGBTQ Center resources and groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students and their allies
• Minority Student Caucus a student org for students in the school of public health
• Sister Talk a discussion group for women of color out of Student Wellness
• Veterans Resource Center resources for UNC veterans

After the stress of finals end, many students are excited for winter break. This year, winter break can look so many different ways! Some of you are headed to family after living near campus, some of you are staying in Chapel Hill for winter break, and some of you have been living with family this whole semester.

Whether you’re adjusting to living at home again, having less to do, or embarking on two more months of regular ol’ pandemic life, winter break can feel overwhelming.

Here are some common issues and ways to address them to help you stay healthy, protect yourself and those around you, and make the most of your break.

Mental Health Strategies

• Manage your free time: We know that at the beginning, the extra time feels like a gift! But the adjustment to free time can be a struggle for some.
  • Start by taking time to relax.
  • Then consider making a plan or list of things you would like to do over break. Fill your time with things that make you feel good!
• Prep for family & friends: Plan ahead for family and friend encounters.
  • What questions or conflicts typically arise? Consider how COVID risk tolerance may play a role in conflict this year.
  • How do you want to respond?
  • Make a list of coping skills that work for you.
• Plan for your mental wellbeing: Many people experience a worsening of mental health symptoms around this time of year. You aren’t alone!
  • If you are in treatment, work with your provider on how to best support yourself.
  • If you are not in treatment, this break can provide you time to focus on how you’re feeling, what you might need, and how to make a plan moving forward.
  • Mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, are real, common and treatable. And recovery is possible.
• Take a screening: UNC offers a wide range of online mental health screening tools about anxiety, depression, substances, wellbeing and more.

Ideas to protect yourself and others from illness

• Follow general COVID precautions.
  • Wear a mask.
  • Stay physically distanced.
  • Avoid crowds and indoor crowded places.
  • Wash your hands frequently.
  • Monitor for symptoms.
  • Minimize contact with people at high risk of COVID-19 complications.
• If traveling:
  • Double-check travel restrictions.
  • In addition to strategies above, get a flu vaccine.
  • Take a COVID-19 test prior to departure and before return. Remember that a negative test is not a free pass to skip other precautions. 
• If gathering:
  • Wear masks as much as possible.
  • Eat outside if safe and feasible.
  • Limit the number of guests.
  • Have guests bring their own food, drinks, and utensils.
• If moving, quarantine for 2 weeks before interacting unmasked indoors with new roommates/family.

Even though classes are complete, most services available to students will remain open with virtual support through most of winter break. Reach out if you need help!

In two weeks, many of us will be taking a well-deserved break to enjoy two months (!) without classes and with the benefits of holiday celebrations.

Winter break during a pandemic has some additional elements to think through. Some of us will likely be switching up or adding to the people with whom we closely and regularly interact. Many health precautions for those scenarios require at least two weeks. Act now to protect yourself and the ones you love this winter break.

• Get a flu vaccine if you haven’t received one yet. It takes about two weeks for the flu vaccine to provide protection for you. Flu shots are offered outside of Campus Health M – F1 – 5 pm, or at Student Stores Pharmacy during open hours (9 am – 5 pm, M – F, Sat 11 am – 3 pm). No appointment needed.
• Reduce your risk of being exposed to COVID in the two weeks before you travel and while traveling: limit the number of individuals you interact with, limit the time and duration spent near other people, be thoughtful about the location of interactions (outdoor is better than indoors) and practice the 3Ws: wash your hands frequently, wear a face mask and wait six feet from other people. The CDC has further holiday gathering and travel guidance.
• Take a COVID-19 test prior to departure. Free testing is offered at the Union for UNC students (but only if you don’t have symptoms and have not been in close contact with someone who is positive). Results are typically in 1-2 days, and hours are extended 11/16 – 11/20 to 11 am – 7 pm M – F. For those with symptoms or exposure, Campus Health offers diagnostic testing M – F 9 am – 12 pm, 1 pm – 4 pm. Remember that a negative test is not a free pass to skip other precautions. 

Why you need more than a negative test

Testing as a sole strategy for COVID risk reduction doesn’t work well because it can take 2-14 days for someone who is exposed to SARS-CoV-2 to develop symptoms of COVID-19. It is recommended that individuals wait until ~4-5 days after being exposed to a case of COVID-19 to get tested, since before this point, the false negative rate is high. 

There are many examples of folks getting tested a day or two before embarking on a trip or going to an event, only to have one of the attendees become positive during or just after the event, potentially infecting many people.  
 
You should still get tested before you travel or attend gatherings. A positive test should change holiday plans; a negative test, however, only gives you information for that point in time and doesn’t mean you will remain negative after that test. Even if you (and others!) have a negative test, still:

• wear a mask
• stay physically distanced
• avoid crowds and indoor crowded places
• wash your hands frequently
• monitor for symptoms and
• minimize contact with people at high risk of COVID-19 complications.

If you decide you want to be indoors for an extended time without masks

While higher risk, being inside without masks is sometimes what people choose for themselves. Roommates and family members often come to agreements about risk behaviors and then live together without masks in their home. With holidays coming, a traditional holiday dinner, where there will be extended time around a table with people from outside your home while eating and drinking, would also fit this category. You also may be moving for winter break and will be living with a new set of roommates.

The safest strategy for these scenarios is for all attendees/future roommates to quarantine for 14 days before coming together, consider how to eliminate risk of exposure during travel, and get tested early enough to get test results before traveling/moving in together. For many of us – that means starting to quarantine THIS WEEK.

Holiday Gathering Guidance

You can also help reduce risk at your holiday gathering itself.

