Wellness Resources

Whether on the front lines of patient care and essential support or adjusting to remote work while sheltering in place, many BSD staff are facing new daily demands. In addition to the practical resources for coronavirus safety, childcare, remote work, and more that are available here, we have compiled some wellness resources on this page that may help support your mental and physical health, make it easier to stay connected to loved ones and community, and provide some much-needed relaxation and fun.

We know that there is a very wide range of resources available and what we have collected here is just a sample. If you would like to suggest any specific resources to be added to this page, please use this form.

Don’t miss the BSD Zoom Wellness Series. Every weekday from 12-12:30pm, tune in for information, guided practice, and tools and tips to maintain wellness.
The UChicago Office of Spiritual Life offers online programming including meditation, yoga, and casual virtual chats.
Perspectives, our Employee Assistance Program, provides around-the-clock support to help manage stress and anxiety and get help locating additional resources such as child and elder care. This services is available by calling 800-456-6327, visiting Perspectives Online, or via the Spark App (username: UNI500 / password: perspectives).
The apps Calm and Headspace are each offering a selection of guided meditations for free. Headspace is also offering its premium app, Headspace Plus, for free to healthcare workers.
Ten Percent Happier is offering a free live guided meditation every weekday at 2pm Central, a collection of other resources, and free access to their paid app for healthcare workers.
Woebot is a free app based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

UChicago's Virtual Dance Lab has more than two dozen classes of various genres and levels, free for staff.
UChicago Athletics & Recreation offers select FitChicago courses online for free.
From boot camp to yoga, YMCA offers free online fitness classes.
Planet Fitness is offering free online workouts on Facebook Live, and Gold's Gym offers free access to their home workouts with DJ mixes until May 31.
Down Dog is giving free access to their collection of yoga and fitness apps to healthcare workers.
Peloton is offering free 30-day trial to their fitness app.
Kids can join you in enjoying yoga with Cosmic Kids classes on YouTube.

UChicago Arts is sharing online lectures, readings, and sound sessions.
Harper Lectures presented by UChicago faculty will be online this spring.
Take a virtual tour of Chicago’s museums, libraries, and cultural institutions from home, or “travel” further afield with virtual tours of famous museums around the world.
Ready to learn a new skill? Both Fender and Gibson are offering three months of free guitar lessons.
If you’d rather explore the visual arts, Nikon is offering their online photography classes for free through the end of April, and you can stream more than 400 episodes of Bob Ross’s The Joy of Painting on YouTube.
Class Central has created a collection of more than 450 free online courses from Ivy League institutions. UChicago faculty offer several free online courses as well.
Springer Nature has made more than 500 online textbooks temporarily available for free. There are also many open-access JSTOR books and journals accessible to the public.
A few resources for kids: Scholastic is offering free online courses; children’s book author Mo Willems streams a daily lunchtime doodle; Dolly Parton reads a nightly bedtime story.

NPR publishes an extensive list of daily live virtual concerts, organized by musical genre.
The Metropolitan Opera is streaming a different opera each night for free.
The National Theatre is streaming a production a week each Thursday.
You can stream Broadway musicals for free for one week with a trial from the service BroadwayHD, and Andrew Lloyd Webber is streaming a production of one of his musicals on YouTube every week.
If a dance party is more your style, check out the DJs streaming live sets on Instagram. Brooklyn dance club Nowadays is offering different virtual content every night.
If you are missing sports, the NHL, NBA, and NFL are all offering limited-time free access to classic games and other content, and PBS is streaming Ken Burns's Baseball documentary free.
The website bored.solutions collects many more ideas and challenges to try.

Use Zoom, Hangouts, FaceTime, and other apps to stay connected to family and friends.
Liven up your Zoom calls with virtual backgrounds.
The UChicago Citizen offers more tips and tricks to keep your Zoom sessions secure and fun.
Play digital or analog games over video chat.
Netflix Party lets you watch TV and movies together with synchronized video and group chat.

Support Chicago small businesses by shopping local from home.
Thank a healthcare provider with #thousandsofdifferences.
The University has compiled ways to help others during the crisis, including healthcare workers, South Side small businesses, and food insecure members of the community.
University of Chicago Medicine offers more ways to give back and support the community.