The UW Oshkosh Counseling Center is inviting all campus members to join them online to participate in their Happiness Challenge.
The UWO website describes the Happiness Challenge as an event that is aimed to provide students with tips and tricks to be healthier and happier in their lives.
“The Happiness Challenge is an outreach program from the Counseling Center that identifies and encourages specific areas in life that we know add to happiness and health,” Counseling Center Outreach Coordinator Leah Folks said.
Folks said the Happiness Challenge is an outreach campaign primarily on social media, as this is where they can get the attention of a vast array of students.
“People can follow us on Facebook, Instagram [and] Pinterest,” Folks said. “We can also be seen tabling places such as the Student Recreation and Wellness Center to help get students connected to this challenge.”
Folks said that the Happiness Challenge has different weekly topics, such as Just Laugh, Just Breathe, Just Study, Just Connect, Just be Kind and more.
The theme for this week’s online challenge is Just Breathe and through a visit to the Counseling Center’s Facebook page, students can see various posts about breathing exercises and meditations.
“Just Breathe is focusing on how to relax our bodies, how to practice mindfulness skills and how to feel grounded and centered in life,” Folks said. “[This] helps to lessen anxiety and distress, as well as helps us to be focused and present in our daily lives, when we tend to go towards ‘autopilot’ mode.”
Folks said the Counseling Center is hoping to spread information about health and wellness to the community on campus. The center wants students to be able to flourish and thrive in life, instead of simply surviving.
“An invaluable piece of wellness and happiness is balance,” Folks said. “That is the basis of featuring various topics, as we know that there are a lot of ways we can take care of ourselves, and therefore improve our mental health.”
The Happiness Challenge is continuing through the end of the semester and will focus on different topics each week.
Just Breathe will end on March 17, but the resources for this topic will continue to be available on the Counseling Center’s social media.
The next topic of the Happiness Challenge is Just be Kind, which encourages students to practice random acts of kindness and show compassion and acceptance.
Connect with the UWO Counseling Center online and take advantage of the free resources available. The center is open Monday through Friday and has a wide variety of resource options including one-on-one counseling, group sessions, workshops, biofeedback and more.
