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Supporting Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Kaiser’s Emotional Well-being Program for the Return to Work

Risk Services has partnered with Kaiser Permanente to provide a series of workshops and webinars to support mental health and emotional well-being during this transitional period. In addition to the workshops below that are open to all employees, Kaiser has developed department specific training opportunities to better support our community in the return to work on campus.

COVID-19 Update/Return to Work Engagement with Dr. John Rott:


Wednesday, June 2nd, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.

In this webinar, you will learn about:

  • Vaccine update: The latest on safety, efficacy, and side effects.
  • What can we do now? Making sense of restrictions and getting back to work.
  • COVID-19 Long Haulers – what is it and what can I do about it?

No pre-registration is required. Log in the day of, 5-10 minutes before the start time.

Practical Skills for Stress Management Webinar:


Tuesday, June 8th , 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Experiencing minor and major changes in our lives may cause stress and anxiety. Learn the body’s stress
response and practice new stress management skills.

In this webinar, you will:

  • Learn to use breathing techniques to help with stress.
  • Practice meditation.
  • Learn the positive effects of exercise.
  • Increase your social connections.

No pre-registration is required. Log in the day of, 5-10 minutes before the start time, or call into the
meeting at 408-418-9388 with access code 133 917 4605.

Resilience Starts with a Purpose Webinar:


Tuesday, June 22nd , 11 a.m. – 12p.m.

Every day people invest their care, time, and energy into the roles they hold within work, but those roles
are just one piece of who they are. What might it look like to go beyond the workplace? This evidence-
based class will reconnect, refocus, and recharge individuals to live a more meaningful life.

In this webinar, we will:

  • Define resilience and its connection to personal well-being.
  • Understand individual values.
  • Rate how important each area of life is and how well each area is being lived out.
  • Create a personal mission statement that inspires and defines an individual.

No pre-registration is required. Log in day of, 5-10 minutes before the start time, or call into the meeting
at 408-418-9388 with access code 133 280 0869.

REFRESH: Self Care Made Easy Webinar (link TBA):


Thursday, July 15th , 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Enjoy an engaging webinar on emotional well-being and learn about:

  • What it means to REFRESH and its importance.
  • The components that make up REFRESH.
  • Tools and resources available to help us all REFRESH and reset to our best selves.

It’s important to hit the rest button, reboot and rejuvenate, so you can be the best version of yourself, in
mind, body, and spirit.

For any questions regarding these programs, please reach out to Jessica Bulleri, Wellness Coordinator, at jbulleri@ucsc.edu. 

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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. More details for each topic can be found in the sign up sheet.

Silvia Austerlic

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 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 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.

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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:

How to talk to others about risks and fears:

How to care for others:

usefulappsgold.pngMeditation and relaxation:

  • 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
  • Headspace's free Weather the Storm meditations, plus other free content for a two week 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:

  • 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
  • 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

Insomnia

  • CBT-i Coach has free cognitive behavioral therapy to help address insomnia

For more resources on how to support your own well-being, please visit our Virtual Wellness Resources page.

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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.