If looming finals and holiday stress are too much for students to handle on top of everyday life, the Ball State Counseling Center and the Student Recreation and Wellness Center are hosting two stress management workshops designed to keep students sane during the last few weeks of the semester and throughout the year.
"The workshops are really to help students identify stressors in their lives and develop healthy strategies for managing it," event planner and Counseling Center therapist Tim Hess said. "We incur stress throughout our lives every day. Learning how to manage stress is an important life skill."
The first workshop, which focuses on helping students effectively manage stress, will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 tonight in room 212A of the Recreation and Wellness Center. Hess said it would be a more traditional approach to stress management and will include tips on dealing with anxiety as well.
The second workshop will be held next week on Dec. 6 at the same time and in the same place. Hess said its focus will be on examining the sources of everyday stress and handling it through therapeutic life changes.
"There's new research coming out that supports not only therapy, but changes [such as] re-engaging with spirituality or religion, changing your diet or becoming more volunteer-oriented," Hess said. "There are things we don't often think of as being ways to combat stress but, in fact, can be."
The workshops are intended to be driven by and focused on participants, Hess said. The number of participants is kept small in favor of an interactive format that allows students to learn not only about stress and how to manage it, but also about themselves and how they function.
"Stress is a subjective thing," Hess said. "For some it tends to be negative; for others it can be positive. What we know is there are quite drastic differences in how we label stress."
While the workshops might be a welcome treat for some students, they are an unnecessary distraction for others.
Freshman Macy Thombleson said she heard about the workshops but didn't want to attend.
"I think it's pointless," Thombleson said. "I feel that I can manage my own stress."
The telecommunications and news major said she doesn't have many finals this semester and isn't experiencing much additional stress due to the holiday season.
For those who are, Hess encourages students to register for a workshop by calling 765-285-1736 or emailing BallStateOutreach@gmail.com.
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