Circle of Friends
A mathematician once said,
“My love for my friends is like a circle. It has no sides to be broken, no ends to be ended, and no angle to be measured.”
Are you interested in improving your personal mental health and also the mental health of your classmates?
Would you like to see a culture on Carlow’s campus where mental health is more openly discussed, and more resources are available? Are you willing to commit roughly 1 hour a week this fall to helping this dream become a reality for the Carlow nursing program? Consider joining the SNAP Circle of Friends 8-week pilot program to be rolled out this fall.
Applicant submission deadline is September 22.
Circle of Friends Participant Eligibility Requirements:
We are looking for 6-8 participants for the pilot program this fall
Participants must be Carlow University nursing students currently completing their sophomore year in the program
Participants must be available to complete the full 8-week program commencing on September 26
Participants must be available to attend a weekly session every Monday, between 3-430p @ Uzima (except for holidays and breaks).
Participants must be available to participate in weekly group discussions lasting roughly 1 hour each session.
Participants will be asked to complete mental health questionnaires (i.e. surveys) each week to gauge their mental health throughout the 8-week program and post-program.
Once the 8-week program concludes, participants will be asked to provide an assessment of the pilot program so Uzima can understand what works and what doesn’t and what changes need to be made in order to make the program more effective for Carlow nursing students in the future
Participants should be prepared to be vulnerable and open about their journey with mental health with the other participants and each participant should be willing to listen and seek understanding regarding other participant’s journeys, without judgment.
Unite.
The Carlow Chapter of the Student Nurses’ Association of PA (SNAP), in collaboration with Uzima and Peoples Oakland, is rolling out the Circle of Friends (CoF) program at Carlow this fall. SNAP is looking at ways to improve the mental health of the nursing student body and they are exploring ways to create a community within the nursing program in which mental health is openly discussed, stigma around mental illness is reduced, and nursing students are empowered to access the support they need.
CoF was established to foster a community within universities where college students can explore their mental health with their peers in a safe environment, support one another while also building resiliency and improving their mental health. The program will be made up of typically 6-8 college students from the same major and a CoF facilitator will lead weekly group discussions around identity, coping skills, resiliency as well as providing some psychoeducation on vicarious trauma, and CBT interventions. Students who participate will walk away with a strong community support system including their peers and additional community resources. SNAP is proud to have Carlow be the first university and program in Pittsburgh to be asked to take part in this social experiment and they are excited to see what impact this may have on their student body within the nursing program and potentially beyond if the pilot program is successful.
SNAP, Uzima and Peoples Oakland tailored the program specifically for Carlow nursing students and we need 6-8 sophomore nursing students willing to take part in the pilot program to understand the effectiveness of the program before considering expanding it to serve the entire nursing student body at Carlow.
Our Goal
The vision of success for CoF is to achieve a noticeable improvement in the mental health of the participating student body. Participants will better understand their mental health and will be more proactive with managing their mental health and that of others.
Our Vision
Ultimately, CoF students will foster a culture of love and support within their campus community making every student feel supported when dealing with mental health challenges.
Over time, this community will become less and less reliant on formal mental health support systems as they learn to better support one another.
Join Us.
If you’re interested in volunteering your time and energy to making Cirlce of Friends a reality at Carlow, please express your interest by clicking below or ask to speak with Mayan at Uzima.
Applicant submission deadline is September 22.
“It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, ‘till we find our place, on the path unwinding”
— Elton John