Join us for Mindfulness Mondays

Mark your calendars as HFC’s Counseling Center works with you to improve your mental wellness throughout the semester with Mindfulness Mondays.

Each Mindfulness Mondays session will meet in Room A-121 of the Learning Success Center (Building A on the main campus). HFC Counselor Amy Ducklow will lead the Mindfulness Mondays sessions, which will be held from noon to 1:00 p.m.:

• Monday, February 3: “Circles of Control” focuses on the aspects of your lives – your problems, your circumstances – that you have direct control over.
• Monday, February 10: The “Art of Relaxation” is an ability you hone over time. Consciously relaxing is a key technique to managing stress. This session will involve creative expression in the form of a picture/word collage. No art experience is needed.
• Monday, February 17: People keeping a gratitude journal experience more gratitude, positive moods, and better sleep. This workshop will give you prompts when starting a gratitude journal (i.e., acts of kindness, things you like about yourself, a good thing that happened to you today, and so on).
• Monday, February 24: Stretching can be a bottom-up approach to relaxation, which includes deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and sensory grounding exercises that activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This promotes relaxation and emotional regulation.
• Monday, March 3: “Mindful Breathing” allows you to have a more mindful and conscious awareness of your body and its surroundings, its breathing, and its capacity to relax, allowing your breath to find its own natural rhythm. We will also incorporate a grounding activity.
• Monday, March 17: “Circles of Control” session.
• Monday, March 24: Stretching session.
• Monday, March 31: Gratitude journal session.
• Monday, April 7: “Mindful Breathing” session.
• Monday, April 14: “Art of Relaxation” session.
• Monday, April 21: The “R.A.I.N. (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) Technique” is a mindfulness practice that helps you manage difficult emotions and accept your feelings without judgment, allowing you to transform negative emotions into opportunities for growth.
• Monday, April 28: A quiet space for meditation, which Ducklow will oversee.

“Please join me for Mindfulness Mondays,” said Ducklow. “You’ll discover the benefits of stress reduction, improved concentration, better emotional regulation, improved relationships, better thinking, and better sleep – all of which will lead to a better life!”

These are drop-in sessions, and everyone is welcome. For questions or more information about Mindfulness Mondays, contact Ducklow at 313-845-7144 or aducklow@hfcc.edu.