May is Mental Health Awareness month. With the state of our world being quite unnerving, your mental health can take a hit and with the semester closing you may be concerned about the availability of help.  Here are some mental health services available.

For individual counseling, the Student Health Center is now offering tele-health or video conferencing appointments through an easy to use online program called Doxy.me. It is confidential and simple. Students are sent a link that can be opened on their computer or phone as long as they have a camera and microphone. For students without internet access, the Health Center offers over the phone contacts.  Any students who are interested should contact Jill Maze at 559-730-3988 or email at [email protected]. 

“Our ultimate goal is to stay connected to our students.” says Maze, “For peer to peer support, or to connect with a Health Center staff member we are encouraging students to check out our Virtual Unplugged Cafe: Health and Wellness Zoom Room, which is a chat room students can pop into and connect with other students and Health Center staff. This Zoom room is available Monday – Thursday from 11am-1pm. “Students should also know the COS Health Center web-page has many other resources to address their basic needs such as food pantries and  information on unemployment benefits.  

 Also consider taking advantage of the student discount offered by Headspace, a mental health support app. When you sign up you will get an entire year for $9.99

Students can also also text the word COURAGE to 741741 to reach a trained crisis counselor.

 If there is a crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. 

The Health Center’s web-page is available here.

Even though we are social distancing, remember that you are not alone.