UAS student group teaches anxiety reducing skills

By SHEVONDA BURKHART
Staff Writer, UAS Whalesong
A sense of impending doom.
If you are one of the many students who experience this unwelcome feeling, UAS has a group that can help.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Group, which meets every Monday 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., is available for any students who feel that they may benefit from reducing their anxiety and increasing their capacity for acceptance.
UAS Counselors Becky Iverson and Margie Thomson lead the group and teach students in the group about anxiety, how it functions for the student, and strategies to help. Strategies include meditation, relaxation, breathing, guided imagery, and other activities focused on altering anxious thoughts.
According to 2015 National College Health Assessment, 30 percent of college students reported that stress had negatively affected their academic performance. Additionally, the assessment found 85 percent of college students feel overwhelmed by everything they had to do at some point within the past year.
The weekly meeting was able to give UAS student and group member Korbyn Powers a fresh perspective on day to day life. “The group gave me the opportunity to reflect on small things throughout my day that I usually overlooked,” she said.
“This (anxiety) can impact student performance and overall adjustment to college life. We wanted to recognize this trend and give students tools to learn weekly and do it in a student group so that they can see they are not alone,” Iverson said.
For more information about the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Group contact the UAS Counseling Services at . The group meets at the Student Resource Center, Lower Mourant.