By: Tatiana Velazquez
The East Los Angeles College’s Student Health Center held another virtual Mental Health Workshop focusing on depression, stress and anxiety. The workshop took place on Nov. 24th, 12:00 p.m. -1:00 p. m.
The event was held by Vanessa Diaz Venegas, alongside Cecilia Cruz, the Student Health Coordinator. The meeting itself was short, being only an hour long but there was helpful content and tips for people experiencing depression, stress, and anxiety.
Diaz-Venegas spoke on the general tips to do things to benefit your mental health such as creating goals, self care, etc. Cruz walked through the steps of Mindful Breathing and encouraged viewers to follow along.
Both speakers also recommended other resources to aid in mindful breath techniques. Applications like Insight, Calm, Headspace are reportedly helpful. So are websites like Youtube and UCLA Meditation-https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations.
Besides bringing awareness to mental health and mindful breath exercises, coping skills were taught as well. Mindful breaths is one of them but some simpler ones are Deep Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Challenging Irrational Thoughts and Imagery. Just focusing on practicing one of these skills is extremely helpful.
This meeting was not recorded due to confidentiality but there will be more workshops in the future with the exact same content according to Cruz and Diaz-Venegas. All the information for upcoming events and other helpful resources is located on The ELAC Health Center website https://www.elac.edu/Student-Services/Student-Resources/Student-Health-Center
Cruz’s Email: cruzc3@elac.edu -Student Health Coordinator
Diaz-Venegas’ Email: vvenegas@viacarela.org
You can also follow the ELAC Health Center on Instagram @elacstudenthealth. Live chat is available as well, their general hours are currently Mon.-Fri from 8am-4:30pm