If holiday noise is causing elevated stress or feelings of loneliness, you are not alone. According to a November 2025 , nearly half of adults (48%) said they are worried about missing someone or grief, and 46% said they are worried about affording or finding holiday gifts. Nearly one in three adults is worried about dealing with challenging family dynamics (32%) or being lonely (31%).

鈥淭here is no right or wrong way to experience this time of year,鈥� says Kayla Beswick 鈥�16 鈥�18MA, a licensed counselor for , who earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology and master鈥檚 degree in marriage, couple and family therapy. 鈥�I try to encourage my clients to reflect on what the holidays are to them, not what others expect it to be.鈥�

Beswick shares these three tips for navigating the holidays:

Self-Care

• Find connection.

Connection can come in many forms. If you can鈥檛 be with loved ones this year, maybe connection looks giving back to your community or a cause that is important to you; maybe that means reconnecting with yourself and truly giving yourself the time and opportunity to do so.

While we may not be able to be physically present with loved ones, connection in other forms still counts, and we may need to adjust our expectations with what we are able to realistically do. Phone calls, writing letters or doing an activity that you would normally do together can be ways of emotionally connecting to people when they are not physically present.

Remember, you can make the holiday season be what you want it to be.

• Be curious and trust your inner voice.

Ask yourself where the stress is coming from. If it comes from an outside source, then give yourself permission to listen to what is inside, what you want to feel and what you need during this time of year.

• Be aware of roadblocks.

Sometimes it can be difficult to open up to others or be honest with ourselves. If you鈥檙e noticing this roadblock, it could be helpful to be in a space that is completely judgement free and allows for pure self-expression. Often the thought, 鈥渉ere we go again鈥� can be a sign that some additional accountability or a different way of perceiving things may be helpful. If it feels like your usual methods of coping are no longer working, you want guidance to make changes, or even just reflect, therapy would be the perfect space.

Moreover, distress is not a requirement for counseling. Therapy is for anyone who wants to improve themselves or spend time reflecting on their life experience. Being a human can be tough and beautiful at the same time, so why not understand yourself better to enhance your relationships, life goals and experience?

Mental Health Resources

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call 988. Free, confidential counseling is available 24/7 for mental health struggles, emotional distress, alcohol or drug use concerns, or simply available for anyone who needs someone to talk to.

It鈥檚 important to prioritize taking care of your mental health. Take advantage of these resources at 麻豆原创 and locally to help you:

Students

• 麻豆原创 : CAPS offers a free 24/7 crisis hotline can be reached by calling 407-823-2811 and pressing 5 during the holiday campus closure. CAPS will be open and available for drop-in services starting Jan. 5, and resume its typical mental health services to students on Jan. 12.
• : TAO is a self-guided interactive program that aids with managing anxiety, depression and other concerns.
• : Togetherall is a peer-to-peer space to connect with others experiencing similar feelings in a supportive environment, with trained professionals on hand 24/7.

Faculty and Staff

• The offers a 24-hour emergency hotline and in-person, telephonic or video counseling with licensed professional counselors. It is confidential and free to all faculty and staff (excluding OPS student employees) as well as their eligible family members, including spouses, dependent children, parents and parents-in-law.

Safety

麻豆原创 police officers and dispatchers are available 24/7, even when campus is closed. Always dial 911 in an emergency. 麻豆原创PD personnel are also available at the non-emergency line at 407-823-5555. All 麻豆原创PD officers are trained in crisis intervention, equipping them to more compassionately and effectively respond to those who may be struggling.

Food Resources

is closed through Jan. 11, 2026, and will reopen Jan. 12 when classes resume for the spring semester. Care bags for 麻豆原创 students can be found at and during the closure. Additionally, the pantry has compiled a in Altamonte Springs, Maitland, Orlando and Oviedo that can offer assistance.

Free Holiday Fun

As one of the world鈥檚 premier tourist destinations, Orlando has endless entertainment options, including opportunities to get in the festive spirit without causing financial stress and maxing out your bank account.

