Mental Health and Wellness

Star Wars Mindful Matters, is a new series of shorts on Star Wars Kids hosted by Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and the upcoming Disney+ series Tales of the Jedi. The series, a collaboration among Eckstein, Citrone 33, and Lucasfilm, aims to bring mindfulness to the forefront and focus on the lessons that our favorite Star Wars characters and stories have taught us over the years. In each video, Eckstein leads one Star Wars-inspired mindful exercise, teaching viewers that it only takes a moment to make a powerful difference in one’s day. Each video is clinically based on evidence-informed educational resources provided by On Our Sleeves®, the movement for children’s mental health, powered by the behavioral health experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. https://www.starwars.com/news/ashley-eckstein-star-wars-mindful-matters

Citrone 33 and EMBRACE Pittsburgh believe you should always keep a kind and grateful thought in your back pocket. A little something to hold close for when you need a reminder of the good things in life. This belief inspired us to create The Little Black and Gold Book of Gratitude. We are personally grateful for the love and sense of belonging that Steeler Nation provides, and how we’ve united our city. We are proud to share this project with you and hope it adds to the connection we all have with the team and each other. Our goal is that The Little Black and Gold Book of Gratitude will remind you of life’s silver linings, even during some of your most challenging times. Citrone 33 and the Pittsburgh Steelers are working from the same playbook to fight hunger. With a small donation, you’ll get the Little Black and Gold Book of Gratitude, filled with 33 gratitude quotes and reflections from Pittsburgh Steelers legends.  https://citrone33.org/book-of-gratitude/

Citrone 33 and EMBRACE Pittsburgh know that incredible feeling of fulfillment and sense of accomplishment when you achieve your goals. With this in mind, we were inspired to create The Little Black and Gold Book of Goals. And we are so fortunate to have been able to team up with the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and Mario Lemeiux Foundation to bring you this collection of inspiring quotes. We hope you enjoy using the Penguins’ insights to reflect on your past triumphs and focus on the goals you’re still working to achieve. Our intention is for you to revisit The Little Black and Gold Book of Goals when you need a boost of encouragement on your journey. In this book, you will find 33 quotes from past and present Pittsburgh Penguins stars about their goals on and off the ice. 

MindHacks is a program developed in partnership between the EMBRACE Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and UPMC Western Behavioral Health. The project is rooted in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and is designed to help middle school students develop a healthy mindset to enhance interpersonal relationships and connectedness, develop effective coping strategies, and improve overall well being. https://www.embracepittsburgh.org/mindhacks/

The Children Overcoming Obstacles and Limits (COOL) Zone was developed, with the support of the Penguins Foundation, by the Matilda Theiss Early Childhood Behavioral Health Program, part of UPMC Western Behavioral Health. Shaped like an “igloo” to provide a safe space for children, the COOL Zone is a behavioral health program for young children who exhibit symptoms of or who currently have a behavioral health diagnosis. This program increases accessibility to high-quality mental health services by partnering with existing schools and child-oriented settings within Allegheny County. Within these child-friendly settings, the Penguins COOL Zone serves children experiencing a range of behavioral and emotional disruptions such as aggression, anxiety, depression, withdrawal, family disruption, emotional difficulties, traumatic responses, and more. EMBRACE Pittsburgh, funded by Citrone 33, is a proud supporter of the COOL Zone program. Thanks to their assistance, the Penguins Foundation is committed to build 10 total igloos in the region in the very near future with 7 constructed to date (Summer 2022). https://www.pittsburghpenguinsfoundation.org/program/c-o-o-l-zone/

Unpack U provided students with an extensive guide that contains national, local, and university-specific mental health resources. The resource guide allows college students to find up-to-date information about academic courses, on-campus resources, student organizations, and additional resources offered at their universities and in the greater Pittsburgh community that support their mental well-being. https://unpacku.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/UnpackU_Resource_Guide.pdf

Unpack Wellness is weekly emails and social media content that are edited by Dr. Carla Chugani to help you develop a greater understanding of a variety of practices for emotional well-being that can easily be integrated into everyday life. Practices include a focus on mindfulness, coping skills, practices for dealing with intense emotions as well as foster more positive emotions, skills for developing healthy relationships and communication with others, and practices for tolerating difficult situations that can't be changed.  Many of the skills Dr. Carla teaches come from an evidence-based treatment called Dialectical Behavior Therapy, although she also writes her reactions to what's going on in the world and takes requests for topics. https://unpacku.org/unpackwellness/

