The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University started a “Coping with COVID Burnout” webinar series that has met every Tuesday at 2 p.m. since Feb. 16. This series covers topics from anxiety, stress and depression to sleep and nutrition.  

The series came to life due to the efforts of the Cooperative Extension Service of NMSU. Karim Martinez, a family life and child development specialist, described the Cooperative Extension Service as “the community outreach arm in the College of ACES.” 

According to Martinez, this series is based on a similar program that was done last year. It has been expanded to accommodate other concerns that have been raised as the pandemic continues.  

“Last year, we actually did a four-part series over stress and resilience,” Martinez said. “We had been getting some questions about anxiety and depression, so that’s why we added this series.” 

This seven-part series is meant to help people who are struggling with fatigue.  

Nick Fox, a freshman experiencing COVID burnout at NMSU, joined the live webinar on March 8 and learned about the power of social connection. Fox said that the webinar was a great way for people to connect. 

“There were several people commenting and they were very interactive with the webinar and they were willing to interact and give responses to the questions asked,” Fox said. 

According to Martinez, each webinar is recorded and available to people who are unable to attend live. 

“It is open to everyone and we are recording them and posting them so that people can see them afterwards if they can’t catch the live sessions,” Martinez said. “I have had emails from people saying when they can’t catch the live one, they see the recording.” 

Kaitlyn Walker, a sophomore at NMSU, has been enjoying watching the recorded webinars on her own time.  

“I liked that it was available online after the fact,” Walker said. “If we’re not able to make certain times, they have it uploaded to where we can go back and watch it.” 

Walker said she has learned a great deal about anxiety and how to cope with it from these webinars and she wants to share what she has learned. 

“I can share it with other people and say, ‘this really helped me, this brought a lot of light to my situation, see if it will help you’,” Walker said. 

The “Coping with COVID Burnout” series has reached many people. 

“We have people from throughout New Mexico,” Martinez said. “It’s a statewide collaboration and we’ve been reaching a statewide audience.” 

The “Coping with COVID” series is available to everyone. People can sign up at the College of ACES website.