Campus help for the very stressed

It goes without saying that college students bombarded with academic and social pressures will feel stressed-out occasionally. When stress becomes unmanageable, however, students may look to the following campus resources for help and perspective.

Stressbusters

Participation in campus groups may be one source of stress for students, yet there is a campus group, comprised of both graduate and undergraduate students, that is organized especially to combat the problem of stress.

Volunteers hoping to promote relaxation on the Hopkins campus, Stressbusters are trained to give five- to seven-minute backrubs and do so at campus events.

Transplanted from Columbia with Health and Wellness Center nurse practitioner Allegra Hamman, the stress-reduction program is fairly new at Hopkins.

Stressbusters aims to decrease stress-related insomnia, depression, headaches and back pain with their massages and relaxation techniques.

Other student organizations may recruit the group to provide massages at events free of charge and should visit their Web site, http://www.jhu.edu/~health/, to complete such requests.

A Place to Talk

While Stressbusters is a new campus organization aimed at helping students cope with the frustration and anxiety that college may cause, A Place to Talk (APTT), a student-oriented organization with a similar goal, is in its 21st year of operation at Hopkins.

Conceived on the notion that students needed an outlet outside of the more formal Counseling Center to talk and relieve stress, APTT has been located in a comfortably decorated space in AMR I for the past seven years.

In addition to providing confidential peer counseling services from 7 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, APTT hosts events like its annual Relaxation Fair, which will be held on May 6.

Counseling Center

The University's Counseling Center provides free individual, couples and group counseling. The Office promises that students do not need to have serious emotional problems to take advantage of these services.

Group counseling offered this semester includes sessions on Substance Abuse Recovery, Surviving and Succeeding with ADD and ADHD, Surviving Sexual Abuse and Assault and one called Connecting on Campus. The office also accepts suggestions for group counseling session topics. More information is available on the office's Web site http://www.jhu.edu/~ccenter/ and by calling (410) 516-8278.

Recreation Center

Everyone knows that moving around and getting some exercise not only makes for a healthy body but also reduces stress and anxiety. The Ralph S. O'Connor Recreation Center (Rec. Center) offers practically everything a person looking for a little physical activity could desire.

Aside from the upstairs level filled with exercise machines, the downstairs weight room and the indoor track and basketball court, the Rec. Center goes beyond gym stables and gives students the option of having more unique forms of exercise.

The climbing wall, swimming pool and numerous intramural sports add variety to regular old workouts. Intramural sports are a particularly good form of stress relief because, aside from the activity itself, there is also an element of social camaraderie with teammates.

For a fee each semester, students can sign up for the fitness class programs, which include such stress-relieving activities as yoga, Pilates and kickboxing.

Intramurals schedules, fitness class schedules and general information about the Rec. Center are available at http://www.jhu.edu/recreation/ or by calling (410) 516-5229.