Programming and Outreach
CMHS offers trainings, workshops, events, and other opportunities to get involved with CMHS and help to create a campus climate of support and care.
CMHS offers the following non-clinical workshops for your class, club, or meeting:
- Introduction to CMHS: An overview of CMHS, our services, and accessing care. This workshop can be led by professional staff or by the Mental Health Reps.
- Stress Management Workshop: A highly interactive workshop for Tufts undergraduate or graduate students that covers the basics of stress, coping strategies, and tips for overcoming procrastination. This workshop can be led by professional staff or by the Mental Health Reps.
- How to Help a Friend: A highly interactive workshop for Tufts undergraduate students, led by the Mental Health Reps, that covers how to help a peer you're worried about.
- Good Vibes Only?: A highly interactive workshop for undergraduate and graduate students about embracing and coping with a wide range of emotions, as well as challenging the "good vibes only" mentality. This workshop can be led by professional staff or by the Mental Health Reps.
- Building Resilience: A highly interactive workshop for undergraduate and graduate students about concrete skills for increasing resilience when dealing with tough situations and interpersonal conflict. This workshop is led by professional staff.
- Helping Students in Distress for Faculty and Staff: A highly interactive workshop led by professional staff about helping graduate and undergraduate students in distress.
Project Connect enrollment is closed for Spring 2025. Please contact firstname.lastname@example.org with questions.
Want to form deeper connections, build friendships, and meet new people? Sign-up for a Project Connect group! Project Connect groups are peer-led groups of about 4-6 students that meet weekly for one hour a week for 6 weeks. Dive into conversation, answer thought-provoking questions, and learn more about yourself and fellow Jumbos!
What to Expect
- Thought-provoking questions intentionally designed to build connection, like "What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were younger?, "What important decision have you based largely on your gut feelings?," and "Five years from now, what will you wish you had spent more or less time on in the present?"
- Community-connection projects like creating posters for residential or academic buildings, writing notes to fellow Jumbos who have influenced your Tufts journey, or painting rocks with encouraging messages
- A snack or meal (paid for by CMHS!) to hang out with your group and connect casually.
- 87% of participants would recommend Project Connect to a friend
- 80% plan to hang out with someone they met through Project Connect
- Participants shared the most meaningful part of their experience. They said:
- "That I got a space to share my views with really enthusiastic people"
- "The questions for the group were interesting and thought provoking"
- "Getting to know more people outside of my cohort"
Mental Health Reps
The Mental Health Reps (MHRs) are a group of dedicated students who serve as a liaison between CMHS and the student body. The Mental Health Reps work directly with CMHS staff to help advocate for mental health support, reduce stigma, and promote mental and emotional well-being. They receive training from CMHS staff and other public health professionals about mental health promotion, and they will have the opportunity to create programming to directly help students at Tufts.
The Mental Health Reps are housed in CMHS and supervised by the Mental Health Promotion Specialist. The MHRs are not a peer counseling group and do not lead any clinical or therapeutic groups. If you would like to work with the Mental Health Reps or have a question about the group, please email email@example.com
Applications for the MHRs will open in Spring 2025.
2024-2025 Mental Health Reps
Class of 2026, Biopsychology major
I became a Mental Health Rep to help diminish the stigma of mental health especially in minority groups.
I'm most interested in public health education and health equity pertaining to all minority groups.
Class of 2026, Biopsychology major
I became a Mental Health Rep to reduce the stigma around mental health, help connect students to mental health resources on campus, and create workshops that will give students the tools to manage their mental health.
I am interested in mental health and health equity.
Class of 2027, Psychology and International Relations majors, French minor
I became a Mental Health Rep because I believe that taking care of one’s mental health is just as important as looking after one’s physical health. I hope to show the Tufts community that it is okay to ask for help.
The areas in which I am most interested are psychopathology and global mental health.
Class of 2025, Cognitive and Brain Sciences major, Child Studies and Human Development minor
I became a Mental Health Rep to show the importance of maintaining one’s mental health. Often times, physical health is deemed as more important than mental health because it is visible to the naked eye. However, your mental health can often impact your physical health, showing that keeping both in check is highly important to one’s overall wellbeing.
Generally, I am intrigued by the connections between physical and mental health as well as how people can maintain their mental health, independent of their own personal circumstances (i.e. resilience).
Class of 2027, Biopsychology
I became a Mental Health Rep because college can feel isolating, and I want to ensure students know they have support and resources available.
I'm passionate about reducing stigma and advocating for mental health alongside physical well-being. I am interested in psychopathology and how movement can help alleviate stress.
Class of 2027, minoring in Chinese, major undecided
I wanted to become a mental health rep because I am passionate about removing the stigma about mental health at a rigorous university. I want to advocate that struggling with mental health does not define a student's ability to succeed; it is still possible to thrive as a student and a future professional.
I am most interested in combating imposter syndrome on an academic level.
