Cerritos College’s Student Health Services hosted a creative journaling meetup at the Success Center on Sept. 24, giving attendees the opportunity to de-stress and learn about the benefits of journaling.
Attendees received free blank journals and a wide selection of supplies, including colorful markers, pens and decorative items to personalize the journals and begin their first entry.
The creative journaling meetups began as a way for the college to provide students with an accessible and engaging activity to support their mental well-being and connect with one another.
Angela Williams, the event organizer and manager of mental health services at Cerritos College, explained that journaling is a great way for anyone to manage their emotions and daily life in a healthy manner and can be practiced anytime and anywhere.
“It doesn’t have to be a long session. I mean, there is even a lot of different kinds of journaling. You can do bullet journaling or even answer one-question prompts. It can also be very centered on something that you’re trying to work through, and you jot down something small every day,” she said.
Serenity Porras, 25, a first-year medical assistant student, was a first time attendee but commented that she has journaled since middle school, which she saw as an outlet to express her emotions.
Porras mentioned “I don’t like to tell my business to other people. I’m not comfortable with it, so when I journal, it’s just me personally. I don’t have to worry about if I’m spelling wrong, if I’m saying things wrong or if something makes sense. It makes sense to me because these are my feelings, and it has helped me understand myself more.”
She would definitely recommend other students try journaling as an outlet and a way to focus on themselves.
Michael Badillo, 31, a second-year Master of Social Work Student at California State University, Fullerton and a MSW Intern who was present at the event highlighted that journaling has been very beneficial for him in many ways.
“I was really going through a lot and was really struggling to keep all my thoughts and tasks together, and journaling helped me kind of keep track of that. So it helped me organize my thoughts, get them out of my head and stop scrambling to think,” Badillo stated.
Badillo likes to keep track of his progress in different areas of his life. One of his many journals, which he maintains on his phone using an app, includes taking a daily picture.
He believes it is a great way to keep track of your life without having to write anything and appreciates having the ability to look back and see where he was at a certain point in his life.
Badillo highly encourages students to check out the creative journaling meetups when they are scheduled and believes it helps students get in touch with themselves.
“I think it really helps you become truer to yourself and just see who you are as a person and what you need.”
The next scheduled meetup will be held at the Success Center, LC 137, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Oct. 29. It will be a silent journaling event where students can journal with each other in a quiet environment.
