SHARE Communities
SHARE Communities are weekly student-led groups where peers with similar interests, concerns, or wellness goals can find community and social connection that goes beyond surface-level. They are places to step away from the grind and let down the mask, where mutual support, imperfection, and “real” conversations are the expectation rather than the exception. SHARE Communities were created to combat loneliness on campus by giving students a place to be themselves and feel at home, and where their resources and wisdom can directly benefit others going through similar struggles.
Any UT student may submit an interest form and attend any open SHARE Community at any time of the semester. Submitting an interest form is not a commitment, just an introduction to connect you with our peer facilitators!
If you’ve participated in any Community below in a previous semester and want to come back, great! We just request that you fill out a NEW interest form to help us have a more accurate picture of how many people are interested in attending this Spring.
Spring 2025 SHARE Communities
AnxieTEA
- Tuesdays beginning 2/4
- 5:15-6:15 p.m.
- Longhorn Wellness Center, SSB 1.106
- Ishan Baker, Christa Coe, Riley Jorgenson, Nick Overturf
Life is full of events that can bring up anxious thoughts and feelings, so come spill the tea with us! Although our experiences vary from person to person and day to day, lots of us can relate to feeling overwhelmed, perplexed, or even ashamed of our anxiety at times. You’re not alone! Connect with a cozy, non-clinical peer community each week for a (literal) cup of hot tea, conversation, mutual validation, and coping strategies! No formal diagnosis necessary.
Belonging Beyond Borders
- Wednesdays beginning 2/5
- 5-6 p.m.
- RLP 0.108
- Evelin Crisostomo & Shreya Dheenan
Being an immigrant – or a child of immigrants - comes with a unique mix of challenges and triumphs, and this community is here to explore them all! This is our space to explore and celebrate the immigrant experience—honoring the stories that shape who we are, where we’ve come from, and where we’re headed. Together we’ll dive into the nuances of finding a sense of belonging, the pressures that come with being an immigrant or child of immigrants, and the strength it takes to bridge identities and traditions. Join us as we validate our experiences, nurture reflection and healing, and embrace our beautiful complexities.
Bevo's Broken Hearts Club
- Tuesdays beginning 2/4
- 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
- RLP 0.124
- Belle Hazzard, JJ Song & Robby Walia
Breakups – whether romantic, platonic, or familial – can be challenging and lonely. If you’re brokenhearted and feeling alone, we’re here to remind each other that we aren’t! In this peer-led community, we will vent about our broken hearts, encourage healing and self-reflection, and discover what healthy relationships can look like by building new ones together.
Black Sheep: Outsiders Together
- Tuesdays beginning 2/4
- 6:15 - 7:15 p.m.
- Longhorn Wellness Center, SSB 1.106
- Saniya Ali, Christa Coe & Kaili Doble
Sometimes we feel like we’re on the outside of our communities, be it family, friends, religious community, identity-based community, on campus, etc., leading to feelings of isolation and loneliness (and that’s okay!). Come to Black Sheep as we navigate these feelings, find ways to build confidence expressing ourselves in our communities, and learn to take up the space we deserve. Come join the Herd, we’d love to have you!
Connecting to Cultures
- Mondays beginning 2/3
- 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Burdine (BUR) 228
- Krish Bangur & JJ Song
Join a community of peers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds exploring our experiences around belonging, family, identity, and mental health. Build relationships with others and yourself through open discussion, crafting and mindfulness activities in an environment of mutual appreciation and curiosity. Take a break from the grind and join us each week as we share stories, find joy in our unexpected similarities and differences, and give each other space to reconnect with and reflect on the cultural beliefs and values that have influenced who we are and who we want to become.
Embracing LGBTQIA+ Narratives
- Thursdays beginning 2/6
- 5-6 p.m.
- RLP 0.120
- Sydney Fuller & Evelin Ruiz Crisostomo
Finding a supportive queer / LGBTQIA+ community can be overwhelming, especially when you're busy with academics or still working through complex parts of your identity or personal history. Within Embracing LGBTQIA+ Narratives, we aim to celebrate, embrace, and delve into the many beautiful facets of queerness. Through artistic activities, intentional conversation, and storytelling, we hope to explore the value of queerness in our lives while making space to learn from members’ thoughts and experiences. We strive for a community centered around our unique journeys, and hope you’ll find empowerment, healing, and joy alongside us!