Unpack U and the University of Pittsburgh collaborated to launch Care For U - featuring JuJu Smith-Schuster and Nick DiGiovanni. In Flex with JuJu, Steeler’s star receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and trainer Sonia Ruef guide you through three different circuit workouts - all of which can be done in a dorm room, a bedroom, outside, or anywhere you can use your own body weight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HayFmcHUVsE&t=6s

Unpack U and the University of Pittsburgh collaborated to launch Care For U - featuring JuJu Smith-Schuster and Nick DiGiovanni. In Love Your Mug, Master Chef finalist Nick DiGiovanni shows you how to make a pumpkin mug cake in the confines of your safe space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7E1Xx1uIN4&t=13s

An ongoing series, CommUnity highlights the passions and skills of our community by showcasing different ways to practice self-care. An individual chosen by Unpack U presents on a topic of their choice through their preferred platform (social media takeover, Unpack U blog post, YouTube video, webinar). These free sessions allow students and community members who have a talent, passion, interests or skill to share their knowledge with the greater Unpack U audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXI_ew0AwMc&t=7s

Unpack U delivered 20,000 Steel Safe Kits to 9 Pittsburgh universities. The kits included a Lug Luggage face mask, hand sanitizer and mental wellness tips from our partner, The JED Foundation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRlstfqbHM&t=2s

Pittsburgh Kind is an initiative to promote the benefits of kindness for the doer and receiver. Through this initiative, EMBRACE Pittsburgh shows that it only takes one act by one person to start a chain reaction of kindness. Coloring pages and postcards were provided to participants to spread kindness to their loved ones and encourage others to practice kindness in their daily lives. https://www.embracepittsburgh.org/pittsburgh-kind/

Pittsburgh Penguins players, led by Bryan Rust, have teamed up to buy four season tickets to benefit children with a behavioral health diagnosis. Bryan’s initiative, known as Seats for Strength, has given children and their families a unique opportunity to attend a Penguins home game at no cost. EMBRACE Pittsburgh supplemented these efforts by adding $25 per ticket in loaded value for food and beverages. The initiative paused during COVID-19. https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pens-players-rust--bjugstad-announce-seats-for-strength/c-310197006

Beyond Sport, National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Centerstone, Citrone 33 Foundation, and USA Cycling created the “Stay in the Game Network” to cope with the effects of the unprecedented time of global instability and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The network encourages all to advance their shared mission of using sport as a platform, catalyst, and channel for industries to work together to change the narrative on mental health to one of hope, prevention, and healing. Penguins Foundation representatives attended the forum in June of 2019 with Citrone 33 in New York City. http://beyondsport.org/event/stay-in-the-game-network/

In April of 2020 C33 shared some of the resources they had been working on to assist youth with developing effective coping skills with the public in a campaign called Team Up to Cope with COVID-19. At a time of great uncertainty these resources proved to be impactful.  With social distancing, self-isolation and stay-at-home quarantines underway, schools and universities closing campuses, public events and sports seasons postponed, and fear of the unknown, EMBRACE Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation launched  “Team-Up to Cope with COVID.” It’s a public awareness campaign aimed at practicing thoughtful, basic lifelong coping skills, including self-soothing and other techniques, that are especially helpful and hopeful reminders in the midst of a pandemic or crisis. The “Team-Up to Cope with COVID” project focuses on addressing the emotional well-being of individuals and families during a time of particular vulnerability to emotional problems. Practical tips and resources are available online from therapists and experts, along with a series of seven “MindHack” short-form videos inspired by professional athletes we admire and respect. Their messages are intended to help an individual’s coping skills to reduce daily stress and to be mindful, empathetic, and accepting of yourself and others. For every share of the MindHack video series, C33 donated $4.12 to the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Emergency Action Fund, where mental health is a key priority. This campaign raised $41,200. https://www.pittsburghpenguinsfoundation.org/story/team-cope-covid-campaign-aims-address-timely-need-practice-skills-drills-manage-new-stressors/