Covid-19 Resources
Updated 10.1.2020
We’ve updated this list with new activities now that school is back in session (in various capacities) and the colder months of winter are approaching. We’ve also rearranged our list based on the DBT skills of Mindfulness, Wisemind ACCEPTS, and ABC PLEASE. If you’re having a crappy Covid day and would like to practice gaining mastery over any of these skills, you can Command+F to search for that skill and we’ve got a few recommended resources or activities listed underneath it.
From mindfulness to pop culture, from movement to good eats, we're thankful for all of these as we all navigate the world in its current state. Most resources listed are low cost or free and we hope you find them as helpful as we have. If you give anything on this list a try let us know either in the comments or on our Facebook or Instagram, we’d love to hear how it worked for you!
DBT Skill inspiration (all skills)
Free: To Hell and Back
Podcast on DBT skills, how to apply them and what in-depth application looks like. Charlie Swenson has also made several episodes on how to cope with the pandemic from a DBT perspective.
Free: Brene Brown
Brene Brown has spent over 20 years studying the emotions and experiences that bring meaning and purpose to our lives, her main takeaway is: We are hardwired for connection, and connecting requires courage, vulnerability, and conversation.
Free: DBT DT and ER Skills
Designed to help you learn how to come down from extreme emotions and regain control of your physical body.
Mindfulness
The practice of mindfulness doesn’t have to be a fancy yoga habit or impressive meditation skills, and the great thing is mindfulness can be learned. We have several articles on mindfulness and the different benefits of it and ways to incorporate it into your own life and believe these following resources can provide benefits of mindfulness to those that choose to use them.
Free: Insight Timer
This meditation app has been around for a while and has almost 220k reviews with an average of 4.9 out of 5, so to say this is a beloved app would be an understatement! There are over 45,000 guided meditations and unlike a lot of other apps they don’t say they’re free and then lock you out after a 10-day trial period. Right now all of their playlists are live and free, Insight is saying it’s their way of giving back to their community in this time of uncertainty, so take advantage of it!
Free: Smiling Mind
This company's mission is to “To provide accessible, life-long tools to support healthy minds.” This meditation app has programs for not only adults and the workplace, but also youths and the classroom, so it’s worth trying with your kids at home!
Free: UCLA App
This app is offered in Spanish and English and is a good getting started in meditation app with videos about how to get started, practical advice on supportive postures and the science of mindfulness.
Free: Simple Habit
Simple Habit is based on the idea that you even busy people can establish and benefit from a meditation habit. They have 5-minute free sessions they call “a vacation for your mind” that are goal or situationally based meditations for busy people.
Free: UCLA Guided Live Meditation
Hosted on Zoom at 12:30pm central time every Thursday the Mindful Awareness Podcast at the Hammer Museum is hosting free, drop-in 30-minute guided meditation sessions. You can downald the UCLA Mindful App, stream the sessions or download the podcast episodes.
Wisemind ACCEPTS (distraction). ACCEPTS is an acronym to remember all the different ways we can practice distraction. We are currently living in a time where there are many uncontrollable difficulties, taking healthy “mental breaks” by practicing distraction can help keep us grounded and in control.
Use this skill when your goal is to tolerate your current experience. Don’t use this if it’s more effective to problem solve! For example, we cannot “problem solve” the need to socially distance. It is beyond our control. We can control how we cope with the stress of socially distancing. Here are some ideas:
Activities
Car-tour: Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum
Don’t miss the Arboretum’s spectacular winter exhibit, Illumination.New this year, the exhibition will stay open later, until 10:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and will be open on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas, as well as New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Expressing the Arboretum’s mission and identity as The Champion of Trees, Illumination is a must-see exhibition and holiday tradition enjoyed by all.
Free: Where to sled in the city
When you’ve decided it’s time to just embrace the cold, you might as well have a little fun, regardless of if you have kids or just want to feel like one yourself!
Holiday lights at the Brookfield Zoo
Chicagoland’s largest and longest-running lights festival with over a million twinkling LED lights, a 41-foot-tall tree, and larger-than-life LED animal sculptures.
Contributing
Grants for Artists and Nonprofit Workers
This is a list of small emergency grants available to artists and nonprofit employees who often don’t qualify for traditional assistance programs.
