FOCUS ON SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLNESS

BY JOANNA BARRETT, LMHC, E-RYT EPSILON EPSILON 2007 /JWU NORTH MIAMI

The Women’s Wellness Initiative has six specific dimensions to promote optimal health and well-being among our sorority members. One in particular, Social Wellness, offers each member the opportunity to consider how to impact the greater good with one’s actions and take an active role in their communities.

A woman who embodies healthy social wellness develops positive relationships within herself and her communities, such as sorority, school, career, family, and peers. But what happens when a global pandemic impacts social wellness?

Experts are now examining how emotional health and social skills tie together during and after the pandemic. Highlighting the social aspect of emotional health, especially several years after the start of the pandemic, has increased awareness of the impact COVID-19 has had on the public’s social-emotional health.

The Repercussions of the Pandemic

The influence of COVID-19 has led some people toward isolation from social connections and the need to cope with emotional struggles, primarily an increase in social anxiety and depression. Even among the members of Alpha Sigma Tau, where social bonds are usually strong, the pandemic may have had a negative effect on sorority members’ social-emotional wellness. Joining an AΣT collegiate chapter can help young adults in college to feel a sense of belonging. In making those social connections as young adults, sorority women are led to build lifelong friendships and establish a lifetime involvement with their organization.

However, some sorority events did not occur in the last few years due to pandemic restrictions. The absence of social events, perhaps with the lack of social support, limits the healthy development of connections and bonding between our young sorority women. Communication among sorority members and interactions with the world was likely stifled, as in-person meetings may not have occurred and recruitment or new member events would have been limited.

Emerging from a Pandemic

Luckily, key aspects of life affected by COVID-19 are shifting, hopefully for the better. We should not forget that there are many ways to cope with social anxiety, communicate clearly with others, and make new friends as a young adult. As we adjust to a “new normal,” self-care habits, no matter how small, must be prioritized alongside academics and sorority life. Social-emotional wellbeing is at the forefront of our focus to help women struggling with their mental and social health.