Participating in an on-site or off-site stress management, meditation, or other relaxation program (multi-week program, attending at least 85% of sessions over a minimum of 8 weeks) is necessary to be eligible for this incentive. You must complete an attestation form in HCM by Nov. 30 to earn the incentive.
Why is this important?
Stress is experienced by many people on a daily basis. The American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Mental Health describe numerous effects of stress on health, including physical health issues such as cardiovascular disease. While all stress is not bad, chronic stress may affect overall health negatively. Learning how to manage the stressors that one experiences is important for good health.
Building Inner Resilience: Navigating Modern-Day Stress
Worldwide, the experts agree: today’s stress is a growing "public health crisis" (WHO, CDC, NIH). Stressed-out – tired but wired – is our rampant norm, and it is wreaking havoc on all aspects of our well-being. No one is immune. That said, it needn't be this way; there is a better way! Come and find out about how to feel better and be better.
Join Heidi Weiker for an engaging, fun, and impactful 8-week series that is not just another canned ‘stress-management’ class telling you what you already know – this is real-world, hands-on, and real-time. It’s jam-packed with relevant science, contemporary theory, and quick, yet powerful and proven, practices. Together, we’ll dialogue, share, practice, and enjoy moving out of unrelenting distress; breathing into relaxed, calm, peaceful, and focused energy; building greater positivity; and attuning to and affirming our inner strengths.
Tuesdays, January 28 - March 18, from 12-1 pm via Zoom
Register for Building Inner Resilience
Positively Powerful
We each have the power to create our best lives through positive intentions. Join this 9-week series, packed with powerful tools and strategies, to enhance your daily life. Each week, faculty and staff will learn about a new technique and perspective on optimism and positivity from a lineup of subject matter experts.
Wednesdays this Fall from 12-1 pm via Zoom
September 18 - The Impact of Positive Thinking on Self-Care, Healing and Healthy Aging (Amber Voorheis, LISW-S, CEAL). Session 1 Recording
September 25 - The Secret to Happiness (Judith Eugene). Session 2 Recording
October 2 - The Science of Optimism (Kim Langley, MEd). Session 3 Recording
October 9 - Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset (Kelsey Loushin, BA, LICDC-CS, CDP). Session 4 Recording
October 16 - Managing Perspectives (Kim Langley, MEd). Session 5 Recording
October 23 - Brain Power (Pat Schultz, MBA, CTTS). Session 6 Recording
October 30 - Humor as a Life Plan (Judith Eugene). Session 7 Recording
November 6 - Realistic Optimism (Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC-V). Session 8 Recording
November 13 - Gratitude Journaling (Judith Eugene). Session 9 Recording
Building Connection and Communication
Wouldn't it be great to be able to better manage stress in your relationships at work and at home? Learn new and transformative ways to improve response versus reaction, diplomacy and respect, verbal and non-verbal communication, and more. Join Heidi Weiker for the Building Connection and Communication (BCC) series to learn to use these tools for better success in your relationships.
Tuesdays, August 27 - October 15, from 12-1 pm via Zoom
E.A.S.E. Into Peace of Mind
Let's E.A.S.E. into the moments at hand with this practice-based, methods-centric program. Join Heidi Weiker for a 12-week series designed to harmonize our bodies, minds and hearts in order to be more fully present. Throughout the sessions, we'll:
- Engage in quick, high-impact movement to dump distress and expand relaxation;
- Activate breathing more deeply to cultivate calm and focused energy;
- Savor moments and experiences to create peace and comfort; and
- Elevate to lift us up in delight, strengths, and joy.
Come find out how much moments matter in our lives as we E.A.S.E into them together.
Wednesdays, May 22 - August 14 from 12:15 - 1 pm via Zoom
Release, Relax and Reach
Join Heidi Weiker for Release, Relax and ReachTM, an engaging, impacting, and interactive 8-week series. Not just another canned stress-management program repeating what you know – it’s insightful and readily applicable in your real-world.
Each week we’ll explore fun and quick, yet powerful and proven methods that you can use right in the moment. We'll discover a release out of unrelenting stress and strain. We'll relax into a deeper balance of energy and calm. And then, we'll reach into inner peace and joy, to reach up and out into the world. Join us to learn relevant science and contemporary theory, to engage and enjoy in these practices in real-time, and to reinvigorate your well-being.
May return in 2025.
Mental Health Matters
Mental Health Matters is a 9-session series focusing on various topics surrounding mental health, from managing personal challenges to helping your team thrive. This series is being presented to foster mental well-being in spite of the challenges we all face on a daily basis. Each week, we will feature a new topic:
March 20 - Realistic Optimism with Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC (V).
March 27 - Learning to Establish Boundaries in Order to Have Healthy Relationships with Co-workers, Family members and Everyone Else in Your Life! with Kelsey Loushin, BA, LICDC-CS, CDP
April 3 - Grief at Work with Julia Ellifritt, LISW-S
April 10 - What is High Functioning Anxiety? with Johni Fiber, MEd, LPCC-S T.