• (downtown Orlando): Now through January 6, you can find holiday-themed light installations, a holiday market, 鈥渟now鈥� fall, Santa and Grinch sightings, musical performances, occasional free holiday movies and more.
• (downtown Orlando and home to ): Running weekly through Jan. 4, 2026, the arts center鈥檚 three-acre lawn 鈥� including Seneff Arts Plaza 鈥� will come alive with more than 80 live performances, twinkling light displays, fire pits, nightly snowfalls and family-friendly activities.
• : Experience some Disney magic without theme park costs. Disney Springs (which has free parking) boasts more than 15 elaborately themed Christmas trees inspired by Disney characters, Pixar films and theme park favorites, nightly entertainment and festive window shopping.
• : Receive free admission every Friday evening, 4鈥�8 p.m., through December, and special live musical performances during the holiday season.
• (free for 麻豆原创 students): The 麻豆原创 women’s and men’s basketball teams will host a doubleheader Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively, at Addition Financial Arena. The men鈥檚 team debuts its 鈥淣auty or Knights鈥� theme, featuring a mix of mascots, specialty concession items and a limited-edition Knights or ‘Nauts Holiday T-shirt giveaway, available on a first come-first served basis, while supplies last. The day is a chance for fans to break out their Black and Gold or Canaveral Blue all at once, celebrating both 麻豆原创鈥檚 primary and alternate identities.
• (Cocoa Beach): A holiday spectacle that is uniquely Florida, Surfing Santas is an annual Cocoa Beach tradition that brings hundreds of surfers of all ages dressed up as Santa, elves, snowmen and everything else in between. This free morning event Dec. 24 is family friendly with entertainment including musical performances, Hawaiian dancers and of course, surfing Santas.

Additional Support for Students

It’s also worth noting, additional support for students is available when campus operations resume in January. serves as a vital resource for students encountering unexpected challenges that may impact their enrollment and academic success. If you are facing issues related to non-clinical mental health, basic needs, or other unforeseen circumstances, please contact Student Care Services by calling 407-823-5607, emailing聽caremanager@ucf.edu, or submitting a for yourself or a fellow Knight.

Keeping 麻豆原创 a safe place to learn, live, work and play is a team effort that requires each of us to look out for ourselves and one another. Visit 鈥� website to learn about signs of distress.

If you are experiencing mental health crisis and need immediate help, always call 911. The National Suicide Hotline is also available 24/7/365 by dialing 988.

For Students

provides crisis-intervention services and comprehensive psychological services for students by appointment, walk-in or 24/7 hotline. CAPS can be reached by calling 407-823-2811. For after-hours services, call 407-823-2811 and press 5 to be connected to a licensed therapist.

麻豆原创 Student Care Services is the umbrella for student-related care resources and a great place to start if you are not sure where to go for help. Visit for resources and support with academics, finances or personal wellbeing. Free services and information are available for academic distress, homelessness, mental health concerns, financial challenges and more. E-mail ucfcares@ucf.edu or call 407-823-5607.

For Faculty and Staff

The , provided by Health Advocate, is a university-funded benefit that offers the support and resources you need to address any personal challenges and/or concerns that may affect your personal well-being and/or work performance. It is confidential and free to all faculty and staff (excluding OPS student employees) as well as their eligible family members, including spouses, dependent children, parents and parents-in-law. Health Advocate can be reached by calling their toll-free number at 877-240-6863 or by visiting their website at .

For Everyone

offers free, confidential advocacy and support to any student or employee who has been impacted by crime, violence or abuse. Specialists will explain options, make connections to appropriate campus and community resources, and provide other assistance. Reach a victim specialist 24/7 by calling 407-823-1200 or texting 407-823-6868 to discuss what you are experiencing.

It鈥檚 taken the 麻豆原创 student years to get to this point in his life; a place of acceptance for the abuse he suffered as a child and the disappointments he has had to endure. Now, as the 30-year-old is one semester away from becoming the first person in his family to earn a college degree, he鈥檚 grateful for the focus and drive that brought him to this point in his life.

