The longer they were in the room, the more at ease they appeared.
“Today we’re going to talk about how we learn,” Muhammad Saahir said.
Saahir, a therapist with IU Counseling and Psychological Services, led the third of four “Monday Motivators” sessions Monday in the Indiana Memorial Union.
“Monday Motivators” are a set of free mental health workshops sponsored by CAPS and the IU Health Center that have taken place from 4 to 5 p.m. every Monday throughout February.
Chris Meno, psychologist and Coordinator of Outreach and Consultation with CAPS, said the workshops are meant to give students tips on making their semesters easier while working in stressful environments.
All names of participants in the workshops have remained confidential to ensure total privacy.
“I went to the first two workshops, and they were great,” one participant said. “They’ve helped me think in a more positive way. Even though they each have specific themes, what you learn in them is useful in everyday life.”
Monday’s workshop was themed “Academic Success.” Students observed the different types of learning and how to balance their stress with school.
The main types of learning on which the workshop focused were visual, kinesthetic and auditory.
Saahir said some examples of “learning about our own learning styles” are memorizing things by seeing them, whispering to oneself while reading and solving problems by physically working through them.
Participants were then given a “Learning Styles Assessment,” in which they read a number of statements that corresponded with each type of learning and placed a number three, two or one next to each one, with three being “often”, two being “sometimes” and one being “seldom/never.”
Once this was done, each participant shared which type of learning they best corresponded with.
According to Meno, CAPS is hoping to see more students attend the final workshop than they have had at the first few. She said they are there to assist with the stress ?students have.
The participant said she would also like to see more people come to the workshops because as great as they are, she said, only so much can be done with such a small amount of people.
“They really are helpful for students and should be given a chance,” she said. “Hopefully more will come to the next one. The more, the better.”
The final “Monday Motivators” mental health workshop will be Feb. 23 in room M005 of the IMU. Its theme will be “Self-Compassion and Resilience.”