April 17 - Help! I Can't Stop Thinking with Daron Larson, BA. Session 5 Recording
April 24 - Work-Life Balance with Pat Schultz, MBA, CTTS. Session 6 Recording
May 1 - Emotional Roots of Clutter with Susan Fee, MEd, LPCC (V). Session 7 Recording
May 8 - Emotional Well-being with Sandra Bishop, BA* Session 8 Recording
May 15 - Laugh for the Health of It with Christine Smith, MA. Session 9 Recording
Wednesdays from 12-1 pm (*May 8th ONLY will be from 12:30-1:30 pm) via Zoom
Seasons of Self-Care 2024
This four-part, year-long program offers an invitation to explore the year through a delightful set of seasonal signals focused on self-care. Engage in the most powerful antidote to burn-out, compassion fatigue, and mounting distress. Experience practices and methods that are timeless, yet contemporary. Be guided by your natural connection to the purpose, wisdom, and rhythms of nature, as you create your own set of seasonal reflections and practices.
Participants are encouraged to engage in all four parts of this program, but there is no requirement to do so.
Seasons of Self-Care - Part 1: Winter
Engage in this season of reconnection and restoration with Heidi Weiker, our program facilitator. Discover your body and brain's natural need to experience a stillness inside that builds deeper resilience. As we move inside during the cold, move inside of yourself by placing your attention onto your own 'winter' of well-being. Give yourself permission to align with the natural purpose of winter: rest, repair, and ready yourself for the spring of the year.
Part 2: Spring
Engage in this delightful season of reawakening with your program instructor, Heidi Weiker. Over Winter, we rested and readied ourselves for this: the Spring of our well-being. Now, we'll continue to learn and use self-care practices in sync with the changing of our natural world. Together, let's revitalize, renew, reset, and come alive!
Tuesdays, April 30 - May 21, from 12-1 pm via Zoom
Part 3: Summer
Engage in the season that invites us to celebrate life in rhythm with the outdoors with your instructor, Heidi Weiker. We shared a Winter of sacred rest and a Spring of gentle reawakening. Now, nature calls us to the outside so that we can expand our self-care practices ‘under the summer sky.’ Be inspired: to realize the natural light in and of all imperfection; to reclaim (or claim for the very first time) the exuberance, lightness, and playfulness of our summer days and nights; and to regenerate and radiate a sense of awe and hope.
Tuesdays, July 16 - August 6, from 12-1 pm via Zoom
Part 4: Fall
Engage in a season during which we honor the timeless turning of nature, and thus within ourselves: fall. Join Heidi Weiker in this chapter of our self-care journey. We'll reflect on and contemplate the beauty of impermanence in all things. We'll deepen our respect for the interconnection of grief and gratefulness. We'll honor the natural falling away while we enjoy the comfort and repose of fall. This round includes a fifth session to wrap up the entire year of Seasons.
Tuesdays, November 5 - December 3, from 12-1 pm via Zoom
Living Easy
Living Easy is one of the Engagement Rx courses available to benefits eligible CWRU faculty and staff through Avidon Health. This science-driven course addresses stress where it's created: in the brain. Over time, you may have developed certain false beliefs and negative thought patterns about situations that cause you stress. This has led to an emotional reaction, a sense of anxiety, and a feeling of powerlessness.
Too much stress takes a heavy toll on your physical, mental, and emotional health. The good news is that while your stress originates in your brain, so does the solution! Learn how to deal with stress in healthy ways and gain a sense of control in life with Living Easy. Living Easy will teach you how to better manage your stress and live a happier, more carefree life.
Living Easy consists of 8 video sessions and will be completed online during the timeframe of April 8 – May 17. Registration will close on Friday, April 12.
Registration has closed.
NEW! Attentional Fitness: Sneaking Mindful Habits into Real Life
Physical exercises strengthen the body. Mindfulness exercises strengthen attention. Learn how exercising your attention – with or without meditation – can develop attentional capacities for relating more effectively to the challenges of daily life. Join Daron Larson as he shares how to develop attentional skills without drawing attention to yourself. This new 8-week series will explore flexible ways to turn mindfulness practice into a secret mission.
Participants will:
- Learn about mindfulness as a practical, customizable, evidence-based way to develop empowering attention skills
- Discuss ways our default attention habits can undermine personal and professional satisfaction, increase internal friction, and escalate conflicts
- Discover how small attentional habits, explored discreetly lead to increased satisfaction, decreased internal friction, and empathy
Series will return in 2025.
Introduction to Meditation
If you’re new to meditation or want to refresh your practice, join us for this 4-week class in the fundamentals of meditation. In this short course you will learn about different styles of meditation and their benefits. You will get a chance to practice several styles in class, and gain resources for supporting you in creating a regular practice of your own.
This series will return in 2025.
Avidon Health (previously SelfHelpWorks) Stress and Resiliency Training
Online Stress Management
Avidon Health's LivingEasy program is a multi-session class which will change the way you think, feel and react to stressful situations.
Read more: LivingEasy Stress & Resiliency Program
To register, follow the prompts on the Avidon Health page of this website.
Individual Counseling through Impact Solutions
All benefits eligible faculty and staff and their families can receive up to five free counseling sessions per occurrence for a variety of issues including:
- Anxiety
- Work/life balance
- Marital stress
- Depression
- Substance abuse
- and more
Contact Impact Solutions at 1-800-227-6007 to request your first session.
Please note that this service covers benefits eligible CWRU faculty and staff, spouses/partners, household members, dependents living in and away from home, even parents and parents-in-law.