鈥淚鈥檝e learned if you just persevere and have a clear goal and focus,鈥� he says, 鈥測ou can get through anything.鈥�

Daniels was born in West Palm Beach and was in kindergarten, the oldest of three brothers, when his parents split up and his mother soon after began dating someone who was abusive. He says he went to school with bruises, sometimes a sprained limb, until child services eventually intervened.

He spent two years in foster care while the courts figured out what his fate would be. He didn鈥檛 realize it at the time, but the lawyers involved in his case made an impression on him and would play a role later in shaping his career aspirations.

鈥淭hey seemed like they鈥檙e valued members of the community and people cared about what they had to say,鈥� says the legal studies major. 鈥淭hey were kind of like modern-day heroes, saving children or people in need. They just had a very professional and commanding attitude and presence that I respected.鈥�

Once Daniels was deemed a ward of the court, he was placed with his grandmother, who he says welcomed and adored him. Daniels and his youngest brother, an infant at the time who went to live with an aunt and uncle in Massachusetts, kept in contact over the years and saw each other during the holidays. His middle brother stayed with his mother and moved to the western part of the country. Daniels rarely spoke to either of them.

When he graduated from high school, Daniels planned on enlisting in the Air Force to become a pilot. Just before he was set to head to boot camp, he found out he had a blue-red color vision deficiency, which meant no flying.

鈥淚 was devastated,鈥� he says. 鈥淔or a little while I didn鈥檛 know what I wanted to do. I felt like I had let my whole family down because I felt like there was a lot of hype and when it didn鈥檛 happen, I was crushed. I ended up running away from home because I didn鈥檛 want to face it.鈥�

鈥淲hen I was younger, I wished all the time, 鈥榃hy can鈥檛 I just have a normal life?鈥� Now that I鈥檓 older and I鈥檝e learned a little bit more, I think it鈥檚 like the furnace for steel 鈥� it hardened me and made me a stronger person.鈥�

For a while he did odd jobs. He worked at Panera Bread. He sold nuts and bolts for an industrial-supply company. He was a car salesman for a couple days.

鈥淚 just felt a longing for something more,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 just knew I wanted to go to school and make something of myself.鈥�

He enrolled at St. Johns River State College and eventually transferred to 麻豆原创 to major in computer science. When he quickly realized the required math classes weren鈥檛 for him, he took an aptitude and personality test he found online. Lawyer popped up among the list of professions he matched with, and he started to think about the lawyers from his childhood.

He switched his major to legal studies and nearly every facet of his life started pulling in the right direction, he says. He made the dean鈥檚 list. He started seeking counseling through to unpack his childhood trauma. He finally made lasting friendships he always wished for as a kid by playing his favorite game, Dungeons & Dragons. He became engaged in his classes, even when they challenged his weaknesses.

鈥淲e have a mock courtroom on the downtown campus so we can get a feel of how it will be. I鈥檝e shied away from public speaking, but it鈥檚 been a really fun challenge to see myself progress,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 found that I like to command that room.鈥�

He says once he pays off his student loans, he would like to offer legal services pro bono to help children who are in the same position he was in as a child. Daniels is most proud of the work it took to get this far, and that his youngest brother has told him he wants to go back to school, just like Daniels did.

鈥淎t risk of sounding clich茅, they say 鈥榃hat doesn鈥檛 kill you makes you stronger.鈥� I definitely agree,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen I was younger, I wished all the time, 鈥榃hy can鈥檛 I just have a normal life?鈥� Now that I鈥檓 older and I鈥檝e learned a little bit more, I think it鈥檚 like the furnace for steel 鈥� it hardened me and made me a stronger person.鈥�

While the struggle can be very real when you鈥檙e on a college budget, 麻豆原创 has resources on campus聽to help. is a free clothing closet and food pantry on campus that allows students to take five items of their choosing during the week. can also provide micro-loans for students in need.

