Supporting Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Support Groups
During these challenging current times that we all find ourselves in, it is important to take time for self-care. The Office of Risk Services is continuing to offer support group sessions with additional providers and areas of focus starting in July to help support the mental health and well-being of our faculty and staff.
Tuesdays, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM with Silvia Austerlic, MA
El Jardin de la Escucha, a healing justice listening circle, welcomes you into an inclusive, safe and brave space to take a pause, and connect with yourself and others in mindful and caring ways. In these times of extreme uncertainty, adversity, and new possibilities, the rapidly growing pile of crises may narrow our focus to the immediate urgency at hand. Counterintuitively, it is in critical moments like these that our wisest move is to pause, abandon reactivity, cultivate resourcefulness, and develop personal leadership. In this supportive space, you will ground in your internal resources, and learn tools and practices for self-care and resilience, while fostering individual/collective well-being and building community.
Each week will have a different discussion topic. November 3rd will be Rethinking Self and Community Care, November 17th will be Mindful Communication, November 24th will be Attending to Difficult Emotions, December 1st will be Cultivating a Healthy Mindset, December 8th will be Entering the Holiday Season and the Power of Pause, and December 15th will be Grief and the Holiday Season.
![]() |
This weekly gathering is facilitated by Silvia Austerlic, an intercultural educator, facilitator and consultant @ Senti-Pensante Connections. She is a working member of the Radical Resilience Initiative and a lecturer for Oakes College where she developed and teaches a class titled “Building an inner sanctuary” about the cultivation of inner and external resources in order to show up for social justice and community care. She also facilitates campus-wide learning events surrounding cultural humility, social justice, and fostering care in the community. Sign up for Silvia's November sessions here and December sessions here. |
Wednesdays 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM with Laurel Andres, LMFT
Laurel Andres, LMFT, will facilitate a confidential support group for staff and faculty where she will focus on the cumulative stress and anxiety that could be brought on by the ongoing pandemic, working from home, unrest and injustice, isolation, the devastating fires, and divisive elections. She will utilize didactic modules on self-awareness and self-care, writing exercises, dyads and group discussion to delve into individual coping and thriving mechanisms. Laurel will discuss the importance of engaging with others in meaningful conversation and inquiry regarding self-care, attending to oneself, our stories and families, as not taking that route can run the risk of those stressors turning into cumulative trauma rather than contributing to growing resilience.
![]() |
Laurel Andres is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has her own private psychotherapy practice and is also part of the Critical Incident Team in Santa Cruz County, where she coordinates and facilitates emergency mental health services following acute disasters and periods of long term stress. Sign up for Laurel's sessions here. |
Additional Resources
Below are some resources for faculty, staff and students from our department, the campus community, sister campuses, and companies around the globe to help support your mental health during this time.
How to care for yourself:
- TAO - Therapy Assistance Online, a self paced educational program covering over 50 common topics and skills related to mental health, wellness, and substance use issues. Offered through UCSC CAPS and available to faculty, staff, and students.
- Dealing with Uncertainty in COVID-19, a recorded webinar from UC Riverside
- How to Cope with Job Stress and Build Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic, a resource from the CDC
- UCSD Center for Mindfulness has multiple online sessions per day
- Emotional Well-Being and Coping during COVID-19, an article from UC San Francisco
- Managing Stress and Anxiety recommendations from the CDC
- Greater Good's Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus from UC Berkeley
- Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety, and article from Harvard Health
- Social Distancing Tips from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- How to live well with stress - even in the coronavirus era, an article from University of California
- Care for your Coronavirus Anxiety, a toolkit from Shine
- Resources for emotional support and well-being from CA.gov
- Upgrading Your Self-Care During the COVID Crisis, a live webcast from Academic Impressions. Create a free account with your UCSC email.
- Healthy Campus Wellness Resources
- UC Santa Cruz Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Self-Care Tips and Resources, from Staff Human Resources
- Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS), for students
- Student Health Center wellness resources, for students
- Tiny Habits is offering ongiong sessions regarding challenges that arise during COVID-19
- COVID-19 and Telecommuting, EH&S
How to talk to others about risks and fears:
- Recommendations on helping children cope from the CDC
- Guidance on teaching children about stereotypes and xenophobia related to COVID-19 from the Anti-Defamation League and Teaching Tolerance Magazine
How to care for others:
- Healing Loneliness: Community & Belonging in the Digital Age, a recorded talk with Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General
- COVID-19 Parental Resources Kit from the CDC
- Taking care of your family during COVID-19 tips from UC San Francisco
- Maintaining Wellness for Older Adults and Caregivers, an article from UC San Francisco
- How to #BeTheDifference for People with Mental Health Concerns During COVID-19, an article and resources from Mental Health First Aid
Useful Apps
Meditation and relaxation:
- Headspace's free Weather the Storm meditations, plus other free content for a two week trial
- Calm has specific meditations, sleep stories, and music for free to support users during this time, plus other free content for a seven day trial
- Ten Percent Happier has a Coronavirus Sanity Guide with free meditations, podcasts, blog posts, and talks
- UCLA Mindful App has free English and Spanish meditations
Coping with stress and anxiety:
- PsyberGuide helps you choose a Mental Health app that is best for you
- Sanvello, an app with techniques for reducing and treating stress, anxiety, and depression, has free premium access through the COVID-19 crisis
- Happify has free content available to help overcome negative thoughts during the COVID-19 outbreak
- MindShift CBT has free content to help reduce worry, panic, and social anxiety
Insomnia
- CBT-i Coach has free cognitive behavioral therapy to help address insomnia
For more resources on how to stay well during shelter in place, please visit our Virtual Wellness Resources page.
Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 News
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Celebrating the Holiday Season during a Pandemic, tips from the CDC
- Travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a resource from the CDC
- World Health Organization
- UCSC Information on COVID-19
- County of Santa Cruz COVID-19 Updates
- Public Health Department of Santa Cruz County Facebook Page
- California COVID-19 Updates
- University of California COVID-19 Updates
- Health Tips for COVID-19 in English and Spanish from the County of Santa Cruz
For questions regarding wellness programming, please contact Jessica Bulleri, Wellness Coordinator at jbulleri@ucsc.edu, or questions regarding mental health wellness resources please contact Cindy Delgado, at cadelgad@ucsc.edu in the Office of Risk Services.