The Pride Center, located in the Ceddia Union Building, held a Covid-19 support group this past Thursday. 

The support group was designed to help students process and cope with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The goal was to open a dialogue between students and work through what students are going through right now.

Mike Fox, a graduate student, organized and held the event at the Pride Center. Fox started the event after working toward their master’s in social work. Fox said they had many opportunities to process Covid-19 while in the social work program, which is what inspired them to start this event. 

“It was created for a class project, and my master’s in the social work program. Also, you know, in the social work program we’ve gotten quite a good number of opportunities to process Covid,” Fox said.

Fox realized not everybody may have had the experience that they did while being enrolled in the social work program.

“I wasn’t sure if the rest of the student body had the chance to process covid and what was happening. The concept that we had was to help people start processing living in a global pandemic,” Fox said.

After everyone introduced themselves, discussion began. What followed was discourse involving how each student feels about the struggles of Covid, how students feel about going back to campus and what it is like meeting classmates in person once again.

Fox engaged with each student at the event, making sure that everyone’s voice was heard and recognized. Fox asked questions to make sure everyone got their thoughts across and made sure each student felt comfortable during the discussion. 

Fox discussed their own experiences with covid and what it was like for them. Fox related the student’s experiences with their own. 

Fox wanted to make sure each student felt that they were heard, and that it was okay to speak up during the discussion. They established that it is important for students to take care of themselves in these challenging times. 

“We are often asked to continue as if everything is normal,” Fox said. “It’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to acknowledge that you’re in a messed-up situation. It’s okay to lean on and learn from each other.”

The Pride Center will be holding another Covid Support Group on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 5 p.m. Coming up sooner, the Pride Center will also be holding an event known as Queersgiving on Nov. 19. 

“It’ll be a space for people to meet and an opportunity for people to come together as a community,” Fox said. 

The Pride Center is open on the second floor of the Ceddia Union Building Monday through Friday, 9-5.

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