On Wednesday, Nov. 9, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Drew’s Counseling Center, the ABC Health theme house and the Active Minds club collaborated on a De-Stress Day event held in the 1867 Lounge and The Space in the Ehinger Center.
The event offered students delightful warm apple cider and provided several relaxing activities, such as wood painting to decorate small ornaments and coasters, collaging using newspaper and magazine clippings and DIY snow globe making with plastic bottles, water, glitter, corn syrup and Orbeez. All of these activities were accompanied by soothing music being played throughout the Space.
The highlight of the event, however, were the therapy dogs, which were brought in by Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs, an organization based in Morris Plains, N.J. The dogs were friendly, enthusiastic and perfectly content to let students pet them. The experience helped wash away the stress of midterms, upcoming finals and end-of-semester projects. According to hopkinsmedicine.org, “Research has shown that simply petting a dog reduces the stress hormone cortisol, while the social interaction between people and their dogs actually increases levels of the feel-good hormone oxytocin.” Petting and spending time with dogs can also lower blood pressure by reducing stress and increasing oxytocin levels and can help ease and relieve depression and loneliness, among several other benefits.
“It’s so exciting to be able to have therapy dogs here at Drew, especially for people who might not have a dog or who might be missing their own dogs. I’m very grateful to the Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs for hosting this today. I look forward to it every time,” said student Preethi Rao (‘24).
During this hectic time of year, the Counseling Center still has a few events planned to help students with their mental health and wellness, such as an upcoming Wellness Movie Night on Monday, Nov. 13. For more information on upcoming events, read your Drew Today email or check out @drewcounseling on Instagram.
Featured image courtesy of Chloe Gocher.
