How to Bounce Back: Growing Your Resilience

Strategies

There are many ways to take care of yourself when dealing with stress, trauma, or crisis. Here are some coping strategies we suggest to boost your resilience:

Practice Stress Reduction.

Try deep breathing or meditation. Don’t know where to start? Check out the CWC’s Relaxation Exercises.

Engage in Meaningful Practices.

Prayer, music, art, acts of generosity, or being in nature can make a difference. To get yourself started, consider walking along Lake Alice listening to your favorite playlist or visiting Lake Wauburg for a day.

Take Care of Your Body.

Get enough sleep, eat well, drink plenty of water, and exercise. Avoid alcohol and other drugs.

Be Kind to Yourself.

Give yourself permission to feel a wide range of emotions, both good and bad, and let go of high self-expectations.

Do What You Need.

Let go of what you think you should be doing. Allow yourself to do something that brings you joy.

Listen to Your Body.

If you need to move around to release energy or you get an urge to cry out or lay down, go ahead and do it.

Unplug.

Take a break from constantly browsing social media. Allow your mind to take break from the constant flow of information.

Get Support, Talk it Out!

Speak your mind with someone you can trust.                             

Use Old Strategies.

Think of strategies that helped before and revisit them. Consider putting together a self-care kit that includes items that can help with coping immediately or reminds you of what strategies worked in the past.

Resources

Sometimes you can’t or do not need to do it all on your own. Fortunately, there are many other services and resources, both in the community and online. Here are some to explore:

AT THE CWC:

  • Crisis & Emergency Services are available 24/7 for urgent care.
  • MyCWC Workshops cover a wide variety of mental health topics, such as self compassion, time management, relationship habits, etc. These can be useful in exploring yourself, your values, and the ways in which you build resilience in your life.
  • Gator-2-Gator(G2G) is a peer to peer support program run by trained student ambassadors. Students can meet with ambassadors for 30-minute consultations to discuss any struggles or experiences they may be facing. While ambassadors are not trained counselors, they are here to support students from a relatable peer perspective.
  • The CWC Talks podcast covers unique mental health concerns and lived experiences. Starting in 2020, the podcast has many episodes to choose from, all easily accessible on the UF CWC website. Some relevant topics include: Creativity for Personal Growth, Yoga & Mental Health, and Strategies for Reducing Anxiety.
  • Individual counseling is a short term option for students at UF. Individual counseling allows students to build skills and seek support in a professional environment. If long term counseling is the goal, a licensed mental health professional can help students find a counselor within the community.
  • Groups are semester long and tailored to different identities and situations. For example, some of the groups offered in the past were: Understanding Self and Others, Calming Anxiety with Nature, Body Wellness, LGB Empowerment, and Experiential Peer Support. There are many population-specific and skill-building options available, all of which can foster resilience through group discussion.

ON CAMPUS:

IN THE COMMUNITY:

ONLINE:

This page was updated on: 04/18/2023