Workshops and Drop-in Groups

Workshops

Mental Health Services offers a variety of workshops focused on developing skills and exploring topics that help students and learners to be well, do well, and live well. Workshops are designed to address common concerns and teach skills that can enhance well-being and reduce stress.

All workshops are offered free to all JHU students and learners, and students do not need to be clients of Mental Health Services to participate. Workshops will be held online through Zoom unless otherwise noted. These workshops will share information about mental health and wellness, but they are not a substitute for mental health treatment.

Below is a list of workshops scheduled for the Fall 2023 semester.  Students may contact Mental Health Services with questions or for more specific information (call 410-516-8278 or email counselingcenter@jhu.edu).

CBT for Insomnia

Embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery and personal growth with our engaging and enlightening Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Workshop, tailored exclusively for college students. Designed to empower you with practical skills to navigate the challenges of academic life, emotional well-being, and personal development, this workshop will equip you with a powerful toolkit for lifelong success.

This workshop provides a safe and interactive space where you’ll learn to harness the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a proven psychological approach that focuses on understanding the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Through a series of dynamic sessions, you’ll gain insights into how your thoughts influence your emotions and actions, and discover techniques to reshape negative patterns into positive ones. Additional CBT worksheet handouts will be provided for ongoing practice. This workshop will be offered twice this semester:

Contact: J. Robert Pozo, LCPC

Anxiety Management Workshops

This workshop aims to teach you skills and develop tools to better manage your anxiety and stress. You will learn theories about the development of anxiety and how to cope with it. This will include exposure to relaxation exercises, mindfulness practices, and cognitive restructuring. You will receive weekly materials, which when compiled, create a workbook, full of tools and exercises that will be useful throughout your life. The workshop is a 4-week series of 60-minute sessions.

  • The first round of Anxiety Management workshops will take place on Tuesdays at 4pm on September 12, 19, 26 and October 3. Register here.
  • The second round will take place on Tuesdays at 4pm on October 10, 17, 24 and November 5th. Register here.

Contacts: DeVonna Jacobs, Psy.D., Meagan Henry & A. Hernandez

Emotional Adulting Workshops

Emotional Adulting is a brief, drop-in skills group designed to help you work with your emotions from a space of compassion, awareness, non-judgment, and curiosity. The skills taught in this group, which are generally drawn from mindfulness and trauma symptom management practices, are beneficial for our general emotional well-being as well for helping to manage distress related to depression, anxiety, trauma, and other experiences.

Each week will focus on a different practice and the curriculum will repeat. Come to all eight sessions, come to one, or pick and choose depending on your interest and schedule. Topics include Grounding, the Window of Tolerance, Containment, and Calm Place Imagery.

  • The Emotional Adulting workshops will take place on Mondays 5:30-5:55pm starting on Monday September 11. Each week will have a different topic. Register here.

Contacts: Karen Taylor, LCSW-C & Blair Winchester

Imposter Phenomenon Workshops

This 1.5-hour workshop will offer the chance to build insight into the Imposter Phenomenon (IP). Participants will learn about the factors that lead us to feel like imposters, (including cultural and family messages), develop a better understanding of their own experience of IP, and learn how to resist imposter feelings. The workshop ultimately aims to provide skills to combat IP and increase feelings of empowerment. The workshop includes both presenting information and space for personal reflection.

Contact: Susan Han, Ph.D.

4-Weeks of Mindfulness Workshops

Experience the possibilities that unfold through the practice of mindfulness and meditation. The 8-week Mindfulness Workshop is a 4-week series of 75-minute sessions that teach mindfulness practices that help to decrease stress and increase your satisfaction in daily life. Each session is designed to help you learn mindfulness through the practice of specific skills that calm and focus your mind. If you are feeling pressured and stressed, or just are interested in learning a new skill that can enrich your life, these classes are for you.

Contacts: Susan Han, Ph.D.

Understanding Your Inner Critic and Perfectionism

This two-part workshop uses the principles of an evidence-based therapy modality and examples from the Disney and Pixar movies Encanto and Inside Out to bring greater understanding to the complicated and often conflicting ways different parts of our internal world function. There will be a particular focus on self-criticism and perfectionist tendencies as well as practices to help find a more harmonious way of relating to them. This 2-part workshop is open to any JHU student interested in learning more about themselves and releasing some of the internal and external pressures they might feel to be perfect. Familiarity with Encanto and Inside Out strongly recommended but not required!

  • The first round of the workshops will take place on Thursdays 5-6pm on September 28 and October 5.  Registration links to be added soon!
  • The second round will take place on Thursdays 5-6pm on October 26 and November 2. Registration links to be added soon!

Contact: Susan Han, Ph.D.

