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<p>LEHMAN TWP. &#8212; The motto of &#8220;laughter is the best medicine&#8221; came to fruition Tuesday during Penn State Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s first Mental Health Awareness Day.</p><p>Penn State Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Rehabilitation and Human Services program hosted a four-hour event that shined a light on a topic rarely discussed among college-bound students - stress management.</p><p>Mental Health Awareness Day offered the campus population a variety of activities designed to teach coping skills, including 15-minute massage sessions, playing with Play Dough, coloring, a Bouncy House, Twister and much more.</p><p>The event began at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Athletics &amp; Recreation Building on Penn State Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s campus in Lehman Township.</p><p>The Back Mountain campus&#8217; Student Activity Fee Committee and the Blue &amp; White Society funded the event, said Melisa Naylor, instructor and coordinator of the Rehabilitation and Human Services program at Penn State Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>&#8220;Some students are trying to balance a job, meeting school deadlines and chores to maintain a residence for the first time,&#8221; Naylor said.</p><p>All those stresses can cause students to indulge in self-destructive behaviors such as drugs and alcohol or unhealthy relationships, Naylor said.</p><p>&#8220;Students can lose focus, stop coming to classes and their grades decline,&#8221; Naylor said. &#8220;Mental health matters.&#8221;</p><p>The event was a big hit with the campus population. Groups of students picked up a t-shirt and a snack while deciding what activity to try.</p><p>Naylor and Rachel Rybicki, marketing communication specialist at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, got into the swing of things by demonstrating their Hula Hoop skills with students.</p><p>The result was group laughter.</p><p>Other students dressed up in silly costume props such as funny noses, big eyeglasses and party hats to take goofy group selfies.</p><p>First semester student Samantha Orth, of Larksville, said it is the &#8220;little things that can help to keep you calm and get through a stressful moment.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Self-care is important,&#8221; Orth said. &#8220;I believe mental health is not talked about in the media enough. You need to learn the tools to cope.&#8221;</p><p>Orth balances a job, classes and an off-campus residency. To help herself cope with everyday demands, she exercises, eats healthy, maintains a strong personal support system with family and friends and uses Netflix.</p><p>&#8220;I love the Hallmark Christmas movies,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is a guilty pleasure.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Marissa Duffy and Jesse Macko, both Penn State Wilkes-Barre students, play Twister during Mental Health Awareness Day held Tuesday at the Lehman Township campus. Students learned skills to cope with emotional distress. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL111115MentalHealth1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Marissa Duffy and Jesse Macko, both Penn State Wilkes-Barre students, play Twister during Mental Health Awareness Day held Tuesday at the Lehman Township campus. Students learned skills to cope with emotional distress. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL111115MentalHealth2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Marissa Duffy, Lexus Harris, Emily Garrity, Simone London and Jen Gabriel, all Penn State Wilkes-Barre students, take a break from the daily grind to be silly and blow off steam during the first Mental Health Awareness Day held Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL111115MentalHealth2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Marissa Duffy, Lexus Harris, Emily Garrity, Simone London and Jen Gabriel, all Penn State Wilkes-Barre students, take a break from the daily grind to be silly and blow off steam during the first Mental Health Awareness Day held Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State Wilkes-Barre students learn stress buster skills