The Re-Entry Resource program hosted its first workshop of the spring semester on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The workshop was open to all students and covered stress and relaxation techniques.
Maria Cevallos, MSW, showing students how to relax muscles to help with stress management.
More than 30 students attended the workshop, which was presented by Maria Cevallos, a psychiatric social worker from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Cevallos has presented for the Re-Entry Resource Program before on topics like Domestice Violence.
Shannon Estrada, the coordinator for the Re-Entry Resource program, chose stress and relaxation as the topic for this workshop because she believes many students don’t know how to deal with stress.
“I thought it would be good for the students,” she said.
Cevallos covered the triggers of stress and how to manage it by using muscle relaxation techniques.
Professor Michelle Ngo says she found out about the workshop from The Daily Falcon, a service for professors to know what events are going on around campus. Students from her counseling class were in attendance for the workshop for class.
“Many of my students are experiencing stress right now because exams are coming up. I thought this workshop would be an appropriate way for my students to be introduced to stress management,” she said.
Breanna Stone, criminal justice major, attended the workshop. She said it was interesting and helpful to learn the different techniques on how to relieve stress. She says school is stressful and that the workshop helped her.
Ngo says she understands that college can be a stressful time for students and encourages her own students to seek knowledge on stress management.
“Stress management is a very helpful technique for everyday life. I want my students to be very successful to understand what are stressors, or what causes stress and to learn how to manage stress a lot more effectively,” Ngo said.
Ngo encourages students to take advantage of workshops that are available on campus.
“Utilizing the resources that are available on campus can be a successful strategy.”
Estrada has planned more workshops in the future for this semester. Among the topics that will be covered are, Career Exploration, Choosing a Major, Issues of Abuse and Scholarships.
She hopes students look online for workshops offered by the Re-Entry Resource Program that interest them and attend them in the future.