Regulating Emotions: Skills Workshops

The Emotion Regulation Series is a brief skills workshop series. The series comes in four parts, while it is not mandatory to join all four, it is highly recommended!  This four part workshop uses the principles of the evidence-based therapy modality Dialectical behavioral Therapy to bring awareness of how emotional dysregulation can happen in your day-to-day life, and skills to regulate and be present with emotional distress. Topics include mindfulness skills, understanding the function of emotions, the Wise Mind, and practicing wise mind in reality. Each week will focus on a different topic.

  • In Fall 2023, the Workshops will take place on Wednesdays 4-5pm on October 18, 25, November 1 and 8.  Register here.

All are welcome!

Contact: Wenjui “Maggie” Hsu, LCPC & Selima Jumarali

Mindful Yoga

What could be a better break in your hectic week than gentle yoga and a chance to ground yourself and simply just BE in the present moment? Join other students and yoga instructor Nila Berger E-RYT for this rejuvenating break! No prior yoga experience and no special attire is necessary. Classes are FREE.

Mindful Yoga will return in Fall 2023 on Wednesdays from 5-6 pm in the Ralph O’Connor Recreation Center – MPR B.  Log into the portal or get the Rec App (in the Apple store or Google Play store) to see the full calendar of events.

Other Outreach Resources

Outreach is about increasing college student mental health awareness through prevention, awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Through various outreach programs, Mental Health Services staf are able to connect with the larger JHU community and ultimately strengthen a campus atmosphere that is conducive to the well-being, personal growth, and psychological health of all students.

To this end, the Mental Health Services staff provide presentations and programs to various groups on campus on topics related to mental health and wellness. Topics might include: coping with stress, time management, suicide prevention, dealing with anxiety, developing a growth mindset, resilience, managing emotions, bouncing back from failure, developing a balanced lifestyle, handling transitions, healthy relationships, body image, and many more. If you are interested in a program or workshop for your group, please contact staff at counselingcenter@jhu.edu or call 410-516-8278.

QPR Suicide Prevention Training Program

Learn how to recognize the warning signs of suicide and how to intervene effectively to refer someone to help. Question, Persuade and Refer are 3 simple steps everyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. In this 1-1.5 hour training, you will learn to notice the signs of suicide, practice active listening through role play, and then learn the resources for an effective referral.
QPR is a suicide prevention program listed on SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices.

To request a QPR training for your department or office, please complete this form.

 

 Drop-in Groups

Counseling groups allow students to address their concerns through engagement with others. Some groups provide opportunities for students to explore personal issues and interpersonal relationships in a setting where honest feedback, reflection, and support from peers can occur; others provide a space for discussion, exploration, and providing support around common experiences; and still others offer skills that can be practiced and applied in lived experience.  Information about treatment groups can be found here.

Drop-in groups offer places to connect and to learn without as much of a commitment as the treatment groups. You do not have to be a client of Mental Health Services in order to participate in the drop-in groups.

These drop-in groups are open to all JHU students and learners.

APIDA&

Tuesdays, 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, in person, on the following dates:
September 19th and 26th, 2023
October 10th and 24th, 2023
November 14th and 28th, 2023
December 5th, 2023

APIDA& is a drop-in peer support group for students whose identities include Asian, APIDA (Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi-American), or AAPI (Asian-American, Pacific Islander). The group is a Homewood Counseling Center staff and participant co-led space to connect about shared experiences and get group support and suggestions when questions about “what’s enough?” show up in life. Potential discussion topics are flexible and could include: perfectionism and academic stress; navigating family and multiple cultural expectations; imposter phenomenon; Asian and other intersecting identities; stigma around getting mental health support; 1, 1.5 and 2nd generation+ issues; racism and discrimination. Attending all groups is welcome, but not required. There will be 6-7 in-person groups over the semester in the Homewood Counseling Center–each group is approximately one hour.

Anyone interested in joining the group can complete this form.

Contact: Michelle Chung, LCSW-C

International Student Support Group

Mondays 3-4:30pm, biweekly on Zoom

This is a support space for all International students at Hopkins! Feel free to drop in and talk about emotional, cultural, social and other challenges, adjusting to the US and the University, and more. This is also a great space to network, practice speaking English, and share information with each other! Registration link to be added soon.

flyer for a support group

Contact: Wenjui “Maggie” Hsu, LCPC

Grief & Loss Support Group

Wednesdays, 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM, in person, on the following dates:
September 27th, 2023
October 11th, 2023
November 15th and 29th, 2023
December 6th and 13th, 2023

The Grief & Loss group is a drop-in community space for any students and learners at Johns Hopkins seeking to share their grief and loss experiences with others and to receive support, education, and resources. Group will be co-facilitated by staff from Homewood Counseling Center and as available, staff from Religious and Spiritual Life. Each group will have a broad theme, but discussion will be flexible to the needs of the group. Attendance at every group is welcome, not required. There will be 6 in-person groups over the semester in the Homewood Counseling Center–each group is approximately one hour.

Theme for September and October: My Grief/Loss Is Like…
Theme for November: Ways of Being and Grieving
Theme for December: Life Then and Now

Contact: Michelle Chung, LCSW-C