Understanding, Validating & Healing From Trauma – 3/3 & 3/10

You are invited to participate in a two-part series we will be offering to students in the Wes community regarding personal trauma and substance use on campus.

In the first part, Understanding, Validating & Healing From Trauma, Demetrius Colvin (SRC), Jami Carlacio (ORSL), and September Johnson (WesWell) will speak about various forms of trauma they have encountered and the coping mechanisms- both healthy and unhealthy- that they have used to deal with it. In the second part, Coping and Connecting in Crisis: Substance Use and Self-Care During College, the speakers will share their experience as it relates to substance use (in the family and personally) and again, how they found hope by using effective coping skills and seeking help.

The presentation blends storytelling with professional knowledge and aims to reach students through presenters personal accounts of trauma and substance use. The focus ultimately centers on coping, recovery, and resilience, with the message being that life is messy but/and that we can emerge from it whole when we have the right support and resources.  We ask that you promote these two events with students, staff, and/or faculty you know who may benefit from it, whether as a trauma sufferer/survivor or as a resource for anyone who might need help. To be clear, we hope to start a campus-wide conversation about the increased intensity of challenges facing college students today as they navigate illness, death, isolation, fear, and insecurity due to the pandemic and to the effects of structural racism.

The presentations will be held on:

Wednesday March 3 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Zoom Link: https://tinyurl.com/validatingtrauma

Facebook Link

Wednesday March 10 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Zoom Link: https://tinyurl.com/copingincrisis

Facebook Link

Please reach out to us if you have questions or comments, and thank you in advance for spreading the message.

Sincerely,

Demetrius Colvin, Jami Carlacio, and September Johnson

Wesleyan Town Hall: Coping in Crisis: A Discussion about Race, Faith, and Mental Health – 10/12

When: October 12, 2020,Indigenous People’s Day 
 
Town Hall Description:Racial injustice and COVID-19 are exacerbating the mental health crisis in communities of color and on college campuses. This Town Hall webinar brings 4 prominent and outspoken leaders to the Wesleyan community to talk about their life journeys and explore issues about mental health, faith, culture, and brain science, with Wesleyan students, staff, and faculty. We will set this discussion amidst the background of systemic racism, the global pandemic, police brutality, social justice marches, uncertain job market, and struggling economy. 
 
Town Hall Panelists: Former NBA star, Olympic Gold medalist, and non-profit founder Allan Houston, Yale Professor of Psychiatry Nii Addy, Pastor Marichal Monts, leader of the Ebony Singers, and Angie Makomenaw, Mental Health Education and Prevention Coordinator at Wesleyan University. 
 
Moderator: Demetrius Colvin, Director of the Student Resource Center at Wesleyan University.
 
Audience Discussion Leader: Dr. Smith Kidkarndee from CAPS at Wesleyan.
 

Post-Town Hall Breakout Rooms at 7:00 PM:

From 7:00-7:30, we invite the audience to continue discussions and interactions with the panel speakers and moderator in breakout rooms

Room 1: Professor Nii Addy

Room 2: Dr. Angie Makomenaw

Room 3: Rabbi David Teva – Meditation Session*

Room 4: Demetrius Colvin

*The Meditation Session, entitled “From Theory to Practice: Cultivating Wholeness and Well-Being Through Contemplative Mindfulness”, will be led by Rabbi David Teva, with Tyla Taylor ’21 and Jada Reid ’22. Tyla is the Mindfulness Intern on campus; she leads the group Mindful Wes, a student group working to bring conscious awareness to ourselves, our community, and our environment by offering spaces to learn and practice meditation. She also helped start the SOC Healing Space on campus. Jada is a Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality intern at the Resource Center. She founded and leads the SOC Healing Space, which focuses on creating a community for students of color to explore journaling and meditation practices.

Thank you in advance for your interest and participation.

Salud,

Fitzroy ‘Pablo’ Wickham

Head Resident Foss Hill

Senior Class President

Wesleyan c/o ’21

Town Hall Coping in a Crisis

ORSL Pastoral Counseling for the Wesleyan Community

Hello Everyone,

I’m sending this message on behalf of the university chaplains. We know that this is a stressful time, and that in addition to the uncertainty of these times, many of us are dealing with the illness and loss of loved ones. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life writes:

‘All of the chaplains at ORSL offer pastoral counseling to those who would like to connect with a confidential, nonjudgmental, listening presence. We are all comfortable working with people of any, all, or no faith backgrounds.

We have been doing this via phone and some of us via zoom for the past few weeks, and hope that people will continue to reach out to us individually.

We can be reached at: https://www.wesleyan.edu/orsl/meetchaplains.html

Rabbi David Leipziger Teva
Director, Religious and Spiritual Life
University Jewish Chaplain
Wesleyan University
860-227-5644

You may schedule a conversation with me via zoom or phone by going to calendly.com/dleipziger

Listening Circle: Check-In. Connect. Process on 3/24


Listening Circle: Check-In. Connect. Process
Learn spiritual strategies to support yourself and others during these perplexing times. Facilitated by Rabbi David. For more info contact dleipziger@wesleyan.edu. For Wesleyan students.
Time: Tuesday, Mar 24, 2020, 12:30- 1 PM Eastern Time 
(US and Canada) Via Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 462 356 2192

Services for New Week and Beyond 3/20

Dear Students,

As we all struggle to get used to Wesleyan in a distance-learning mode, we in Student Affairs wanted to provide you with an online resource guide detailing services and supports that will still be available regardless of whether you are near or far in the coming weeks.

Wishing you safe travels, good health and successful transitions.  As always, let us know how we can help.  Go Wes!

Warmly,

Dean Mike