COVID-19 Response
We Asked Students About Their Mental Health Throughout the Pandemic. Here’s What We Learned:
As schools near the end of the fifth semester during the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that students are struggling while staff and administrators look for ways to best support their mental health. To learn more about what this support could look like, we’d like to share two perspectives from our Active Minds students. Kelly Maguire…
How the Pandemic Has Affected Youth Mental Health, From a K-12 Expert
Content Warning: This piece contains mentions of suicide statistics. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many were concerned about how it would impact youth mental health, especially high school students. The disruption of daily life, the pivot to distance learning, and the stress of the ever-changing mutations of the virus led to many young people experiencing…
Reflecting on the Past Two Years: Mental Health During COVID-19
Content Warning: This piece contains mentions of suicide. Two years. It’s been two full years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in the United States and the effects have been as deep as they have been wide. We have all experienced loss in our own ways. From those who battled COVID themselves, to those who…
Returning or Remote: Navigating Workplace Mental Health This Fall
Employees across the country are experiencing mixed emotions regarding their expectations of returning to the office. A recent survey reports that 49% of employees anticipate that returning to the office will have a negative impact on their mental health. Without a clear end to the pandemic in sight, many working professionals are feeling uneasy about…
Taking Life at My Own Pace: How I’m Managing the Return to “Normal”
If you would have told me in March of 2020 that in a little over a year, I’d be graduating, moving to a new city, and starting my first full-time job all in the span of a few weeks, I would have never believed you. And if you told me on top of all of…
67% of Us Feel Like Naomi Osaka: How Should Our Culture Shift Post-COVID?
It’s a common refrain spoken in all aspects of life but especially in sports: “If you’re tired, learn to rest, not quit.” So, why wasn’t tennis pro Naomi Osaka allowed to rest? In case you haven’t been following, Osaka recently sparked a heated national conversation after announcing that she would not participate in any press…
One Year of Working From Home: What We’ve Learned
Creative and nontraditional tips from our staff for staying engaged while working from home…one year later. For many of us, it is our one-year anniversary of working from home. Despite the uncertainties of the pandemic, you may remember initially feeling relieved and excited to finally get the opportunity to work from the comforts of…
I See You: When Loved Ones are Hospitalized during COVID
To anyone else supporting a family member or close loved one spending time in a psychiatric unit, rehabilitation center, or assisted living facility during this pandemic: I see you. I see the hard conversations, the tears, the fact that every answer just stirs up 12 more questions: Do they have a safe place to go…
How to Maintain Your Mental Health While Balancing Virtual Learning and the Holidays
These are uncertain and anxious times, especially for students. As COVID-19 cases continue to increase, colleges are strongly discouraging students from returning to campus after Thanksgiving break, leaving many to finish the semester at home. The transition from being on campus to being home will not be easy. I know I will not have the…
Managing Mental Health on Campus During Covid
While walking through Kogan Plaza at George Washington University, there’s a stillness in the early morning coupled with unfamiliar silence. The regular stirring city atmosphere has minimized into a soft hum, with infrequent passing bikers and working professionals. Campus has maintained its looks with hints of buff and blue on university buildings but has lost…