Personal, professional, and academic work-life integration may feel challenging at times. Free student counseling services are offered with the Student Counseling Services staff. This confidential service is available through appointment.

If you need to schedule an appointment, email scs@tun.touro.edu or call 702-777-9971.

If this is your first time or your thousandth time, Monday Meditation is a good place to grow your practice. Each week we offer a guided meditation. The group discusses meditation, the benefits, and reviews relevant apps and methods to enhance practice. All Touro staff, faculty, students, and their significant supports are welcome to join. No experience with meditation is needed. Bring an open mind and a desire to enrich your life.

Monday Meditation is every Monday at Noon. 

Koru Mindfulness is an evidence-based meditation practice that aims to “give participants tools for quickly reducing distress… [and] emphasizes cultivating positive emotions like self-compassion and gratitude.” Koru Mindfulness was developed with consideration for the challenges that emerging adults often face. Its title, Koru, is derived from a New Zealand Maori word that signifies balanced growth.

If you would like to participate, email tun.koru@touro.edu.

Student Counseling Services provides opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to receive training and earn certificates in the following areas:

• Mental Health Wellness and Knowledge
• Violence Intervention and Prevention:  Creating Safe Communities Program for Medical/Health Professionals
• Drugs: From Prescription to Addiction to Recovery
• Inclusive Care

The certificate programs are co-sponsored by campus and community organizations such as the Rainbow Health Coalition, the Rape Crisis Center, Neurology and Psychiatry Student Interest Group, Student Osteopathic Medical Association, and Alcohol and Other Drug Committee. 

TUN receives grant-funding from SAMHSA’s Garret Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant, which focuses on enhancing mental health services for college students struggling with serious mental illness/emotional distress and substance abuse. TUN is committed to addressing the prevalence and severity of mental illness among medical students by growing the institution’s infrastructure and network of mental-health and substance-abuse treatment resources and services, and increasing the capacity of resiliency, emotional well-being, and mental health of all TUN students, including those traditionally underserved and underperforming student groups.

The grant allows us to host programming for the Touro Nevada community. 

Touro University Nevada’s Student Counseling Services has partnered with Aura, a personalized mindfulness and meditation app company, to bring each member of the campus community a free subscription.

The award-winning app offers thousands of mindfulness meditations, life coaching, sleep stories, and psychoeducation from coaches around the world. Aura gives you the personalized support to help with stress, anxiety, sleep, personal growth, and more.

Here’s how you redeem your free subscription from Aura:

1. Visit the Aura website (https://app.aurahealth.io/redeem/touro).

2. You must use your Touro University Nevada email address.

3. Follow the directions to download the app and log in.

Graduate school can be challenging for partners, friends, and families alike. Your supporters deserve to feel supported. TUN happily invites all behind the scenes contributors to connect with one another through the Plus One Program. The Plus One initiative gives your loved ones a safe space of their own to relate, release, and recharge, whether it is your intimate partner, your best friend, or your roommate.  We offer virtual events and chats for all Plus Ones in the TUN community to thrive together.

eCHECKUP TO GO programs are self-assessment tools to be used by individuals and are completely anonymous. These programs are personalized to TUN, evidence-based, online behavior interventions that offer feedback to the participant.

• Alcohol eCHECKUP TO GO 
  https://echeckup.sdsu.edu/usa/alc/coll/touro
• Cannabis eCHECKUP TO GO 
  https://echeckup.sdsu.edu/usa/mj/coll/touro
• Sexual violence Prevention eCHECKUP TO GO 
  https://interwork.sdsu.edu/echeckup/svp/campus/touro
• Nicotine eCHECKUP TO GO 
  https://interwork.sdsu.edu/echeckup/tobacco/campus/touro

If you're an avid yoga student, you may be familiar with the term pranayama, as it is a core foundation of yoga practice. Pranayama is the practice of breathing regulation; it involves various patterns of inhalation, exhalation, and holding the breath. As a component of yoga, these patterns of breathing are paired with different poses and movements in the yoga practice. The purpose of pranayama is to connect the body to the mind, cleanse toxins through deep breathing, and regulate the body. Although it is often associated with yoga, pranayama can be practiced independently as a meditative exercise or just a breathing technique to engage in throughout the day. 

Here are just a few of the benefits of pranayama!

• Decreases stress
• Improves sleep quality
• Increases mindfulness
• Reduces high blood pressure 
• Improves lung function
• Enhances cognitive performance
• Reduces cigarette cravings

Check out these resources!

