BMCC Hosts Self-Care Community Zoom Session

Like many communities all over the world, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) students, faculty and staff are trying to cope with the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and enormous changes to how they work, live and care for one another.

On April 28, BMCC hosted a community Zoom session to share self-care practices and validate the experiences of BMCC community members. The conversation was facilitated by Nedra Hajizadeh, director of the BMCC Counseling Center; Michael McGee, associate professor, Health Education; Lesley Rennis, associate professor and chair, Health Education, and Precious Sellars-Mulhern, associate professor with the BMCC Counseling Center.

More than 100 members of the BMCC community participated in the discussion. One of them was Bryan Dowling, director of assessment in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics.

“I think there were some concrete questions people had — about self-care and Coronavirus-related symptoms — and overall, I think it was extremely cathartic to see that colleagues are dealing with the same problems and insecurities,” Dowling said. “Sharing that I am not feeling at 110 percent is helpful, but to hear that almost everyone feels the same way was HUGE. I think we all just want to talk, to see each other, to vent and to get answers.”

Sophie Marinez, professor in Modern Languages, said she appreciated having the opportunity “to be able to share with others what I do that helps me keep my sanity.”

“It made me feel good that others found it useful,” Marinez said. “I also appreciated to know that my institution is doing something for its faculty and staff, recognizing that as we are all in the trenches, often having to hear students’ heartbreaking stories, we can often experience emotional erosion. Keeping the morale high is crucial at this time.”

The Community Self-Care Session was an idea that was previously discussed by members of the BMCC community, Rennis said. “The session was the first opportunity we have had to come together as a community and discuss the topic of taking care of ourselves.”

“Self-care is a fundamental need always, and especially at this time,” Rennis said. “There has always been a need for self-care to be a priority in such an environment because our students come to us with so many needs. We can’t take care of them if we are not taking care of ourselves. We’ve said this before but I think faculty and staff need permission to do so and a culture needs to be created where self-care is a priority that’s connected to doing our jobs well.”

Dowling said seeing BMCC Interim President Karrin Wilks participating in the conversation, “was major.” “Frankly, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders when it ended. We’re all in the same boat,” Dowling said. “I actually slept more than four hours last night! The biggest take away for me was knowing that the college understands what we’re going through and is there to support us in any way they can.”

BMCC plans to host more sessions in the future. Visit the BMCC website and check your BMCC email for updates.