The College of Graduate Studies is partnering with GSU’s Wellness Program to bring graduate students a free self-care workshop ­­­­­­­­­­­­as part of Georgia Southern’s annual Wellness Week, February 8 through February 12.

This program will help graduate students learn how to care for themselves, handle stress, and not burn out as the semester goes on.

“The idea came from a class I had last semester. We spent almost the entire semester talking about a book. The whole idea behind it was that if we’re not taking care of ourselves we won’t be able to take care of our clients,” Tom Hutchison, psychology graduate student, said.

It is a well-known fact that students, especially graduate students, have a lot on their plates. Between classes, jobs, and social lives, we tend to forget that we have to take care of ourselves first.

The stress that college students experience can poorly effect other aspects of their lives. In 2009, mtvU and the Associated Press partnered to conduct a survey of college students that showed over half of students reported that stress poorly influenced their academic success.

“Basically we just want to let other graduate students know what self-care is. It’s not selfishness, it’s taking care of yourself,” Hutchison said.

The Graduate Assembly at UC Berkley put together a Graduate Student Happiness & Well-Being Report in which 47 percent of graduate students who responded showed signs of depression.

In the fall semester of 2015, there were about 2,500 graduate students attending Georgia Southern, making up 12.2 percent of the student population.

While this particular workshop is aimed at graduate students, Wellness Week has various activities for students to attend.

On Monday, Feb. 8, traveling comedian and mental health speaker Kevin Breel will be speaking at 7 p.m. in the Russell Union Ballroom.

There will also be an event on Tuesday, from 5-9 p.m., there will be a CPR/AED Class in the RAC Aquatics Classroom. The class costs $35 and participants will be AED certified for two years.

The LiveWell Fair will start at 10 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The fair will be in the Russell Union Commons and feature vendors from around Statesboro as well as the Empty Bowl Project, where attendees can purchase a hand-painted bowl of chili for $10 as part of the Empty Bowl Project.

On Thursday, in the Russell Union Theatre, leaders and representatives from various religions in the Statesboro community will be speaking and answering questions from 6-8 p.m.

In addition to the events, massages purchased from the RAC during wellness week will cost $5 less than normal.

More events will be announced leading up to Wellness Week.

A daily schedule can be found on the University Wellness webpage at http://recreation.georgiasouthern.edu/wellness/awareness-weeks/wellness-week/.