Education

COVID-19 Mental Health Curriculum Module

The Mental Health Initiative (MHI) team is actively working with the COVID-19 Curriculum team to create a module on mental health. The module will critically assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the mental health of patients, with a focus on specific at-risk populations. It also identifies basic tools for responding to these changes in the clinical setting.

Contacts: Catherine Mankiw & Okechi Boms

Link: Mental Health in the Time of COVID-19

Education Outreach

The MHI team is also partnering with the COVID-19 Education for Broader Community team to promote educational infographics and resources through various social media platforms. The disseminated materials relate to the dynamic interplay between mental health and the biopsychosocial context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contact: Aliya Feroe

Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/YouTube: @FutureMDvsCOVID

Wellness

Collective Breather

An All-New, Zoomified Wellness Course, with an aim to practice #SocialConnectedness while respecting #PhysicalDistancing. Please join this GroupMe for updates and more information.

Weekly Zoom Link: www.tinyurl.com/collectivebreather

Contact: Priya Shah

Creative Outlets

A great way to combat stress is by finding a creative outlet. There are many different outlets that you, a friend and/or family can try out. Below is a list with links:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So why not have fun creating one!

Drawing/Painting:

Udemy: Free Painting Courses & Udemy Free Drawing Courses

Photography

Udemy: Free Photography Courses & Digital Camera World: Home Photography Ideas

No camera? No problem, here are some great tips to take your photos to the next level using only your phone.

Tips For Taking Photos With Your Phone

Virtual Museums:

Miss going to museums? Why not take a virtual tour! Google Arts & Culture VirtualTours

Writing

Writing is a great form of expression. It is a cathartic process to put your thoughts and emotions down in a physical form. Whether you are journaling, crafting short stories, or beginning to dabble into poetry here are some helpful tips.

How To Write Spoken Word Poems

How To Write A Journal

Tips for Creative Writing

Cooking

Do you enjoy food? Love to experiment with cooking? Never cooked, but want to learn? Now is a great time to delve deeper into the art of cooking! A great pastime and an important skill to hone.

All Recipes

Taste of Home

If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please reach out to David Bunn.

CPR For Mental Well-being

CAHMS (Counseling & Mental Health Services) presents “CPR for Mental Wellbeing” Video Series by Dr. Tara Cousineau, PhD.

“Courage. Presence. Resilience. CPR for Mental Wellbeing is a workshop series that Tara Cousineau PhD presents at Harvard University’s Counseling and Mental Health Center. She offers these vids (5-15 minutes) as resiliency tools that may serve you in stressful and disruptive times.”

https://vimeo.com/showcase/6942447

Dance

Coreo is a locally-owned, boutique dance and fitness studio in Seattle, WA. Our signature classes are hip hop/urban dance and Bungee Workout, a new fitness format inspired by dance and acrobatics. With each class rooted in a love for dance and music, we bring fun, invigorating and challenging experiences for people of all backgrounds and fitness levels.

We are now offering live online urban dance classes and tutorials that are free/donation-based! Our dance classes are offered in three different levels, suitable for absolute beginners to more experienced dancers. To join a class, simply sign-up via this link or follow us on Instagram or Facebook, where we frequently post our class schedule and class links. For more details on our dance classes or an intro click here.

Contact:

Instagram and Facebook: @coreodancefit

Website: www.coreofitness.com / www.coreofitness.com/schedule

Email: flyhigh@coreofitness.com

MM Workout of the Day

Medicine in Motion (MM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization composed of a diverse group of healthcare providers whose mission is to address medical burnout through fitness, interdisciplinary community building, and philanthropy.

The MM Workout of the Day (WOD) is a joint effort between our Harvard and Dartmouth chapters to encourage our communities to stay physically and mentally fit while maintaining social closeness and physical distancing through the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be posting different workouts and videos that you can do at home with equipment that you can make from items around your living space. We are excited to share these, but also want to mention that during this challenging time, no one should feel pressure to exercise. Physical and mental health takes on many forms and these workouts are only one. We hope that they are a source of inspiration to help you share time with the people you love. If you are not a fan of today’s MM WOD, do not worry! Please see our library where we will continue to build a large archive of workouts for whatever you may be interested in.

Link: Workout of the Day

Contact: Henry Ashworth, Niyi Odewade, Christopher Lites

Building Virtual Communities

Social Events Calendar

As a part of the Mental Health Initiative, we’ve organized a few social, wellness and mindfulness events across the month for HMS students to come together, reflect, have some fun and build community. Past events and upcoming events include karaoke night, virtual game night, and an open mic night. Please refer to this calendar for more details. To add events to the calendar, please reach out to Jacob P Anderson & Jordan Petersen.

HMS Book Club

A BOOK CLUB is also in the works, so please fill out the form linked if you are interested. We’re potentially reading Albert Camus’ The Plague which has eerie echoes of what’s going on today but if people are COVID19 overloaded we’ll pick out a different book or read other things together! We’ll be going very SLOWLY so don’t let that stop you from signing up.

Contact: Katie Kester

Form: https://tinyurl.com/hmsvirtualbookclub

Zoomaments

We hope you are all staying safe during these rapidly evolving times. To help kindle a sense of community amidst this period of social distancing, we are excited to, again, invite Harvard Medical Students from all years to participate in Zoomaments. “What are Zoomaments, and why should I be so excited?", you may be wondering.

Many of you may be more familiar with Lunchaments, a program started by the Class of 2020 that coordinates lunch between randomly-paired 1st-year HMS/HSDM students. In a similar vein, Zoomaments is a way for students to get paired with one another for weekly 1-on-1 and small group meals/hang-outs over Zoom. Every week, the Zoomaments team will randomly pair students with peers from their respective classes. Each student will receive brief introductory information about their partners and then be encouraged to find a time to connect virtually.

If, after reading all of this, you are as excited as we are, we invite you again to fill out this brief interest form. You can join at any time as the Zoomaments team is always sending out pairings week to week! Also, feel free to discontinue Zoomaments at any time by just sending us an email:)

Contact: zoomaments@gmail.com

Form: Interest form

Community Support

Harvard Community Resources

The Harvard Medical School first-year COVID-19 Wellness Committee, with the guidance of Dr. Jennifer Porter, put together a PDF with resources for physical activity, sleep, mindfulness, and arts. Some highlights include:

• Nutrition: The School of Public Health provides various recipes and general nutrition tips during COVD-19
• Dark Noise: a wide-ranging library of different noises like campfires, rain, thunder, white noise, and more) TestFlight beta free during the pandemic.
• Reflections: student-led reflection blog

Link: PDF can be found here

Contact: Bessie Zhang

MA Community & Beyond

• Current initiatives:
  • Working Document of Community Resources
• Therapy / Counseling
  • Comprehensive, curated therapy directory by focus: http://bit.ly/getatherapist
• Emergency Supports
  • oston Emergency Services Team at North Suffolk Mental Health: 1-800-981-4357
  • MA Statewide Mobile Crisis Directory

National Resources

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