Have Fun, Prioritize Mental Health

Note: This letter originally appeared as an email sent to the Homewood undergraduate community on February  25, 2021.

Dear Students,

A major focus during the COVID pandemic has been the physical health and safety of our community. We have taken great strides in keeping our community safe, and we also want to encourage you to have fun and enjoy yourselves while adhering to university guidelines around social distancing and other COVID safety measures.

To that end, staff from Student Health and Well-Being have some great advice about fun in COVID times and they created an extensive list of things to do, highlighting some virtual and Baltimore-centric ideas for making the best of life during COVID. Take a read, we think you will find some new adventures to try—we did!

Here are a few of our favorites:

• Take a mural tour with local artist Liz Miller.
• See a movie at Bengies Drive-In Theatre.
• Do a table read of a screenplay with friends.
• Take an online cooking class. A great local option is Baltimore Chef Shop.
• Visit the unofficial Wyman Park dog park off of Tudor Arms Drive.

Student Health and Well-Being will be updating this list periodically during the semester; if you have suggestions, please email them to [email protected].

Your mental health continues to be a priority as well. We know that the past year has been mentally tough on everyone. To that end, we wanted to remind you about the mental health resources available to you, namely:

• The Homewood Counseling Center, where you can access one-on-one counseling, self-help resources, and counseling groups organized around a variety of issues, including isolation due to COVID.
• Mental Telehealth via TimelyMD, where you can schedule telehealth appointments with medical professionals.
• SilverCloud, a self-paced online learning module based on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, available to all full-time Hopkins students over the age of 18.
• The Calm app, available for free to all Hopkins affiliates and featuring meditations, sleep stories, and more.
• A Place to Talk, a peer-led listening group that holds virtual sessions.
• The Center for Health Education and Well-Being has workshops and regular virtual office hours.

The full list of Hopkins student mental health resources is available at wellbeing.jhu.edu.

If you have questions about wellness resources, or anything at all, you can always reach out to us at [email protected].

Stay safe,

Alanna Shanahan
Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Kevin Shollenberger
Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being