Counseling center offers program focused on student relaxation

Students looking to take a break from college life, and need to relax and destress from their everyday activities can participate in “Free Your Mind Fridays.”

Elnora Vicks, counselor and outreach coordinator at University Counseling Center, said she understands the need for college students to take time for themselves to relax and destress, so she decided the perfect tool was a free program on campus called “Free Your Mind Fridays.”

“Free Your Mind Fridays” takes place in the Bowie Room in the Donald G. Bollinger Memorial Student Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The program began on Aug. 24 and will continue until Dec. 7. Vicks has planned events for students to help them free their minds.

Inspiration for the event came after recent tragedies that devastated the Nicholls student body. Vick’s target was suicide awareness and prevention. She said that the counseling center already put on “Monday Mental Health Minutes” and then developed “Free Your Mind Fridays.”

Vick’s said “Monday Mental Health Minutes” was simply educating students about mental health awareness.

On Sept. 21,“Expression with Rocks” was held. Here, students were invited into the Bowie Room. Students were met with serene music and candles, and given rocks to paint on.

Vicks said she encouraged each student to take the time they needed to write their positive message on their rocks. Some students mentioned keeping the rock, while others, like Maxwell Crochet, art freshman from Houma, mentioned giving the rock to one of his art teachers.

Crochet said the event was relaxing and is excited to attend another “Free Your Mind Fridays” event in the future.

Tabitha Tabb, secondary mathematics education sophomore from Montz, recently attended her first “Free Your Mind Fridays” event.

Vicks encouraged the participants to paint either for themselves or for someone else, to leave them a positive message and make their day a little better.

Tabb said she appreciated this, and, like Crochet, thought of giving her rock to someone else.

“I enjoyed the activity very much because it made you think about others who are important to you,” Tabb said.

Tabb and Crochet both plan to attend the event as much as they can.

“I enjoy being able to escape from the outside world and meet a diverse group of people who are just looking to have a good time and relax their minds after a long week of classes and extracurricular activities,” Tabb said.

“Free Your Mind Fridays” take place every Friday. For students who aren’t sure if this program is right for them, they can visit the counseling center for additional services and information. The counseling center offers counseling for almost all needs, a serenity space and meditation tips on their website.