Hacking Through the Hard Times
Ladybird (left) interacts with another Palm Valley Animal Society dog on Thursday at the Hacking Hard Times event on the campus chapel lawn in Edinburg. Noah Hernandez/Pulse
The Horrors Persist But So Do You
Anthony Tinay | Pulse
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student Organization and Psi Chi Honor Society hosted “Hacking Hard Times,” a mental health awareness event held Thursday at University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley’s Edinburg campus, teaching healthy coping techniques through interactive activities.
For Kaycee Maldonado, president of the Psi Chi Honor Society, the event is a collection of organizations fitting for a conversation about students’ mental health. Such organizations present were the Palm Valley Animal Society, the Child Bereavement Center, and Student Accessibility Services.
“We specifically invited all of these organizations to come to bring out our overall message,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado is hopeful that the event will reach students struggling with mental health.
“Even if it’s just one person out of the hundred people that go, that one person receives the support they’ve been wanting.”
Ana Garrido Huerta, president of the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student Organization, said the event helped students learn ways to deal with strong negative emotions.
UTRGV student pets dogs at the Hacking Hard Times event on Thursday outside UTRGV’s ECHAP lawn in Edinburg. Noah Hernandez/ Pulse.
One coping technique taught at the event was a grounding walk around the university’s Quad, in which a person lists five things that they can see, four things they can touch, etc… According to Huerra, this can help calm a person down by switching their focus to things they can currently and rationally see, bringing them back to the present moment.
“Grounding is a mechanism that you can use to decrease feelings of stress or sadness,” she explained.
One benefit of the grounding walk is it can be done at any time.
“That’s something that students can practice as they walk from class to class. They could be feeling a little sad because they have an assignment or a difficult time, and no one knows about it,” Huerta added.
Palm Valley Animal Society brought support dogs to the event for students to interact with.
Huerta said the affection an animal gives is “unlimited,” which can be beneficial to someone in a negative mood.
“An animal provides you with love and tenderness. It’s unconditional love, and time that they want to spend with you, ” Huerta said.
Huerta emphasized the importance of students maintaining and prioritizing their mental health.
Christian Chandler, a UTRGV psychology freshman who attended the event, said he supports “Hacking Hard Times” teachings of coping strategies to students through their tabling events and activities, which he feels would be very beneficial.
“Mental health is one of the most key components for a college student,” Chandler said. “If people have good mental health, they’re going to succeed in the classroom.”
He believes events such as Hacking Hard Times are beneficial to the community and there should be done more often.
“It is good there are activities out here, and people get to go out and make some new friends,” Chandler said.
For more information on the Psi Chi Honor Society and Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student Organization, students can follow their Instagrams @psichiutrgv and @cpdso_utrgv.
