Booths lined Smith Plaza on April 2 during an Associated Students of the University of New Mexico event centered around self-care.
Students and faculty came together to promote on-campus resources at the self-care carnival.
ASUNM Vice President Emily Wilks and Outreach and Appointment Chair Emerald Goranson spearheaded the event.
“(UNM Students) should know that there are a lot of resources on campus, and there are a lot of people who care about them on campus,” Goranson said.
Tuesday not only marked the beginning of the Self-Care Care Carnival, but also Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). On-campus organizations like the Student Health and Counseling Center, LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center and others wore teal in honor of SAAM, and some informed students about sexual assault awareness through dialogue or games, and others distributed condoms.
Booths also focused on a self-care aspect.
Faith Renegar, a student working at the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) distributed Epsom salts and essential oils to help calm students’ nerves.
“If you’re healthy and you’re mentally sound you should do well in school — healthy body, healthy school. You have to be okay to be okay with everything else,” Renegar said.
Another booth held by the WRC, led by Marni Goldberg, a program specialist in the psychology department, promoted body positivity. Goldberg said the yearlong study the department participates in to reduce eating disorders and body dysmorphia is run by UNM students.
“This program is to help people figure out how to be healthy and not worry as much about what people think about them,” Goldberg said. “We need to be kinder to ourselves and others.”
A few booths away, Sophie Shemas, a program coordinator with the Dean of Students, had a booth representing LoboRESPECT.
Donning a teal jacket and a teal ribbon, Shemas said she was out to promote the SAAM National Day of Action. Shemas said she wanted to remind students of upcoming workshops and resources students have access to like the Peers for Advocacy Wellness and Safety (PAWS).
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According to the LoboRESPECT website, PAWS is a chartered student organization that aims to encourage students to be active bystanders and “Protect the Pack.”
Shemas said she also wants students to remember that the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center is a confidential reporting site for Title IX or sexual assault offenses.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center website, more than 90 percent of sexual assault survivors in college settings do not report their assault.
“We’re just hoping that folks know what resources they have on campus and know that if they have questions about consent they can always ask us,” Shemas said.
This month, Shemas said, the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center is focusing on a national campaign about consent.
“We use (consent) more often than we think we do — not only in our physical and sexual relationship with people, but in our relationships overall that we set boundaries with people in our life everyday. Those kinds of basic principles can be integrated into our sexual relationships with people as well,” Shemas said.
Anthony Jackson is the photo editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted by email at photoeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TonyAnjackson.