Whether you’re using items from Knights Pantry or ones you purchased while grocery shopping, Robb Seltzer, instructor and director of food and beverage operations at Rosen College of Hospitality Management, has some tips for creating tasty meals on a budget.

Which pieces of kitchen equipment are most useful to have?
You can do more with a knife than anything else. Don鈥檛 buy a grocery store knife for $5, invest some money in a good one because it will go a long way. This is something you may want to ask for for your birthday or Christmas.

You should also get some good pots. Don鈥檛 get the real thin stuff. Get something with a little weight on the bottom so things don鈥檛 burn.
What are some tips for cooking on a budget?
I have a saying, 鈥淐ook once, eat twice 鈥� or three times if you can.鈥� So try to make dishes or cook things that you can use to make other dishes. Typically the most expensive part of a meal is animal protein, so one of the best ways to save money is to shop vegetarian or vegan.

Another way to save money is to consider store brands instead of national brands. I鈥檓 a big fan of store brands because I was in the distribution business for a long time and know what goes into them. It鈥檚 not just a matter of a store slapping their name on a can and selling it. They actually have quality control and specification that oftentimes require higher qualification than national brands.

One of the most popular dishes with students on a budget is ramen. It鈥檚 really versatile and there are ways we can make it into multiple meals, whether it鈥檚 a soup, you use just the noodles, use leftover ramen for new dishes, or take leftovers and use them with ramen to make a new meal as well.

The best thing you can do is read your labels, read the ingredient labels so you know what is in the food and read the nutrition labels. Pay attention to the order of ingredients when reading ingredient labels because these lists are written in descending order of amount. So, if the first thing on an ingredient list is water then you鈥檙e buying something that is mostly water.
What are some ingredients you should have in the pantry?
When you cook you really need to keep in mind the flavors you want to use or create and those are based on taste.

There are four major tastes that most people are familiar with: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. There is also umami, which relates to savory flavors, and also capsicum, which can be in the form of cayenne pepper, hot sauce or other spicy things.

I try to have items that embody each one of those in the kitchen. Salt and pepper are good starts. For sweet you need things such as white or brown sugar and honey. On the bitter side, I look for mustard. Acids such as vinegars or something fresh like limes provide that sour flavor. You create that umami flavor in the pan as you cook [meats], but foods like mushrooms have that flavor as well.

Once you learn to work with those and master some basic techniques, then you can pretty much create anything.

麻豆原创 faculty, staff and students are invited to participate in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Nov. 14 – 21, 2016.

Volunteer 麻豆原创, Graduate Student Association, Knights Helping Knights Pantry, and various campus partners collaborated to host events to raise awareness of hunger and homelessness on our campus and in our community.

Events include interactive educational events, a week-long donation drive, resources to assist those in need encourage people to get involved to help overcome these social issues, and impactful service projects focused on hunger and homelessness issues. events will feature engaging activities, powerful speakers, community resources and giveaways.

The Greek Leadership class will be collecting canned foods and toiletries to stock Knights Helping Knights Pantry. “Cram the Van鈥� will take place on Wednesday, November 16 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Memory Mall and then 1:30 鈥� 4 p.m. outside of Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life on Greek Street.聽The concept is a goal they hope to reach by filling a van with canned goods and toiletries in one day.

The events are worth up to 1000 LINK Loot points and qualify as LEAD Impact events. For more information on our events as some require an RSVP, visit: https://scs.sdes.ucf.edu/ or the 麻豆原创 Cares Facebook page at:

AD Food Services, which operates Asian Chao, Huey Magoo鈥檚 and the Corner Caf茅 in the Student Union, temporarily stopped taking credit and debit cards while working to strengthen those security measures.

Those locations and other restaurants and retailers have reviewed, and in some cases improved, their information security practices. 麻豆原创 believes it is safe to use credit and debit cards on campus.

Although credit card security is the responsibility of each vendor via their chosen banking relationship, 麻豆原创 Police, Business Services, and the Information Security Office have been working with vendors on campus during the past couple of weeks. The university instructed vendors to review all of their financial systems and offered the assistance of its technology teams.

