Join UK Women’s Forum in April for Conversations About Mental Health
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 16, 2021) — Check in with your emotional well-being this month with two programs from the University of Kentucky Women’s Forum. Mental health is the theme for the April professional development session and monthly “Coffee and Connect” programming. Don’t miss these final opportunities for professional development with the Women’s Forum this semester!
On Tuesday, April 20, from 11 a.m.–noon (on Zoom), Ann Bassoni, mental health counselor with the UK Office of Work-Life, will present “Emotional Well-Being During a Pandemic.” In this session, the discussion will focus on the challenges individuals and families are facing and how these have changed during the course of COVID-19. But why stop with identifying the challenges? Come up with your own emotional well-being plan while discussing various ways to check your emotional health and make adjustments as needed.
Register for this free virtual event here: https://uky.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qdu-urDIuHtxpOcPFuvQ4yvHb6srsywjL.
This month’s Coffee & Connect will feature a conversation with Crystal Wilkinson, associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky. Wilkinson, who was recently appointed 2021-22 Kentucky Poet Laureate by Gov. Andy Beshear, is the award-winning author of "The Birds of Opulence," whose characters struggle with mental illness. The novel won the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. Nominated for both the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Wilkinson has received recognition from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Kentucky Arts Council, the Mary Anderson Center for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and is a recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing. Wilkinson has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including most recently in the Oxford American and Southern Cultures. The Coffee & Connect event will be held from 8:30–9:30 a.m. Friday, April 30, via Zoom.
Register to join this virtual conversation here: https://uky.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkdOirqj4qEtcFMdAJJqP62Q50WcIgf7cV.
Along with this month’s Coffee & Connect, Kentucky Humanities provided 15 copies of "The Birds of Opulence" by Wilkinson as giveaways. This program is part of Kentucky Humanities’ statewide literacy initiative, Kentucky Reads. For more information about Kentucky Reads and events taking place throughout the state, visit www.kyhumanities.org.
Please visit the UK Women’s Forum website for more details about these and other virtual events. Please direct questions to UKWF@uky.edu.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.