We each face our own, ever-changing set of personal and work-related challenges and opportunities. These interactive webinars can inform, inspire, and support you in this process, with research-based strategies, tips, and information to help you be better prepared for whatever life presents next.
Presented by the MIT HR Center for WorkLife and WellBeing
Caring for Yourself While Supporting a Loved One with Mental Illness (a Six-Week Interactive Group)
Research from the National Alliance on Mental Illness shows that 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 6 adolescents in the U.S. experience a form of mental illness each year. Surrounding those adults and adolescents are friends and family members who often experience stress, feelings of uneasiness, or burnout while supporting their loved ones. This six-week, small-group workshop will combine elements of psychoeducation, skill building, and facilitated group support. Topics that will be addressed include:
- How to recognize and address caregiver burnout or compassion fatigue
- Common signs and symptoms of mental illness and the range of treatment options available
- Interpersonal effectiveness skills and communication strategies that can be used to express your concern(s) without judgment
- The importance of maintaining boundaries, including when your loved one refuses treatment or experiences a troubling setback
- Self-care strategies and resources specifically for you in your role as a caregiver of someone with a mental illness
The workshop series will be capped at 20 participants, with the expectation that participants will attend all six workshops. Please note: Due to high demand, this workshop series is only open to members of the MIT community. There is a waitlist, so please cancel your registration or let us know in advance of the first session if you can no longer attend.
Six-part series, Wednesdays from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm:
- February 28, 2024
- March 6, 2024
- March 13, 2024
- March 20, 2024
- April 3, 2024
- April 10, 2024
Presenter: Briana Reid, Psy.D.; Clinical Psychologist, Kendall Psychological Associates
Coping with Grief and Loss
Grief is one of the most human experiences we will encounter. It can be difficult, confusing, and painful whether you are going through the process yourself or lending support to someone who is grieving. This webinar will help you understand what grief and prolonged grief really are, what to expect when you or someone you care about is grieving, and how to navigate life after loss.
Presenter: Lauren Dumont, Psy.D.; Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director, Kendall Psychological Associates
Let’s Get Organized: Practical Ways to Declutter, Organize and Take Control
Did you know that:
- The average person will spend a total of 3,680 hours, or 153 days, searching for misplaced items.
- There are 300,000 items in the average American home.
- Nearly 25% of us are late to school or work at least twice a week due to searching for lost items.
Combine these statistics with the disruption of your home and work routines over the last couple of years, and it’s not surprising you feel disorganized. This class will help you take charge of the clutter in both your personal and professional life. You will learn how to get started, get organized, and get things done.
Presenter: Gail Miniutti Parsons, M.S.; Founder and CEO, LifeCycle Focus LLC
Grief Support Groups
Grief can be one of life’s most painful experiences and having a community to connect with during this time is invaluable. Join Dr. Dumont as she facilitates a support group to help those of us who are grieving. This group is focused on creating a community of support so that you do not have to navigate your grief alone.
This support group will be an open-ended format, allowing for members to connect with one another in meaningful ways through open discussion. Dr. Dumont has gone through several close losses in her personal life and maintains grief as a specialty area in her clinical practice. She will help you understand your grief, know what to expect when grieving, and most importantly connect you to others who can provide caring peer-to-peer support.
Due to the nature of the group and to provide time for each participant to share, the groups are capped at 10 participants each and are only open to MIT staff, faculty, and postdocs (associates and fellows). If you are interested in attending but the group is full, please join the waitlist. This will allow us to gauge interest for additional sessions.
The three sessions will be offered on the following dates/times:
- Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
- Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
- Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Group Facilitator: Lauren Dumont, Psy.D.; Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director, Kendall Psychological Associates
Savor: The Way of Mindful Eating
Choosing to be more aware of what you’re eating is not just about weight loss and vibrant health. Mindful eating brings more enjoyment to your food and your whole experience of eating and preparing food. In this course, we learn how to nourish the body and mind by turning our full attention to eating, what we are eating, and why we are eating it! With vital information to aid us from the fields of nutrition, medicine, and psychology, we begin to see how our behavior and habits may no longer be serving us. We begin to reduce or eliminate mindless and emotional eating and make healthier, wiser choices for ourselves.
