Despite the lack of real-time connection, Whitman was reaching students in part because of her delivery—she was not simply lecturing to them—and in part because her course encompassed and embraced self-care, something desperately needed during this time. “Every week, I was introducing big topics like healthcare policy, but also nature therapy and art therapy,” she says. “For their homework, I’d say, ‘Go outside for 20 minutes without your cell phone and just experience nature. Write about it in your journal.’ And I would respond every week to their entries,’Tell me what’s going on in your life, what you thought about the therapies that we did and what you’re doing for your own self-care.’ I don’t think they would have had those conversations with me in person, but they did since it was this almost anonymous journal.