Class of 2026, Biology and Political Science majors
I joined Mental Health Reps to promote the resources available to students to help normalize tackling mental health issues.
I'm most interested in finding ways to manage stress.
Class of 2026, Clinical Psychology and English Major
I became a Mental Health Rep to help normalize and draw more attention to the conversation around mental health. I also hope to improve student access to CMHS's mental health services.
I am interested in psychopathology and different treatment methods. I am also passionate about helping others along their journey with their mental health.
Class of 2025, Community Health, Psychology
I joined the Mental Health Reps because I want to help other students learn more about the great resources that CMHS has available for all kinds of mental health struggles someone may be going through.
I am most passionate about health equity and empowering people to feel confident in their self-care skills and their access to help through therapy.
Class of 2025, Biomedical & Chemical Engineering majors, Entrepreneurship & Engineering Management minors
I became a Mental Health Rep to uplift the same community (Jumbos!) that welcomed me with open arms when I transitioned from the West Coast to the Northeast. I also want to promote CMHS and other student-run mental health empowerment initiatives that are under-utilized here at Tufts!
I'm most interested in mindfulness and the various dimensions of self-care.
Class of 2026, Clinical Psychology and English majors
I became a Mental Health Rep because I am passionate about raising mental health awareness. I think that reducing stigma is important for everyone's general health, so I wanted to be a part of that on the Tufts campus.
I am most interested in psychopathology and cultural influences on mental health.
Mental Health Mini Grants
The Mental Health Mini Grant awards small grants (up to $500) to Tufts faculty, staff, and students who are part of the Medford/Somerville/SMFA campus to lead initiatives that promote mental health and emotional well-being.
All proposals must align with the CMHS mission to:
- Prevent and address behavioral and mental health challenges
- Raise awareness
- Promote personal growth, wellbeing, resiliency, self-acceptance, and/or interpersonal effectiveness
- Promote campus resources for mental health and emotional wellbeing
- Demonstrate a shared campus responsibility for mental health and emotional wellbeing
- Support a campus culture that recognizes mental health as a priority
Grant proposals must:
- Serve a population of Tufts students
- Engage students in mental health promotion (i.e., a program, event, or initiative) that focuses on at least one of the following:
- Communicates a message about mental health
- Include a detailed budget
- Uplift Tufts’ priorities to enhance diversity, inclusion, and sustainability
Grant awardees must:
- Agree to share learnings and outcomes
- Use the CMHS Mental Health Mini Grant logo on promotional and other distributed materials
- Add your event/program to the Tufts calendar with the “Nutrition and Wellness” tag
Please note that grant money cannot be used for:
- Stipends or gifts (but can be used for speaker fees)
- Individual conference attendance
- Off-campus meals
- Payment for students' work (i.e., paying a student for their time creating an event or program)
Introduction to Mindfulness Classes
Introduction to Mindfulness® is a four-week introduction to the practice of Mindfulness. It is offered to Tufts students for free. You will learn several tools, including meditation, breathing exercises, guided imagery, the body scan and more. Each of these practices are designed to deepen self-reflection, help you manage stress and enrich your life. The sessions meet in person once per week for 4 consecutive weeks. Attendance at all four weeks is required.
Mindfulness classes begin January 19. You can sign up at www.tinyurl.com/TuftsMindfulnessSpring2025
Please contact firstname.lastname@example.org if you have any questions.
Student-Athlete Mindfulness Project (SAMP)
The Student-Athlete Mindfulness Project (SAMP) is a program designed by student-athletes for student-athletes. SAMP aims to help student-athletes perform at a higher level in their sport, while navigating the daily stress and pressures of being a collegiate student-athlete. Many alumni of the program say that the weekly meditations and mindfulness techniques they learned have helped relieve stress, improve sleep, and benefit overall mental and emotional health.
All SAMP participants will receive pizza before each meeting, a free, 1-year subscription to Headspace, and a mindfulness journal.
SAMP will be on pause during Fall 2024. Please check back in Spring 2025 for updates and class offerings.
Feeling OK Challenge
It's normal to struggle with tough emotions, like uncertainty, comparison, anger, and regret. But these types of feelings are inevitable, and there are strategies to make them feel more manageable and less overwhelming. The Feeling OK Challenge is a free, 6-week email challenge to help you learn how. Plus, you can enter to win prizes each week for trying the tips we share in each weekly email.
Participants will receive a weekly email with strategies for coping with feelings that we feel on a regular basis, but might be uncomfortable, scary, or stigmatized. The goal isn’t to eliminate tough feelings from your life completely, but to better understand and utilize them. Each coping technique is brief, and tailored to fit into busy student lives.
Feeling OK will return in Spring 2025.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Fair
CMHS will host its 3rd annual Mental Health and Wellbeing Fair on February 26, 2025 from 11am-2pm at the Joyce Cummings Center. Join CMHS and some of your favorite centers, student groups, and departments for mental health resources, games, activities, free food, raffle prizes, and therapy dogs.
Please reach out to email@example.com with questions.