USM Winter Wellness Workshops
Tuesday, December 20, 2022, | Free for USM Employees | All Day
Decompress and destress with ComPsych® GuidanceResources® this December. These free workshops are open to all USM employees. Registration is required to join. Once registered, all important information on joining the webinar will be sent directly to the registrant’s email. Unable to attend the live webinar? Following each session, the registration links below will become links to the recorded webinar.
Click a workshop title below to register. Keep scrolling for workshop descriptions.
These workshops are presented by the Employee Assistance Programs of Coppin State University, Salisbury University, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland Global Campus, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the University System of Maryland Office and provided by ComPsych® GuidanceResources®.
Workshop Descriptions
Using Guided Imagery for Wellness and Stress Reduction
Guided imagery helps people mentally focus on pleasant images that encourage relaxation, utilizing the connection between body and mind. A person can call on mental images to improve emotional health. This workshop looks at how guided imagery can help with stress and mental well-being. It also includes a pair of guided imagery experiences.
Communicating Without Conflict With Your Significant Other
Communication is the cornerstone of all relationships. It reinforces trust and acts as a method by which you can share your problems, frustrations, fears, anxieties, hopes, and successes. Conflict is a part of life and exists in relationships. A relationship with no apparent conflict may be unhealthier than one with frequent conflict. Conflicts are critical events that can weaken or strengthen a relationship.
How to Deal With a Difficult Person
We have all dealt with a difficult person at one time or another. Whether they are hard to communicate with, acting defensive, or just handling a situation inappropriately, interactions with difficult people can affect our confidence, mood and focus. Recognizing and coping with common challenging behaviors in ourselves and others can help make difficult encounters much more manageable.
Most of us reach a point in life when parents or elderly relatives require more attention and time, and sometimes, our financial support. Caring for an older person can be complicated, and few of us are trained in the many aspects of that care. Providing care for an elder is a very personal matter. No two situations are the same, and there are no simple solutions. You can, though, benefit from following some practical suggestions.
Balancing work, family, and caregiving responsibilities can present some challenges. This workshop provides an overview of information to help the participant cope with their personal life while dealing with their elder’s needs.
Saying “no” can often be tricky. It can arouse feelings of guilt or fears of displeasing others. Nevertheless, the word “no” is one of the most important words in our language. By saying “no,” we define who we are, what we are willing or unwilling to do, and what we permit others to do to us. The ability to say “no” is a critical skill many have never developed or feared using. This workshop will address the skills involved in learning to respectfully say “no” to build and maintain healthy self-esteem.
The upcoming holiday season brings many expectations. Often this makes us feel like we are being pulled in a hundred different directions. There are office parties to attend, family get-togethers to schedule, children’s holiday recitals, and gifts to buy. The holidays can be one of the happiest times of the year, yet they can also be one of the most stressful. Maintaining balance and keeping stress from overwhelming you are the keys to an enjoyable holiday season.
This workshop overviews everyday stressors people encounter during the holidays and offers “stress buster” tips to help you enjoy the season’s possible enjoyment.
Time Management Tools: To-do Lists, Calendars, Smartphones, and More
More than ever, people live busy, chaotic lives, often feeling overwhelmed and out of control. Between work, parental responsibilities, community involvement, exercise, hobbies, friendships, and family responsibilities, sometimes it feels impossible to keep track of everything. Fortunately, there are many tools available to help people gain control, though sometimes sorting through what’s available can add what seems like even more chaos to life. Smartphones, day planners, alarms, email systems, priority grids, voice mail systems, note pads, to-do lists, contact lists, address books, folders, file cabinets, and more—the purpose of this lunch-and-learn is to help you sort through the tools available to help you organize your life, and pick the ones that will work for you.
Responding to Behavior That Makes You Feel Uncomfortable
Most people have, at some point, been subjected to unexpected, unwelcome behavior, such as aggressive, lewd, provocative, or socially inappropriate behavior. This may occur in the workplace, social gatherings, or public venues. Unfortunately, in many of these instances, our ability to respond effectively is often compromised because of fear, confusion, and inexperience in addressing unwanted behaviors. This course examines the nature of unwelcome conduct, how and why we respond the way we do, and offers insights into how we can be prepared to react effectively when confronted with undesirable behaviors.
Feeling Stuck? Practical Ways to Get Yourself Going Again
If you’re struggling with challenges and uncertainty about your personal or professional life and are unsure what to do next, this session is for you. We’ll discuss some simple but powerful questions to ask yourself to help you get “unstuck.” The benefits of asking each question will be addressed, and participants will be able to try responding to all of them.
There is a particular type of person who not only accepts the challenges of working in a high-stress dynamic environment but also excels despite the demands. Whether they are working with individuals experiencing trauma, grief, loss, illness, or other stressful concerns, the people whose role it is to help others in distress are often perceived as dedicated, hardworking, selfless, and compassionate. Nevertheless, it is often those whose mission is to help others who may be at increased risk of neglecting their self-care. This training will raise awareness of the need to maintain appropriate self-care despite work demands and home life pressures. In addition, the course will offer tips to encourage self-care to maintain a high level of functioning personally and professionally.
Resiliency: Bouncing Back After a Setback
Specific individuals appear to succeed against all odds. Despite severe hardships such as living through war, witnessing the death of a loved one, having a chronic illness, being a victim of abuse, or dealing with unemployment, certain people adapt and thrive. These people possess a quality known as “resilience.” This workshop will examine the characteristics of resilience and discover ways to introduce more excellent stability into our lives.
Communication Skills for Families
Communication is a fine art that we often take for granted. It takes more than physical and verbal abilities to communicate. It takes energy and the ability to offer support and demonstrate understanding and compassion when sharing with your family. Openness and willingness to communicate improve the overall quality of family communication, whether it’s an expectation, emotion, question, or another message.
Emotional Eating: The Connection Between Mood and Food
The population of the United States is becoming increasingly obese with each passing decade. There are many speculations about the cause of this phenomenon, from an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and the availability of high-caloric foods to stress and even sleep deprivation. However, if people ate only when they were starving and stopped when they were full, there would be no obesity epidemic. This workshop will address the relationship between emotions and food consumption and how to retrain your body and mind to recognize hunger cues and eat for physiological and not emotional reasons.
Where are you going? Goal Setting for Personal and Professional Success
Goal setting gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. The process of setting goals allows you to choose where you want to go in your personal life as well as your professional career. A life without goals is like a road trip without a map. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you are less likely to get lost and will be happier and less frustrated.