“Use the resources campus has available.”
When asked to share one key message about handling stress around finals time, senior Mckenzie Unger, a leader of an underclassmen Beaver’s Belong support group on campus, shared her expertise.
“Our brains and our bodies are super cool and they’re trying to protect us but our brain doesn’t know the difference between stress from being chased by a tiger vs just general life stress in the modern day,” says Anna Bentley, Operations Manager at OSU’s Academic Success Center.
Anna shares that being in a constant state of stress impacts your focus, ability to memorize and recall information, and compromises your immune system.
At Oregon State University there are lots of resources available to students to help manage stress, especially around finals time.
The Counseling and Psychological services (CAPS) on campus is a great resource to talk to someone about how you’re feeling and to be heard.
CAPS offers drop-in crisis counseling Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. as well as short term therapy sessions by appointment.
CAPS also offers a mind spa for students to relax. “They have the most epic massage chair I have ever experienced in my life,” Anna Bentley shared upon being asked her favorite hidden-gem resource on campus.
The mind spa has resources such as massage chairs, sun lamps, weighted blankets, hot tea, and guided meditations that allow students a quiet place to decompress for 30 minutes to an hour from the stressors of life. And it’s completely free!
Another resource on campus are the Beaver’s Belong support groups. They relaunched last spring due to a high student demand for peer connections on campus.
In these groups students are able to connect with other students who are going through similar things as them.
“Especially with finals you know, everyone tends to shut themselves in, you know trying to cram for all the tests. So being able to just take a break and vent with other folks that are going through the same thing is really important,” Brennan Duman, a second-year peer leader for Beaver’s Belong, shares.
As Mckenzie says, “dealing with mental health issues can be one of the most isolating things to go through for sure because often times it can be a lot more of an invisible battle so being able to find a community of people that are there to support you and can understand what you’re going through I think can make it just feel like you’re a lot less alone which can honestly just ease the burden in it of itself.”
Beaver Belong groups meet weekly and do one big community event per term and smaller events as well such as karaoke, rock painting, crafts and outdoor games. They also maintain a presence at other events on campus through tabling.
Finding a good community of peers is a big part of adjusting to life at college and decompressing in such stressful times. “We’ve got a nice community for ourselves,” Mckenzie says.
The Academic Success Center on campus is another major resource for students. They offer a drop-in space where students can come in with any academic questions, one-on-one academic coaching, supplemental instruction for historically challenging classes, workshops on academic success topics, and online resources such as the Learning Corner. The Learning Corner holds a bunch of resources and has a tab specifically for test-taking strategies and finals prep.
The Academic Success Center helps students make plans to carry out their academic goals, make calendars and schedules for students based on their unique needs, and assist students in getting whatever help they may need academically.
Ian Kellems, Executive Director of CAPS, suggests that students keep in mind that “academics might be the most important part of college, but it’s not the only important part. The college years are a time when students should be figuring out who they are, what they enjoy, and whom they want to form lasting connections with. OSU has endless opportunities to do these things, but students usually have to put themselves out there to take advantage of the opportunities.”