Grants for Food Service Workers
From dining bond initiatives to links to local funds across the country, there are a ton of good resources for place to seek help or donate if you’re able to.
Resources for undocumented people who are dealing with this pandemic. Listed are both national programs and state-by-state resources.
Volunteering
There are so many ways to volunteer! Money, time, labor, even just listening can all be ways to help out our fellow humans.
Ensuring seniors have access to hand sanitizer, health supplements, toiletries, and food, My Block My Hood My City uses donated funds to support their ongoing operations and continued efforts to provide Chicago seniors with much-needed resources.
It is always a good time to give blood or platelets! It’s also safe to do so in this pandemic as long as you follow the precautions you’re already used to, wearing a mask, washing your hands, and for the majority of your visit, staying 6’ away from other people.
Find a cause near you that needs volunteers, or submit your own event/cause to be listed.
Comparisons
Free: Window View
Compare your view to the view of random strangers. Sometimes comparisons can help us feel connected.
Note: Be cautious if your attempts to compare actually make your mood worse!
Emotions
Free: Quote of the Day
The Quote of The Day Show a daily dose of inspiration, featuring well-known speakers and teachers. Each episode spotlights an inspiring quote and 5-10 minute motivational audio clip to help you live a life you love.
Free: Good News Network
Good News Network has been around since 1997, emphasizing good news occurring around the world it’s been seen as a leader of positivity and hope. This is a straightforward way to practice Accumulating Positives Short Term
Pushing away:
Put your worries “on the shelf” throw yourself into enjoying live music.
Experience live music virtually, turn it up loud and dance it out! Check out the Hideout Inn, The Empty Bottle, and The Experimental Sound Studio
Thoughts
Tour your own city like a tourist from the comfort of your own couch!
Suggested donation: Virtual creepy tours
When you need to shift your focus there’s nothing like choosing to dabble in fear to get your mind off everything else in the world!
Sensations
Free: Lizzo Flute Meditation
Lizzo is absolutely already our reigning queen, but did you know she lead a flute meditation session? In case you missed her mass meditation where she encourages her viewers to “...eliminate the fear as much as we can, as we work together...“ you can watch the whole session in full here.
ABC PLEASE skills:
Emotion regulation strategies to help us manage our mood. If your emotions are interfering with your day or causing you distress, try out the ABC PLEASE skills to reduce your vulnerability to Emotionmind!
Accumulating Positives
Many museums are open again, with advance tickets, reservations and different precautions, be sure to check out the specifics before you go, but a museum can be a nice place to escape to when you need to get out of the house and a fresh view.The Center for Intuitive and Outsider ArtMuseum of Contemporary Art American Writers MuseumChicago History Museum
Stay up to date on what’s happening over the weekend’s here. Pile in the car everyone! It’s time to take a road trip to get out of the city. This list has trips and ideas outlined to help you get started ranging from 2 to 5 hours outside of the City. Don’t forget there are National Park options close by too!Sign up to hear when the Floating Cinema tickets are back on sale. A unique experience, book a single boat with those in your bubble, and experience a fun different and probably cold way to see a movie.
Spice up your weekends with an at home date by incorporating a drag show, joining in on a digital cosplay and get take out from your favorite local spot!
Build Mastery:
Build and increase your confidence by learning something new! Career, academic or personal goals may be on hold right now but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to challenge ourselves in other ways.
Learn how to play an instrument online
There are so many awesome things we can do without living where we live. Add learning an instrument to your list!
Free: Download free musical scores
Nab some music to go with your newly acquired skill.
Free: TED Talks (Like, the real ones)
Attend a TED talk virtually, learn something cool, and share it with a loved one when you next catch up!
Free: Free Ivy League Online Courses
Take one of over 450 classes from 8 of the top universities in the country including Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, and Columbia universities, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Free: Cooking Class
Michelin-Starred Chef Massimo Bottura hosted 3 months of cooking classes on his Instagram and you can still watch and learn from them.
Free for 2 months: SkillShare
Ranging from Animation to Business Analytics to Productivity, SkillShare offers tons of classes on many different topics! While we’ll never promote “hustle culture” if you feel like diving into some new skills, this is a great resource!
