5/2/23, 8:15 PM Students invited to Black mental health and healing workshop - Worcester State University News

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Students invited to Black mental

health and healing workshop

November 8, 2022
By: Allison Coppinger

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T
he University will host a “Black + Mental Health + Matters,” a special interactive arts workshop for students meant Recent
to center Black voices that are often quieted, create a safe environment for people to communicate about their
experiences, decrease stigma around mental health, and foster healing. University re
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The workshop will be held in the Sheehan Hall Multipurpose Room on Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m. It is
May 2, 2023
open to all students to attend; centering Black voices.  Students can sign up to attend the event here or find the link to
sign up on flyers and bulletin boards throughout the residence halls, and in the Sheehan dining hall. 
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The event is co-sponsored by Counseling Services, ISA, Student Senate, Active Minds, Residence Life & Housing, and Awards
the Dean of Student Affairs Office and is being led by Art with Impact, a nonprofit organization with a mission to May 2, 2023
promote mental wellness by creating space for young people to learn and connect through art and media. It will
feature interactive workshops led by Art with Impact’s Arielsela Holdbrook-Smith,  an interdisciplinary public health
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educator and artist, and include hands-on activities as well as poetry.  celebrates at
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“While WSU has a diverse demographic, it is a predominantly white institution. As with many higher education May 2, 2023
institutions, Black individuals can often go unseen, unheard, and they can feel they are not welcome or safe physically
or emotionally,” said Worcester State counselor Lucia Alfaro, the university’s Multicultural Mental Health Outreach Meet some o
Specialist, who is coordinating the event.  May 2, 2023

She said Black individuals continue to be directly impacted from historic systems of oppression that persist today. 
“Black Mental Health Matters exist because disparities exist. There isn’t an abundance of spaces that center and uplift
Black people,” Alfaro said.

Participants will receive a toolkit, and resources for both on and off campus. The tool kit will include self care
suggestions, podcasts suggestions, accounts to follow on Instagram and a list of organizations with resources for Black
students. Art With Impact reports that 95% of students who take part indicate that, “the workshop equipped them
with tools to help them heal and thrive.”

Following the event participants who attended the Black + Mental Health + Matters event will be invited to a debrief 
session to discuss their experience of the workshop. Details will be announced during the workshop. 

Alfaro said her plan is to continue offering similar programs on campus in the future that will center on BIPOC
experiences, expressive arts, and mental health. 

Click here to learn more about Art with Impact and the Black + Mental Health + Matters workshop.

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