Presenter: Katherine McHugh, M.S.; Mindfulness Educator
Working with Your Mood to Foster Daily Contentment (a Six-Week Interactive Group)
This group series may be for you if you are:
- Feeling impacted by low mood, anxiety, or irritability
- Having a difficult time regulating your emotions effectively
- Finding that your mood is impacting your work, relationships, and wellness
- Willing to commit to attending the workshop each week for six weeks
- Ready to not only learn skills, but also actively practice them throughout each week
- Open to working with your peers in a supportive and collaborative environment
The workshop series will be capped at 20 participants, with the expectation that participants will attend all six workshops. Please note: Due to high demand, this workshop series is only open to members of the MIT community. There is a waitlist, so please cancel your registration or let us know in advance of the first session if you can no longer attend.
Six-part series, Tuesdays from 1:00pm-2:00pm:
- April 30, 2024
- May 7, 2024
- May 14, 2024
- May 21, 2024
- May 28, 2024
- June 4, 2024
Presenter: Lauren Dumont, Psy.D.; Clinical Psychologist, Kendall Psychological Associates
Distraction: Top Strategies for Overcoming Our Inattention
The average person is distracted or interrupted every 40 seconds when working in front of their computer. In other words, we can’t work for even a single minute before we focus on something else. Sometimes it’s easy to get back on track. But over the course of a day, our attention often gets derailed, and it can ultimately take 20 minutes or more to refocus. We all would like to accomplish more, and the first order of business is to become less distracted. We can do this by focusing on today’s scarcest resource and the secret to high performance and fulfillment: attention. Using the latest research in neuroscience; the guiding principles outlined in Daniel Goleman’s classic book, Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence; and wisdom from other experts in the field of business consulting and management—join us as we discover strategies for overcoming distractions and staying in the zone.
Presenter: Katherine McHugh, M.S.; Mindfulness Educator
Me Time Monday: Finding Balance by Investing in Your Personal “Joyconomy”
Despite the overwhelming amount of information on how to achieve wellbeing, each year studies show that we are less happy and less healthy. We can blame all sorts of factors—personal, professional, and societal—but there is no cleanse diet, meditation app, or exercise plan that can fix a life out of balance. How do you find your equilibrium? This webinar will explain how to combine neuroscience and nature, invest time (not money) in things that have meaning, and bring joy to life. Sharing the trends and psychology behind green exercise, blue wellness, musical menus, sonic seasoning, and pink noise, Sherri uses her gerontology background to show you how to age well throughout life. She will take you through the lessons from her new book, Me Time Monday: The Weekly Wellness Plan to Find Balance and Joy for a Busy Life. You will learn fun, small ways to invest in your personal “Joyconomy,” including how to:
- Achieve 7 ways to wellness that can be done in 7 minutes in 7 days
- Forget FOMO (fear of missing out) and find flow and JOMO (joy of missing out)
- Crack the anxiety code and regain mastery and control of your life
- Harness your four feel-good hormones
- Experience neuro-happiness through nature
Presenter: Sherri Snelling, M.A.; Consultant and Speaker, Care.com
Don’t Believe Everything You Think: Identifying and Managing Thought Traps
Every one of us is prone to cognitive distortions, which are habitual modes of thinking that are often inaccurate and negatively biased. These thought traps impact our emotions, increase our anxiety, and threaten our sense of self. Maybe we jump to conclusions, catastrophize, or tend to think in “all-or-nothing” terms. The good news is there is power in identifying which thought patterns we are prone to and how they manifest. This webinar will review the most common thought traps so that we can learn to identify them in the moment and shift our thinking in the long term. The webinar will review strategies to reframe your thinking that are based in cognitive-behavioral therapy, an evidence-based framework for managing anxious thoughts.
