Last Wednesday, our wonderful volunteer Elisa hosted a workshop on Mental Health!
We kicked things off with an energizing activity—a bingo game designed to spark conversations. Each participant engaged with others by asking thought-provoking, topic-related questions. This led to fascinating discussions about personal experiences and insights. The participant who spoke with the most people earned the title of our bingo winner!
Next, an experienced psychologist took the lead, guiding us through the fundamentals of mental health and psychological disorders. She shared valuable tips on how we can enhance our well-being: filling idle time with meaningful activities, addressing problems head-on, staying socially connected, and being kind to ourselves. To manage stress, she introduced calming techniques like meditation and breathing exercises. One simple yet effective exercise involved breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, and then exhaling for 4 seconds.
She also demonstrated a powerful method to handle panic attacks with five grounding steps: noticing 5 things you can see, touching 4 things you can feel, hearing 3 sounds, smelling 2 scents, and tasting 1 thing. These sensory-focused steps help to center your mind and reduce anxiety.
