Lovers of beer shots¹ rejoiced at the recent message from Dalhousie’s Vice President People and Culture, Grace Jefferies-Aldredge, about a new series of Power Hours supporting mental resilience. For the uninitiated, this trusted source defines Power Hour as an “hour in which you drink 60 beer shots, one per minute.” For the rest of us (of the metalhead vintage, anyway), PowerHour was the Heavy Metal weekly segment on MuchMusic.

For Jefferies-Aldredge, however, Dalhousie’s Power Hour is neither of these things. Rather it is intended to offer “faculty and staff a supportive space to explore resilience, exchange experiences, and practice simple, effective strategies that strengthen mental well-being”.

Why would we need such a supportive space, you ask? Well, Dalhousie recognizes that “.…many employees have faced anxiety, burnout, and change fatigue during a demanding year.” Read the room much?

Like many of you, we were disappointed to learn that Dalhousie’s PowerHour includes no Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica OR beer shots and instead involves strategies to reduce stress and anxiety, and to learn emotional intelligence. In this vein, we offer additional suggestions for a monthly PowerHour event:

1. Coping Strategies for When Your Workplace Doesn’t Love You Back
2. Mindfulness as an Alternative to Passive-Aggressive Emails
3. Yoga for Bent Out of Shape Academics
4. 2-Factor Authentication and You: Rage Room Edition
5. How to Use DalBuy to Buy Happiness
6. Crafting Picket Signs as a Hobby
7. Exercise by Rolling Your Eyes at the Board
8. Deep Breathing Includes Sighs and Guffaws
9. Limit Screen Time by Reducing the Refresh Rate
10. Meditations on Why HR was Renamed People and Culture
11. ROMEO, ROMEO: A workshop on where to find anything on the Dal website
12. Meditate to the new holiday playlist and enjoy the silence

Foornotes

Footnotes

1. Vanilla-citrus Spanish liqueur layered with heavy cream and served in small glasses resembling mini beer mugs ↩