As students get buckled down for midterms and the final sprint of the fall semester, the Solulu to Delulu: A Mental Health Workshop provided an opportunity for them to take a break and focus on their mental health.

 The workshop took place on Oct. 23. It was hosted by Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the honors society at Skyline College, and assisted by students from the Active Minds club. 

Mariela Ochoa, the event organizer, said the purpose of the workshop was to allow students to engage in multiple activities that teach the value of focusing on mental well being.

“Sometimes we can get so caught in our emotions that it’s hard for us to visualize [a way to de-stress],” Ochoa said. “So we have activities to try and help people see what’s going on in their life.”

Perry Chen, faculty advisor for Active Minds, mentioned that with only six weeks before finals, the event was a great way to remind students, who were working through their classes, the importance of taking mental breaks.

“I think it’s really important mental health wise to find balance and to take a minute to take care of our mental health,” Chen said.

Active Minds came up with the first activity called laughter yoga, where students do exercises while trying to also make themselves laugh, according to Chen.

“It’s really just to get people to get out of their shells and just laugh,” Chen said.

Chen described the activity as a way to receive the health benefits of laughter, whether they were honest or false.

“When you fake smile, that muscle position actually releases endorphins and makes us feel good, so laughter yoga is trying to engage that and get you to laugh to just feel good,” Chen said. 

In the second activity of the workshop students were given an emotion and asked to describe it in a one syllable word, according to Ochoa. 

“The purpose of that activity was to try to get people to understand how language is important when it comes to mental health because sometimes it’s very hard to express our feelings and things that we are going through,” Ochoa said.

The final activity had students look at different items, labeled as actions and emotions, and they were given boxes which they had to try to fit as many of these items in the box as possible.

“The purpose of it was to show how sometimes certain things don’t fit because we have to be able to manage our mental health and make the box bigger,” Ochoa said. 

It was essential for the workshop to have physical activities in order to teach students to manage their mental health in a more visual way, according to Ochoa. 

Chen said that he was happy and appreciative that PTK provided students a workshop emphasizing mental health.

“I think all students need to have a space to just exhale and relax for a minute,” Chen said. “I’m glad PTK is wanting to say [our] mental health is important and we’re going to do something to address your mental health.”

Ochoa hopes students gain a greater acceptance of their emotions in moments of stress, as well as understanding that our communities can support us through struggles. 

“It’s OK to have a lot on your plate, and it’s OK to feel overwhelmed…what’s important is for us to be able to have people around us to help us,” Ochoa said. 

This article has been revised to include the correct name of the event’s organizer.