• Host outdoors if possible. If indoors, open the windows and doors if safe and feasible. 
• Limit the number of people attending.
• Have extra, new masks (in case someone forgets) and hand sanitizer available. 
• Arrange tables and chairs for separation.
• Limit people going in and out of the areas where food is being prepared or handled.
• Have one household approach the food serving area at a time to prevent congregating.
• Consider identifying one person to serve all food so that multiple people aren’t handling serving utensils.
• Have high risk individuals attend virtually.

We want things to be normal again, and also know that everything is different right now. If you decide not to attend a holiday celebration – that’s perfectly understandable! Tell people clearly and firmly. Focus on your decision about what’s best for you. Avoid getting into the details about the reasons behind your decision. You don’t need to defend your position.

We realize that this holiday season will likely look different that in the past. There are lots of creative ideas for how to connect with people you love! Find a celebration strategy that feels safe and healthy for you and your loved ones.

Feeling stress throughout our day is normal. If we think of stress on a scale or continuum from 1 to 10, we typically move along that scale throughout our regular day. Daily stressors like school, work or relationships can activate different emotions, and those emotions can move us along the scale too.

Imagine you wake up feeling sunny and optimistic. “I’m a 1 on the stress continuum.” Then something triggers you and it feels like a cloud rolls in and the next thing you know you’re feeling down – like a 6 on the continuum. This is part of life, and we can usually manage this stress with healthy coping tools.

Right now, we have the added stress of COVID-19 and current events that can be chronic stressors. These stressors are even higher for those of us in the BIPOC and LGBTQ communities who regularly face racism and discrimination, in addition to a disproportionate burden of COVID-19. Plus, we don’t have access to our regular healthy coping tools like going out with friends or heading to the gym.

These chronic stressors make our normal daily stress seem more intense. Suddenly, that sunny day might feel less bright. If a cloud rolls in, it feels even more gloomy – like an 8 – and it becomes harder to get back to feeling less stress – such as a 3.

It’s natural to feel more foggy or tired or bothered by things that didn’t bother us before. When we accumulate all that stress, we feel exhausted. It is important to be gentle with yourself and others.

Here are some ideas that may help you on that path. Name and acknowledge what you feel. Take a deep breath and decide what support or coping tool works for you in that moment. If you are struggling, stuck in one spot on the continuum where you don’t want to be, or need help finding healthy coping strategies – then reach out for professional help.

Ideas to Cope

• Call a friend 
• Practice “Three Good Things” daily 
• Plan something to look forward to 
• Take a walk outside 
• Unplug from social media for one night a week 
• Watch a favorite movie or TV show 
• Read a book 
• Start a new project (ie, home project, creative project, etc.) 
• Help someone else — volunteer virtually for something your passionate about (lots of virtual volunteer opportunities are available now) 
• Meditate, do yoga, move your body 
• Write down your thoughts and feelings 
• Pay attention – notice what’s around you and what’s happening inside you 
• Create – writing, playing music, making art or dancing 
• Have a good laugh or cry 
• Most of all, realize the “COVID Cloud” amplifies all the stress so give yourself some slack

More coping resources for UNC students

Many of us are struggling with election overload. It’s difficult to escape the negative advertisements and tense moments in conversations and social media.

Focus on What You Can Control

While it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in our country and world, you need to take care of yourself and your mental health too. Notice if there’s a conflict between what the election is asking of you and what is best for your individual mental health. Instead of ruminating on potential bad outcomes, you can focus on what is within your control.

• Think about how political content makes you feel when you consume it.
  • Find political content that is fact-based, reputable or uses primary sources rather than viewing memes or personal opinions on social media.
  • If you have increased stress, limit your political content intake for a bit.
  • If you’re feeling paralyzed or anxious, act. Do something constructive for a cause you believe in to help you feel better.
• Engage in meaningful activities.
  • Find an activity you enjoy and do it, rather than fixating on news or social media coverage,
  • Get involved in issues that are meaningful to you.
  • Stay socially connected and lean on your friends when you’re feeling stressed.
  • Stay active – moving your body helps release stressful energy.
  • If you have a therapist, talk to them about your election feelings to help you manage.
• Be mindful of your surroundings when sharing opinions. Avoid assumptions about other people and how they think. Anticipating differences in opinions can help prepare you for difficult conversations. Even for like-minded, politically-engaged folks, be aware that the other person might be trying to limit political exposure.
• Be open to learning about other points of view. There are always reasons why people feel the way they do about certain issues or people. Consider using this cycle for conversations:
  • Ask open ended, genuinely curious, nonjudgmental questions.
  • Listen to what people you disagree with say. Deepen your understanding with follow-up inquiries.
  • Reflect back their perspective by summarizing their answers and noting underlying emotions.
  • Agree before disagreeing by naming ways in which you agree with their point of view.
  • Share your perspective by telling a story about a personal experience. People tend to best process stories, rather than logic.
• Stay close to people you disagree with. Some fear that this election will divide our country further. Counteract this in your life by maintaining close relationships – even with those who don’t see eye to eye with you. Test out how it feels to stay friendly with acquaintances who support opposing candidates.
• Plan an enjoyable event for after election day. Whatever happens with the election outcomes, life will go on, so planning an event will help reinforce that notion.

After Election Results

• Be gracious in victory. If your candidate wins, be kind and compassionate to those who lose. It could have been you. We all have to live with each other a lot longer than the next 4 years.
• Be mindful of media posts and consumption. Particularly if your candidate loses, consider a social media detox for a while. If your candidate wins, consider how your posts may affect people you care about that hoped for a different outcome.

Support Options for UNC Students

CAPS will host virtual support spaces for students who would like to discuss their feelings about the election results and connect with others experiencing similar situations. Dates and times for the virtual support services will be posted on the CAPS website.

As always, UNC students can connect with CAPS 24/7 at 919-966-3658 or reach out to any of the services and organizations available.