Virtual Wellness Resources

There are a lot of unknowns in the world right now, and attending to our health and wellness and staying connected is more important than ever. The ISU Counseling and Mental Health Center has compiled a list of free resources to help you take care of yourselves, no matter where you are. 

Choose Connection 

• Google Chrome has an application that lets you watch Netflix with friends and host a virtual Netflix Teleparty.
• Play online games together like Minecraft - Discord is an online platform you can use to play and chat with friends at the same time.
• Cards Against Humanity or Checkers more your speed? Have a virtual game night. For Android, the Google Play Store offers card games and more, and Tabletopia and Google Chat and Facetime enable users to chat while playing.
• Go old school and phone a friend or family member and catch up with them
• Pets are benefiting from our increased time at home. Share some of your best furry friend's antics with others online on Facebook or Twitter, using #SeeAPupSendAPup.
• Start a personal/public blog, website, or podcast.
• Find a penpal or write handwritten letters to friends/loved ones.

Choose Movement

• The Wellness Center is offering virtual & in-person GET-FIT classes which can be accessed at your convenience. Students can purchase a GET-FIT pass this semester for $30. This allows students to participate in both virtual and in-person GET-FIT classes. The passport is $55 for faculty, staff, spouses, and alumni.
• The Wellness Center is offering virtual & in-person personal training and nutrition/wellness coaching. For students, the first three sessions are $5 each: initial consult plus two training sessions. After the first three sessions each semester, students pay $25 per session or can purchase a package deal. Faculty, staff, alumni, and spouses of students can utilize personal training and nutrition/wellness coaching for $25 per session. 
• The ISU Campus Recreation Center is open to students! Check out the Intramural Schedule and One Night Events being held this semester, as well as the Outdoor Adventure Center for equipment rentals and events.
• Dance Church, an all-abilities movement class designed for people of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and identities, offers live streaming on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. Invite a friend to participate with you over Zoom!
• Go for a walk around your neighborhood or explore local trails while practicing physical distancing.

Choose the Arts

• Explore art museums from around the world virtually.
• The Pandemic Project gives you some prompts to try out expressive writing. Writing about your thoughts and feelings may change the ways you are thinking, feeling, and even sleeping.
• Join Bob Ross as he paints for a soothing experience.
• Express your feelings through creative writing, painting, drawing, photography, or listening to and/or playing music.

Choose Kids' Activities

Although we cannot predict the future of COVID-19, worsening conditions could require more at-home activities. For students with children, not having school or the ability to physically go to the library, museums, or parks can be especially challenging. Here are some free resources to entertain and engage with your young ones:

1. Scholastic Lessons offers study strategies, literacy tips, books, and activities for at-home learners.
2. Mystery Science offers a free trial of engaging standards-aligned science lessons.
3. Storyline offers 24-hour access to stories read by celebrities.
4. Try out activities such as Lunch Doodle with Mo Willems and Home Safari with the Cincinnati Zoo on YouTube.
5. Cosmic Kids Yoga offers a free two-week trial of yoga activities for children.

Choose a Growth Mindset

• Check out the CATS Self-Guided Resource Library available through ISU Libraries.
• For a guide about coping with adversity look at Doing What Matters in Times of Stress.
• Check out the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Self-Help Book recommendations.
• Check out these TED Talks to learn how to grow during difficult times:
  • Carol Dweck, Growth Mindset
  • Angela Lee Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
  • Kate McGonigal, How to Make Stress Your Friend
  • Sophie Scott, Why We Laugh

• Read about Resilience and learn How to Have a Really Successful Failure  
• Join Brene Brown as she unpacks and explores the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human in her podcast, Unlocking Us.
• In The Happiness Lab podcast, Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos will take you through the latest scientific research and share some surprising and inspiring stories that will forever alter the way you think about happiness. 
• Tune in to The Daily Shine, a podcast-meets-meditation that helps you struggle less with your stress and anxiety. 

Choose Mental Health Apps

• PsyberGuide provides an excellent list of mental health mobile apps with search features to find the right app for you and with reviews to find a good, evidence-based app that is credible.
• VA Mobile Apps is an excellent set of evidence-based, free apps created by the VA. Although these apps were developed first and foremost for veterans, they are generally widely applicable to adults looking to improve their mental health, including more specific concerns.
• Intellicare provides a great set of free, evidence-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy apps developed by leading researchers of mental health mobile apps at Northwestern.
• ACT Companion provides dozens of simple, yet powerful, interactive Acceptance and Commitment Therapy exercises and tools based on the best-selling ACT Self-Help book, The Happiness Trap, available as an Ebook on the CMHC Self-Guided Resource Library. 
• ACT Guide is an online self-help program to foster emotional well-being and help individuals cope with mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and stress. Members of the general public can pay $10 to access the program for six months.