Struggling to manage the day-to-day stress of living in Lebanon right now? The Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Office of Human Resources (OHR) has you covered. A Break with my Colleagues is a series of talks dedicated to NDU’s internal community. Every week, NDU Faculty and Staff share their knowledge in short 45-minute presentations, with topics as diverse as house gardening, mental health, nutrition tips, and sports.
“This is a chance for all of us to relax, reconnect, and learn a few actionable skills to help with the stress of the past year,” explains Dr. Jennifer Abou Hamad, the Director of the OHR at NDU and main organizer. “NDU is a treasure trove of experts in all sorts of fields, so I thought it would be a good idea to share some of that expertise as a way of helping people through these difficult times.”
With an open invitation for faculty and staff members to submit their ideas, A Break with my Colleagues features an extremely diverse and ever-evolving set of topics. The current schedule – available through NDU’s email – features everything from “bodyweight exercises” to “how to plant vegetables at home”. Sessions are usually held at 12/12:30 p.m. or 5 p.m. to make them easier to slot into your day.
The Mental Health talk by Dr. Marie Khoury, University Counselor at NDU, provides a perfect example of the format. Over the course of her presentation, Dr. Khoury lays out the mechanisms of how people respond to stress and provides several exercises to help manage mental health. The topic is covered thoroughly, but is light enough for everyone to understand and implement her suggestions.
All previous talks – including Dr. Khoury’s – are recorded and made available on the University OneDrive for faculty and staff to access at their leisure; and if you ever want a break with your colleagues, you need only look at the schedule.