The Counseling Center has been hosting “Circles of Support,” a series of weekly virtual meetings designed to help students cope with the impact of COVID-19 on their daily lives and will continue on through Nov. 17. 

The support group is intended to be an outlet for students to express how they feel, according to Kathyrn Bruning, prevention coordinator and staff counselor.  

“Circles of Support were created to provide students who may want to, and need to, talk about their experiences and emotions during the coming academic year a venue to do so in and share their experience with others,” Bruning said. 

Bruning stressed how this year in particular was very impactful for college students in general.  

“In the midst of the pandemic, our students engaged in a critical national conversation related to justice and equality,” Bruning said. “Many of our students have directly experienced the forms of injustice at the center of this conversation. Continued unpredictability and uncertainty, a sense of restriction of movement related to social distancing and quarantine may have been additional stressors to students already navigating the social, emotional, financial and academic demands of college.” 

The sessions run for 30 minutes and are deliberately short to allow students some flexibility in their schedules.   

“There are many demands on students’ time. We created these to be short sessions to allow for students to ‘pop’ in during activity hour and still have time for something else to do,” Bruning said. 

Each session has a specific theme, such as financial stress, depression/isolation and resilience. The host of the session discusses the theme and tactics to combat its impacts. There are opportunities for students to speak on the topic and relate it back to themselves and others.  

“These sessions are introductory sessions,” Bruning said. “Students can take the information learned and continue the conversation with their peers, journal about the discussion questions and incorporate the skills discussed into their lives.” 

For more information, visit this link.