Health Psychology Outreach Team Comes to Bracken Library to Connect with Students

The Health Psychology Outreach Team of the Department of Counseling and Health Services set up a table at Bracken Library during a very important, yet stressful, time in the lives of Ball State students: the last two weeks of the academic year.

“We thought Bracken Library would be a convenient location to reach students because of the high foot traffic there,” said Lisa K. Thomason, Health Educator at Ball State University. “We wanted to help students study effectively for their final exams without sacrificing their physical, mental, or emotional health in the process.”

The topics were timely and relevant to students who were stressed and perhaps out of their normal routines prior to and during Finals Week. The team shared information on a few topics, such as:
· Time and stress management
· Improving sleep
· Coping with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
· Caffeine use

The objective of the outreach team was to provide support to students by providing them with information to plan adequate time to study, to identify strategies to make their study sessions more effective, and to emphasize the importance of sleep so students’ minds and bodies are well-rested for exams and their other daily activities.

The Health Psychology Outreach Team is supervised by Gina Zanardelli, Ellen Lucas, and Lisa Thomason of Counseling and Health Services. Team members — Kayte Kaminski, Eric Lester, Chip Link, and John Meteer — believe the University Libraries are a great partner in their outreach efforts, and the plan to set up in Bracken Library again in the future.

For more information, contact Susan G. Akers, Ball State University Libraries’ Marketing Communications Manager, SAkers@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5031.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 8; May 2007.