Presenter: Michael Marquez, Psy.D.; Psychologist
Mental Health First Aid (a Two-Part Series)
Mental Health First Aid teaches individuals how to identify and understand signs of mental illness and substance use disorders in their workplace or community. The course provides a practical action plan for responding to an individual at any point during a mental health challenge. It is based on the philosophy that recovery from a mental health challenge is possible. By participating in this course, you will learn how to:
- Recognize the signs and symptoms that suggest a potential mental health challenge
- Approach, assess, and assist someone who may be experiencing a mental health crisis
- Refer a person to appropriate professional support for a mental health challenge
- Care for yourself while supporting a person who is experiencing a mental health challenge
- Describe the purpose of Mental Health First Aid and the role of the Mental Health First Aider
This two-part certification training program is open to MIT staff, faculty, and postdocs, and will be offered on the following days and times:
- Thursday, May 9, 2024 and Friday, May 10, 2024 from 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Please note: This course requires that participants complete two hours of a self-paced pre-work course prior to the first session. The virtual live session will be conducted in two parts. Participants must complete all pre-work and attend both sessions to receive certification in Mental Health First Aid.
Presenters:
Kristen Cascio, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.; Program Manager, MIT HR Center for WorkLife and WellBeing
Gayle Parker Wright, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.-R.
Fitting Fitness In
We know that we should fit fitness into our schedules, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. In this webinar, we’ll discuss some of the latest research on the benefits of exercise and how to get started. We’ll also discuss habit-building techniques to boost motivation and set achievable goals. You’ll learn the best time of day to exercise, the four different types of exercise, and which exercises are right for you.
Presenter: Heidi Roth, R.D., L.D.N., B.S.; Owner, Heidi Roth Nutrition
Cultivating Healthy Relationships During Stressful Times
Very often, we find ourselves facing pressures that impact our relationships at home and in the workplace. This session will illustrate how burnout and chronic stress change social interactions, and will provide strategies that promote healthy communication and stronger, more satisfying relationships during challenging times. This interactive session will help attendees:
- Understand attachment theory and how individual attachment style can impact relationships
- Learn effective communication strategies to incorporate when feeling burnt out or stressed
- Develop techniques for managing difficult conversations, personalities, and situations
- Navigate peaceful disagreements with anyone, including colleagues and family members
Presenter: Michael Marquez, Psy.D.; Psychologist
Finding Connection and Coping with Loneliness
This workshop provides an overview of the drivers of loneliness, its resulting health impacts, and effective strategies for nurturing interpersonal relationships. We will explore the different aspects and manifestations of loneliness, uncovering its impact on our mental and emotional wellbeing. Through self-reflection exercises and coping strategies, we will begin to unravel the complexities of this universal human experience.
Learning objectives:
- Explore biological causes for loneliness and how it affects the mind
- Understand how self-connection can cultivate resilience to face loneliness
- Bolster communication techniques to expand networks and nurture meaningful relationships
Presenter: Rahul Kay, M.P.H., M.B.A.; Senior Vice President, Enterprise Wellness, FlexIt
Demystifying Therapy: How to Get Help for Yourself or Your Loved One, and What to Expect When You Find It
Everyone needs support sometimes. And whether you or a loved one are seeking short-term guidance or coping with a more serious emotional issue, talking to a mental health professional can be both personally rewarding and have lifelong benefits. As with many other health issues, early detection and treatment are also associated with earlier relief.
This webinar will address the following topics:
- What is therapy, and what can you expect from it?
- What are the benefits of therapy?
- What are the different types of treatment approaches?
- What to look for in a mental health professional
- How to access therapy for yourself or a loved one
Presenter: Nicole DiPentima, L.M.H.C.; KGA
MIT MyLife Services
Feeling stressed? Wondering what community resources are available to support your family? Through KGA, consult confidentially with a master's- or Ph.D.-level counselor around how to manage stress and personal, family, or work concerns. KGA also has a network of experts who are available for legal, financial, sleep, career, and nutrition consultations. In addition, their work-life specialists can provide you with resources and referrals for child care (including afterschool programs and camps), home and daily living services, moving-related needs, and more.
Professional and Career Development Opportunities
Along with your personal wellbeing, MIT is committed to your professional and career development. Explore additional workshops and programs available through Human Resources.