PLEASE skills:
Taking care of our physical health in order to benefit our emotional health. We are living in a time where we are more isolated and therefore more vulnerable to over/under eating, over/under sleeping and inactivity. There is a lot that is out of control right now and one thing we can take control of is how we care for our physical bodies. Focus one letter of the acronym for a week and then build off of that!
Here are some ideas on how to practice PLEASE skills right now:
P treat Physical illness
A few things have been made easier to navigate this year, and seeing a doctor seems to be one of those things. If you are feeling ill for any reason, don’t hesitate to use the telehealth options to see a doctor!
If you are diagnosed with Covid-19, here are two different resources on how to take care of yourself at home.
If someone you live with is diagnosed, here are suggested ways of taking care of and living with them.
Limit screen time
Free: Zoo lights at Lincoln Park Zoo
ZooLights features hundreds of luminous displays and incredible seasonal activites, all under the glow of 2.5 million lights. The display will ensure that it will be the hap, hap, happiest season of all!
Free: The Garfield Conservatory
With plenty of space to roam this beautiful space gives Chicagoans a welcome and free respite from the winter chill.
Open House Chicago is expanding to be a 10 event over 20 neighborhoods this year, running from October 16-25 with some significant modifications. No interior tours of the various buildings will be allowed, with visitation instead focused on the building exteriors and surrounding neighborhoods.
Eat (mindfully) navigating the stresses of life on an empty stomach is hard, managing life in Covidland while hungry or overly full is essentially impossible.
Free: Good and Cheap
(Available in Spanish and English)This is a great resource for people with limited income. The PDF version is free and has been downloaded over a million times!
Free: Budget Bytes
Budget Bytes is the OG go-to for quality recipes. You literally cannot go wrong with a BB meal, and their goal is to make good food affordable to everyone.
7-day trial: Struggle Meals
$19.99 a year after a 7 day trial, you get “All the food, home and travel TV content you want- from groundbreaking originals to classic series and documentaries.
All plans include:
Unlimited watching across all devices
No ads
7 days free to check it out
No commitment. Cancel Anytime.
Avoid mood altering substances
Free: I Am Sober
I Am Sober more than just a free sobriety counter app. Along with tracking your sober days, it helps you build new habits and provides ongoing motivation by connecting you to a wide network of people all striving for the same goal: staying sober one day at a time.
S balanced sleep
Free with in-app purchases available: Sleep Cycle (website and app)
Our blog editors favorite sleep app (really, I’m writing this!) Sleep Cycle’s coolest feature is the ability to set your alarm either for a set time, or a range, letting the app know the latest you can wake up and allowing it wake you up from 15 to 30 minutes before that, as it best determines based on your, wait for it, sleep cycle! It compiles a plethora of information and shows you trends over time as you use it. It’s a really nifty app to use.
Exercise
PW: celebrate
Get your yoga on with a local gym!
Free: Hike and see eagles at Starved Rock State Park
Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you have to do is haul your crew to Starved Rock State Park for hiking with a stellar view. Starting in mid-January, thousands of eagles migrate to Starved Rock State Park and stay through March. They’re easy to spot as they soar through the sky or perch on the treetops. Bring binoculars!
Free: Exercise/Yoga
Get your “social fitnessing” on and sweat it out to one of these free classes!
Offered Online: Room to Breathe Yoga
Room to Breathe is a therapy practice that is home to Center, a psychologically informed yoga studio and they're offering online classes. These classes are a wonderful way to practice P.L.E.A.S.E. skills and improve distress tolerance capabilities.
A great resource for movement! Adriene has yoga for emotional states such as courage or change, or you can search by are of the body that is feeling tight, or just do a quick 10-minute stretch to get your blood flowing.
Just what it sounds like!
14 days free, $9.99 a month after: Jessamyn Stanley Body Positive Yoga
The Underbelly believes you should not make yourself small. Take up space and come just as you to this refreshing yoga teacher’s virtual classes.
First 10 days free: The Be.come Project
Focused on body positivity and believing that before and after pictures are garbage, The Become Project posts new workouts every Monday that are 25minutes long, and everyone does the same routine all week.