When 麻豆原创 Police asked for the public鈥檚 help two weeks ago, about 10 reports regarding credit card fraud had been filed with the department. About 230 people responded to the call for public help by filing online reports.

In those reports, the most common locations mentioned were Asian Chao and Huey Magoo鈥檚.

Based on results of the investigation so far, and to the best of our knowledge, fraud has not been occurring at university-controlled areas such as registration for classes, financial aid or housing, or at other vendor locations on campus.

These reports of credit card fraud are unrelated to a cyberattack against the university earlier this year. Information shows this involves only credit and debit card data.

麻豆原创 Police contacted the Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force about the reports. 麻豆原创 police investigators also worked with campus technology teams to conduct physical and virtual reviews of equipment and networks.

If you believe you have been the victim of credit card fraud at any location on or off campus, you should report the incident to your credit card company immediately.

Federal law limits your liability for unauthorized charges. Your protection depends on the type of card and when you report the loss.

Students who are experiencing temporary financial hardships as a result of fraud should contact 麻豆原创 Cares at 407.823.5607 or ucfcares@ucf.edu.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union will be filled with a variety of on and off-campus organizations and resources dedicated to keeping students safe. The fair, in its seventh year, is held each September in honor of National Campus Safety Awareness Month.

On- and off-campus services related to violence and crime prevention, fire safety, health and wellness, and community awareness and support will be showcased. Information, activities and demonstrations will educate students about how to stay safe and equip them with the knowledge and tools to prevent and report crimes.

In addition to tabling and giveaways, there will be K-9 and self-defense demonstrations, hands-only CPR training and other activities. Students can earn up to 1,500 Link Loot points and are eligible for other prizes.

Campus Safety Fair sponsors include 麻豆原创 Victim Services, the 麻豆原创 Police Department, 麻豆原创 Environmental Health and Safety, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Housing and Residence Life,聽 Fraternity and Sorority Life, and 麻豆原创 Cares.

Visit the Safety Fair鈥檚 to RSVP and learn more.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union will be filled with a variety of on and off-campus organizations and resources dedicated to keeping students safe. The fair, in its seventh year, is held each September in honor of National Campus Safety Awareness Month.

In addition to tabling and giveaways, there will be K-9 and self-defense demonstrations, hands-only CPR training and other activities.Students can earn up to 1,500 Link Loot points and are eligible for other prizes.

Campus Safety Fair sponsors include 麻豆原创 Victim Services, the 麻豆原创 Police Department, 麻豆原创 Environmental Health and Safety, 麻豆原创’s Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Housing and Residence Life,聽 Fraternity and Sorority Life, and 麻豆原创 Cares.

Visit the Safety Fair’s to RSVP and learn more.

麻豆原创 CARES, 麻豆原创 Counseling and Psychological Services, CFE 麻豆原创 branch, the State Attorney鈥檚 Office and other experts will present information about identity theft recovery and protection and coping with a data breach.

This聽Safety Knight Week event聽is聽sponsored by 麻豆原创 CARES and the Student Government Association.聽For more information, contact Briant Coleman at: briant.coleman@ucf.edu.

It is a simulation tool that enables participants to view poverty from different angles in an experiential setting. There were 45 participants and 17 volunteers in attendance, 麻豆原创 resource tables including the Arboretum, 麻豆原创 Cares, and Knights Helping Pantry. A reflection session was held with the participants at the end of the program to discuss helpful resources, and ways to increase civic engagement.

Student Care Services received positive feedback from individuals volunteering and participating and hope to re-create the simulation again next year. Individuals who were not able to attend the event but were interested were sent a link to an online simulation with the same goals in.

Thank you to Todd Currie (Student Care Services AmeriCorps VISTA), Judy Head (Northland Church), Aaron Leventhal (Northland Church AmeriCorps VISTA) and all of our volunteers and support staff for the collaboration and successful execution of the event.