Miami University’s suicide prevention team and the student counseling service will sponsor a weeklong campaign to spread awareness about suicide prevention as well as stress management, self-care, and improving well-being.

Stress Less Week (April 3-8, 2022) targets primarily students and will include sessions of mindfulness meditation, a stress less workshop and a coping skills workshop through the student counseling service, and a stress less day fair in which students will learn about managing stress, maintaining a healthy mind and active lifestyle, and enhancing community connectedness. Activities, food, and prizes will be available for anyone who participates.

“We sponsor these events to help students learn strategies to manage anxiety, recognize signs of emotional distress in friends and know how to help, and improve the overall emotional health of those in our campus community," said Jennifer Young, Ph.D., assistant director for outreach and programming at the student counseling service. Young also chairs the suicide prevention team. 

All activities, held at various locations across the Oxford campus, are free and open to the public.

Highlighted activities include:

• Stress less workshop with student counseling service; Monday, April 4, 5-6 p.m. in 111A Harris Hall.
• Meditation featuring Miami’s Mindfulness and Contemplative Inquiry Center; Tuesday, April 5, 10:30-11 a.m. in 128 McGuffey Hall.
• Meditation session and contemplative conversations through the Mindfulness and Contemplative Inquiry Center; Wednesday, April 6, 10:30-11 a.m. and 3:15-4 p.m. in 128 McGuffey Hall.
• Stress less day, a time to learn about mental health treatment, suicide prevention, and stress management. Featuring dog therapy, free massages, snacks, lawn-sized board-games, and coloring books. Prizes and giveaways include Insomnia Cookies, Graeter’s gift cards, and Oxford Community Yoga passes. Thursday, April 7 4-6:30 p.m. in Armstrong Pavilion A/B.
• Campus care (drop-in conversations with a mental health counselor), mental health workshops, and behind happy faces series (virtual discussions with the HAWKS Peer Health Educators about mental health issues facing college student) will also occur throughout the week. 

For a complete list of available activities during stress less week, check out the student counseling service’s website.

The suicide prevention team consists of representatives from the student counseling service, the office of student wellness and the office of residence life, as well as Miami faculty, staff and students from various mental health-focused departments and organizations. The team’s mission is to educate the campus community about suicide prevention efforts to reduce and prevent suicide and mental health concerns among students and the community.