Supporting Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Below are some resources for faculty, staff, and students from the Office of Risk Services, the campus community, sister campuses, government health agencies, and companies around the globe to help support your mental health and well-being.

How to care for yourself:

• Dealing with COVID Stress and Anxiety
  • Care for your Coronavirus Anxiety, a toolkit from Shine
  • Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety, and article from Harvard Health
  • Dealing with Uncertainty in COVID-19, a recorded webinar from UC Riverside
  • How to Cope with Job Stress and Build Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic, a resource from the CDC
  • How to live well with stress - even in the coronavirus era, an article from University of California
  • Managing Stress and Anxiety recommendations from the CDC
• Increasing Well-Being
  • Emotional Well-Being and Coping during COVID-19, an article from UC San Francisco
  • Greater Good's Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus from UC Berkeley
  • Resources for emotional support and well-being from CA.gov
  • Self-Care Tips and Resources, from Staff Human Resources
  • TAO - Therapy Assistance Online, a self paced educational program covering over 50 common topics and skills related to mental health, wellness, and substance use issues. Offered through UCSC CAPS and available to faculty, staff, and students.
  • UCSD Center for Mindfulness has multiple online sessions per day
  • Upgrading Your Self-Care During the COVID Crisis, a live webcast from Academic Impressions. Create a free account with your UCSC email.
• Campus Resources
  • Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS), for students
  • Healthy Campus Wellness Resources
  • Student Health Center wellness resources, for students
  • UC Santa Cruz Employee Assistance Program (EAP), from Staff Human Resources
• Additional COVID-19 Resources
  • COVID-19 and Telecommuting, EH&S
  • Social Distancing Tips from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
  • Tiny Habits is offering ongoing sessions regarding challenges that arise during COVID-19

How to talk to others about risks and fears:

• Guidance on teaching children about stereotypes and xenophobia related to COVID-19 from the Anti-Defamation League and Teaching Tolerance Magazine
• Recommendations on helping children cope from the CDC

How to care for others:

• COVID-19 Parental Resources Kit from the CDC
• Healing Loneliness: Community & Belonging in the Digital Age, a recorded talk with Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General
• How to #BeTheDifference for People with Mental Health Concerns During COVID-19, an article and resources from Mental Health First Aid
• Maintaining Wellness for Older Adults and Caregivers, an article from UC San Francisco
• Taking care of your family during COVID-19 tips from UC San Francisco

Meditation and relaxation:

• Calm has specific meditations, sleep stories, and music for free to support users during this time, plus other free content for a seven day trial
• Headspace's free Weather the Storm meditations, plus other free content for a two week trial
• Ten Percent Happier has a Coronavirus Sanity Guide with free meditations, podcasts, blog posts, and talks
• UCLA Mindful App has free English and Spanish meditations

Coping with stress and anxiety:

• Happify has free content available to help overcome negative thoughts during the COVID-19 outbreak
• MindShift CBT has free content to help reduce worry, panic, and social anxiety
• PsyberGuide helps you choose a Mental Health app that is best for you
• Sanvello, an app with techniques for reducing and treating stress, anxiety, and depression, has free premium access through the COVID-19 crisis

Insomnia

• CBT-i Coach has free cognitive behavioral therapy to help address insomnia

For more resources on how to support your own well-being, please visit our Virtual Wellness Resources page.

• California COVID-19 Updates
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• County of Santa Cruz COVID-19 Updates
• Facts About the COVID-19 Vaccine from Vaccinate Santa Cruz in English and Spanish
• Public Health Department of Santa Cruz County Facebook Page
• Travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a resource from the CDC
• UCSC Information on COVID-19
• University of California COVID-19 Updates
• When You've Been Fully Vaccinated, guidelines from the CDC
• World Health Organization

For questions regarding wellness programming, please contact Jessica Bulleri, Campus Wellness Program Manager, at jbulleri@ucsc.edu, or questions regarding mental health wellness resources please contact Cindy Delgado, at cadelgad@ucsc.edu in the Office of Risk Services.