Hope through Housing Partners with Doctoral Students to Offer Important Mental Health Resources and Support
Each year, Hope through Housing conducts a survey of all National CORE residents to identify their priorities, concerns, and hopes. The survey is a very important planning tool that helps us continue to improve our services and programming.
The past two years have been particularly difficult for so many of us. In the 2021 resident survey, 41% of residents identified as having anxiety, depression, or both.
“Knowing that our residents self-identified as having anxiety and depression, among other health issues, we wanted to provide a space and an outlet where people could come together and have these conversations or learn a little bit more about some coping skills or techniques to improve their well-being,” said Dixie Torres, Hope through Housing’s Director of Program Quality and Data Management.
To provide that support, Hope through Housing partnered with the California Baptist University Counseling Center, whose doctoral students are leading a series of engaging and transformative webinars for residents on mental health. To help more residents participate, Hope through Housing services coordinators have hosted watch parties for each webinar on-site in their community rooms.
The first session in the series was “Positive Self-Talk and Improving Self-Esteem” on June 8. Participants learned valuable tips for changing the way they talk to themselves in order to transition from harsh and negative self-talk to more compassionate self-talk. Research shows this change can promote higher self-esteem and make our views of the world around us more positive, improving overall mental health.
The second webinar, “Cultivating Joy and Gratitude” on July 13th, shared how we can use self-care, deep-breathing, gratitude journaling, and other “protective factors” to spend more time dwelling on the positive parts of our lives than on negative experiences and events. By noticing the small joys that we experience every day, we can build up long-term joy for ourselves.
With two remaining webinars in the series, “Healthy Relationships” on August 10 and “Coping with Stress and Anxiety” on September 7, Hope through Housing has already received an outpouring of positive feedback from residents on the powerful impact of the tips shared in the webinars.
To register for the upcoming webinars or follow along with Hope through Housing as we continue to offer more resources for residents, please visit: Resident Resources – Hope through Housing Foundation (hthf.org)