Items

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  2020-12-13

  Positive Affirmations for Mental Health (especially in a pandemic!)

  This is a journal entry consisting of positive affirmations and gratitude practice. Just like everyone, I have been dealing with many mental health issues during this pandemic and have had days where I wanted to do nothing but disappear into some alternate universe and be rid of all my problems. I spent a lot of time on the app, Tik Tok and stumbled upon many videos about manifestations, affirmations and spirituality in general. Though affirmations have been a thing for quite some time, some of the videos dove in deeper by talking about the law of attraction. I was a bit skeptical at first but I looked up some success stories and felt intrigued. I decided to give affirmations and gratitude a go as a way to not only brighten my mood, but to help me appreciate life more in general and bring more positive vibes into it. I’m not saying that doing this solves all your issues, but it has definitely worked wonders for me, especially during these darker days of the world. I advise anyone to give this a try because I truly think just about anyone would notice a difference by making affirmations and gratitude a daily habit. Whether one wishes to try specific manifestation techniques to dive deeper into these practices is subjective based on how much they believe in spirituality, but basic affirmations and gratitude alone can make a big difference.
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  2020-12-13

  Covid-19 Mental Health Interview from the Perspective of a Pharmacist

  The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent.
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  2020-12-03

  Stormy Hearts

  During this pandemic, everyone is clearly going through a difficult time. However, I think that mental health fluctuations have been especially common during this time. Sometimes we’re feeling productive and like we can accomplish anything, other days just getting out of bed takes everything in us. Different people are going to be on different levels of vibration, including friends. One friend may be feeling themselves while the other may struggle to even look at themselves in the mirror. The representation of this drawing is that even though one person may feel happy and one person may feel deep sadness, they can still be there for each other and walk through the storm together to help each other grow. Even though it doesn’t show it, this also applies to the Black Lives Matter Protests and overall racial problems. It is an issue we can help each other out with by taking the time to emphasize with people who don’t experience the same things as us.
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  2020-12-10

  Numbskull

  “Coronavirus has taken an extreme toll on my mental health and many others. This image symbolizes the emptiness in my skull. Feeling as though there is no brain at all. Mushrooms growing on the empty decomposed bits of what’s left of the brain. The majority of others, especially students right now, have little to no energy left in them. Unable to keep up with assignments and the feeling of overall helplessness. This does seem dark and scary but that is the whole point. No one is okay right now.” -Julianna Sheridan when being asked to explain why her drawing represents her mental state during the pandemic.
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  2020-12-08

  Mental Health in a Pandemic, 2020

  “It represents my mental health in the sense that the muddled background color represents all the “crappy” things going on in the world, and the chaotic lines also represent that, but they are the more pressing matters. The chaotic lines also connect to the head, representing the way everything got to me and in my head during this, and gave me a very jealous outlook on life, because there were a lot of people better off than I was, mentally, physically, financially, even though I was not in THAT bad of a place comparatively to others. Also the different textures between watercolor, pencil, and pen is representative of the different layers and different things going on in my life all at once. I really utilized the symbolism of things as well as playing with different textures in a cohesive way to represent myself and my feelings in a more abstract way.” -Sydney Avtges's response to when I asked her how her drawing represents her mental state during the pandemic.
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  2020-12-11

  Mental Health Interview with a College Student

  I interviewed my friend Lindsey Neri who is about to graduate from University of Connecticut this winter. I wanted to hear more about a student’s mental health one-on-one verbally, especially from the perspective of someone who is preparing for graduate school next Fall. As of now we are in an awkward spot with Covid-19 unsure as to whether or not life will be nearly back to normal a year from now. And by normal I mean no more mask mandates or mandatory online classes and work from home. Neri recognizes that she is one of the more fortunate ones in terms of being able to obtain her job but is feeling as though she may end up missing out on some potentially great opportunities when she starts grad school. Like most of us, her mental health has been very affected by this pandemic but she remains grateful for what she has in life and for the most part, keeps a positive attitude even in these troubling times.
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  2020-10-28

  Additional Quarantine Laws for Massachusetts and Connecticut

  I submitted this link because it gives a lot of insight as to why quarantining is so important during a global pandemic, especially after traveling far distances and remaining in said location for over 24 hours. Traveling is something many of us are missing during this tough time, but this article informs me that we now have to take many precautions before proceeding to do so. We have to keep in mind how many people we have been exposed to, who they have been exposed to, wearing masks in every public place, etc. It’s crazy to think that this is our world now, as I think most of us never saw this coming as a long-term thing. These laws are important because they should persuade people to make decisions that will help flatten the curve, even if they have only traveled from one small state to another. Anything counts.