MMI Peer Support Program
By Natalie Green
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We offer on-campus peer support for college students who are experiencing stress, burnout, anxiety and other mental health challenges.
College students face an increased risk of developing mental health conditions such as anxiety and depressive disorders in their transition to college life¹. However, peer support groups are a well-founded form of emotional disorder prevention² and can be a helpful resource for students who are struggling with mental health and isolation.
1. Sauer-Zavala, Shannon “Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Prevention of Emotional Disorders: Evaluation of a Brief, Online Course for College Freshmen,” Behavior Therapy, 64-76, 2021.
2. Lee, Kyunghee. "Social support and self-esteem on the association between stressful life events
and mental health outcomes among college students." Social Work in Health Care, 2020.
Join our group sessions on Mondays at 7pm and Fridays at 3pm to connect with new people, learn insights about handling anxiety and stress, enjoy good food, and participate in fun group events.
Join our group sessions on Mondays at 7pm and Fridays at 3pm to connect with new people, learn insights about handling anxiety and stress, enjoy good food, and participate in fun group events.
Combat feelings of isolation by connecting with a group of students with common experiences.
We host peer-led group sessions that help students to connect with others that can relate to the various stressors of the college experience. Everyone is welcome to join us on Monday at 7pm and Friday at 3pm and enjoy food and snacks.
Get practical insights on how to cope with stress and feelings of anxiety.
With our Mind Matters informational modules, you can learn holistic, working solutions to combating stress and anxiety in school and with interpersonal relationships.
Participate in free group events and activities.
Come to our free monthly events sponsored by UMBC to connect, destress, and have a good time with friends. We host events like bowling, laser-tag, movie screenings, game nights, karaoke, on-campus escape rooms, potlucks, and more.
Social Interaction is Important for Mental Health
Positive and authentic social interaction with peers has not only been shown to reduce symptoms of emotional distress, but also increase academic and personal mental health outcomes in college students (Lee, 2020). However, personal factors like not wanting to share personal information with strangers can influence whether or not someone participates in a mental health related program (Cronin, Forsstrom, and Papageorge 2022). This is why we work to ensure that this is a safe space for people to share while not making sharing the primary focus of the group. We try to focus on organic connection and encourage students to allow sharing to happen naturally after building trust.
Education Can Help with Coping with Symptoms of Stress and Depression
The Mind Matters Emotional Health and Wellness modules are also a critical component to reaching our goal of improving mental health in college students, since social support alone can’t reduce symptoms of stress (Lee 2020; Bovier et al., 2004). Research has shown that healthy self-esteem must also be developed in order to reduce symptoms of mental health disorders (Lee et al., 2020; Bovier et al., 2004). Our modules help to deal with issues of how people see themselves, and how they respond to their circumstances out of this perspective.
TAKE A SURVEY
TAKE A SURVEY
Contribute to our intervention evaluation by participating in this anonymous pre-post survey. It measures symptoms of sadness, stress, and anxious feelings before and after the intervention. Follow this link to the survey and to see more details about what information we collect. All participants of the survey will be entered for a chance to win five $50 Amazon gift cards.
PARTICIPATE IN OUR SLEEP STUDY
PARTICIPATE IN OUR SLEEP STUDY
Participate in our anonymous sleep study to discover how this program affects sleep patterns. Those who choose to participate will be mailed free wearable sleep tracking technology and monetary compensation of $25. Fill out this form by January 1st in order to participate and see more details about the survey and what information we collect.
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