Navigating College with ADHD
- Thursdays starting 2/6
- 12:30-1:30 p.m.
- Jester (JES) A223-A (Community Room in the COLA Well-Being Center)
- Sydney Fuller & Tarunika Sasikumar
Join us for a peer-led community where we’ll harness our ADHD powers together in an informal, judgment-free environment. Each week we’ll unmask and hang out together (with plenty of fidgets!) to discuss recent challenges and wins, share ADHD hacks, destigmatize and reframe ADHD-related experiences, and hopefully become friends along the way. NO formal diagnosis required!
New Roots: Cultivating African Mental Wellness
- Wednesdays beginning 2/5
- 5-6 p.m.
- Main Building (MAI) 13
- Sandra Isiguzo
Being open and vulnerable about our emotions and mental health can be daunting, especially coming from an African or African immigrant background where those talks are often considered taboo. This, coupled with being a college student, can lead to burnout, isolation, stress, and more. Join us if you're seeking a safe space where you can feel supported, empowered, and validated in your experiences and identity while gaining communication and self-care skills!
SHAREing Sunshine: Support for Tough Times
- Wednesdays starting 2/5
- 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Longhorn Wellness Center, SSB 1.106
- Chandni Bhagtaney, Essie Diaz Perdomo & Ishwori Mukherjee
Have you been feeling the weight of sadness, grief, or depression? Join a cozy community of peers who can empathize and help each other and overcome the isolation, self-stigma, and inertia that often accompany tough times. Whether this is a new issue you’ve never talked about or something you’ve been processing in therapy for a while, this is a non-clinical space for us to open up without filters, share the weight, and find hope through exchanging stories, encouragement, and coping strategies. No diagnosis required.
Shy Longhorns Society
- Mondays starting 2/3
- 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Longhorn Wellness Center, SSB 1.106
- Deepa Sunkad & Andi Gutierrez
Are you shy, introverted, socially anxious? All of the above? No worries. At a campus as big as UT, it can be difficult to be shy and make meaningful connections/friendships. At the Shy Longhorns Society, we come together to create a community built upon support and validation for the struggles of being socially anxious/shy at UT. We remind each other that we are not alone and come up with ways to overcome our difficulties.
Transfer and First-Gen Bevos
- Thursdays beginning 2/6
- 5-6 p.m.
- Main Building (MAI) 13
- Erin Lamas, Nick Overturf & Michelle Veneros
Discover your weekly home-away-from-home in our cozy peer-led space where first-generation and transfer students gather to share, support, and thrive! Whether you're navigating uncharted academic territory, worrying about being “behind” your peers, feeling lost (or found!) in a new city or campus culture, feeling homesick, or grappling with the internal and external pressures of being first-gen, you’re not alone! Come relax, vent your frustrations, and find mutual solidarity, friendship, and encouragement with people who get it.
Please note that all SHARE Communities are student-facilitated and non-clinical, and are therefore not a replacement for therapy. Conversations with SHARE Support Specialists are private except in specific circumstances. If members ever need outside professional assistance, they will make every effort to help them connect to resources and empower them with information and options.
All SHARE Community topics are developed and facilitated by trained peer SHARE Support Specialists based on their own lived experiences and interests. SHARE Community facilitation is one of the course requirements for HED 178E and HED 178F. Staff and faculty do NOT attend or observe SHARE Communities, but do provide continuous support, resources, and consultation for the facilitators throughout their time as Specialists.
Don’t see a SHARE Community topic that interests you?
Check out the list of clinician-led CMHC Groups offered this semester on their website or email us a suggestion!
Want to lead your own SHARE Community?
We recruit new students who are interested in becoming SHARE Support Specialists in the Fall semester only. The application for the next cohort will open on October 1st.
See our Work With Us page for more information about this unique opportunity.
Email longhornshareproject@utexas.edu if you’d like to be added to our email list, and follow @healthyhorns on social media for more updates!