• Nunez, K., Sullivan, C. (2020, May). 7 Science-backed benefits of pranayama. Healthline.
  Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/pranayama-benefits#fewer-cravings
• Pranayama: Extend your life by extending your breath
  (YouTube) https://youtu.be/Z4rWY-gY96A
• Tobe, M., Saito, S. (2020). Analogy between classical yoga/zen breathing and modern clinical respiratory therapy. Journal of Anesthesia. 34:944–949. 
  Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-020-02840-5
• 3 most effective pranayamas - deep breathing exercises
  (YouTube 3:12) https://youtu.be/395ZloN4Rr8

Keeping a diary can seem like a juvenile activity, but keeping a written record of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences can be a helpful tool for improving your mental health and overall well-being. A web article by Kaiser Permanente, cited below, noted that prominent historical figures, like Albert Einstein, Frida Khalo, and Frederick Douglass, practiced journaling regularly. It is hard to say what their purpose for journaling was- be it catharsis, strategy, or memory- but one this is certain, their entries have inspired people for generations. Journaling looks different for every person, but its benefits can impact you and those around you. Take a peek at just a few of the many benefits of journaling.

Journaling can help you:

A Healthline article on journaling, cited below, gives great tips for starting up your practice.
Here are a few:

Take a micro-step
Try setting a timer for just one or two minutes a day for your journaling session.  -Amy Hoyt, Ph.D., founder of Mending Trauma.

Pick the simplest tools
Start with whatever method is easiest to incorporate into your routine, like writing in a blank doc on your laptop, using a note-taking app on your phone, or putting pen to paper. -Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, clinical psychologist in New York City.

Try free writing
Start by taking several deep breaths, noticing your immediate surroundings, and writing whatever comes to mind . If you’ve drawn a blank, “describe that experience until something else comes forward in your journaling.” -Lori L. Cangilla, PhD, a Pittsburg-based psychologist, avid journal writer, and member of the International Association for Journal Writing

Anchor your journaling
If you like structure, journal at the same time every day. For example, write your thoughts when you first wake up or process them before bedtime.
You can also anchor your journaling to a well-established habit to make it more likely you’ll stick with it. For example, journal before or after a nightly prayer, when you’re in the car rider line, or during a commercial break on TV.  -Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, clinical psychologist in New York City.

Switch shoes
If you’re journaling about a disagreement, try writing with empathy. Consider the other person’s perspective and motives behind some of their actions. Putting yourself in their shoes may help you gain clarity on the situation, reduce resentment, and possibly even find a solution. -Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, clinical psychologist in New York City.

Check out these articles!

• Tartakovsky, M. (2022, February). 6 journaling benefits and how to start right now. Healthline. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-journaling#takeaway
• (2020, March). 7 benefits of keeping a journal. Kaiser Permanente. Retrieved from https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/healtharticle.7-benefits-of-keeping-a-journal

Challenges are a necessary part of every journey and goal. Much like a game that you get bored with playing because you win every time or a weight that you add to an exercise so that it is heavy enough to build your muscles, you need a level of difficulty and tension to help us learn and grow. By the same token, it can be easy to succumb to fear, worry, and pessimism when challenges feel overwhelming or unnecessary. It is important to remember that we are all powering through obstacles, some vastly different than others and some more similar in nature than we think, and the way we choose to view our circumstances can make all the difference in how we carry the load. Here is a bit of info about the advantages of embracing challenges.

Tips for accepting adversity and overcoming obstacles:

• Instead of looking at your struggle as a curse view it as a platform. You are where you are for a reason!
• When someone mistreats you, acknowledge your pain and allow yourself to forgive. The weight of unforgiveness is huge… but only for the person carrying it. Don’t let that be you!
• Learn from your experiences. Every time you overcome an obstacle, you become more empowered. It’s just like building muscle – the more you train, the stronger you become.

Benefits of embracing challenges:

• Obstacles give purpose by revealing the parts of us that need improvement. The best way to overcome a problem is to face it directly. Learn from what challenges you and ultimately move past it!
• Facing obstacles may not always be the most pleasant, but they do not necessarily prevent us from reaching our goals. They can guide us on where to go next.
• Obstacles shift our perspective by equipping us to handle what is thrown our way. Choose to view your setbacks as opportunities for self-improvement.
• Practice intentional positivity in spite of adversity. When you stop dwelling on what is wrong, you allow the possibility for things to go right.

Check out these resources!

• (2020, January). Welcoming obstacles and embracing challenges. Be Strong. Retrieved from 
  Read the Article
• A growth mindset means embracing challenges and mistakes. (youtube 1:51) 
  Watch on Youtube
• Embrace your challenges: You cannot grow without them. (youtube 1:51)
   Watch on Youtube