Hello my name is Géraldine Dufour and I'm the Head of Counselling at the
University of Cambridge.
In these uncertain times many of us are
struggling and this is not unusual.
Nor is having an emotional reaction to this situation.
Everyone has bad days but if it goes on
for longer than that and if you feel that you can't shake it off
then do please reach out for help. At Cambridge, like in many other
universities, we have a counselling service
with people there to support you.
We have specialist counsellors, mental health
advisor and the university sexual assault and harassment advisor
who are here and available.
Whether you're struggling with your motivation,
if you're dealing with trauma, grief or any other mental health issues then
please seek support.
For others it might be that it's once
the initial crisis that passes that you need support.
Again this is not unusual and we
will be here to help you.
If you look on our website we have a lot of self-help information
and we're launching the Big White Wall.
Please reach out and seek support from
your university counselling service.
I hope that you can be kind to yourself and others
in these uncertain times.
And take good care of yourself.
Hi I'm Angela, one of the counsellors within the counselling service.
And here are my ideas for supporting your mental
and emotional health during these challenging times.
Given that your environment, the resources available to
you and your mental and emotional state have probably all changed within the
last few weeks, it is unrealistic to expect yourself to continue to work at
the same pace and at the same level of productivity.
Doing this could make you
feel overwhelmed and make it difficult to start anything at all.
Work out what you can realistically achieve
within the constraints of your current situation and work towards that.
This should help things to feel more manageable and you more in control.
My second idea relates to structure. All forms of familiar
structure have been suddenly stripped away from us. Human beings work well with
structure - that sense of internal rhythm that is created by knowing what to expect
at certain times during each day help us to feel grounded and contained.
Working out ways in which you can create structure for yourself could help you
feel more grounded. My final idea relates to motivation. At the moment it can be
difficult to see the point in doing anything at all. It is however important
to remember that this situation really is not forever. Try to still plan things
and find ways in which you can motivate yourself and have things to look forward
to this should help things feel more manageable generally.
Take care.
During this challenging time, we're being
encouraged to look after our physical health
and it's just as important that we look
after our mental and emotional
well-being too.
My advice would be to allow a space each
day for this.
Have a time where you actively de-stress
and unwind
and be curious about what it is that
helps you to do this.
For some people it's yoga, for others
it's going for a walk while listening to
some calming music.
It might be chatting with a friend and laughing.
Keeping a good sense of humour is so
helpful for lifting our spirits at the moment.
A simple mindfulness practice that
focuses on slowing down
and deepening the breathing, can help to
relieve our minds of tension.
This can work really well if it's
preceded by some simple stretching
which reduces the stress in our bodies.
Try not to be too self-critica.l
Offer yourself the same kindness, care, support
and compassion that you
would look for in and offer a good friend.
In my experience
of working with students there can be a tendency
to be overly self-critical.
Try to notice this tendency in yourself
and when you do
allow yourself time and space to step
away from the problem that's causing you concern,
to recenter and reground yourself fully
in the present moment.
Another great antidote to worry is creativity.
So i'd like to encourage you to explore
being creative
in whatever way you find helpful, enjoyable
and meaningful for you.
Hi I'm Amy, the sexual assault and harassment advisor at the
University Counselling Service.
If you're dealing with the impact of sexual violence
I want you to know that you are not alone. That you deserve support, kindness and self-care.
A really common impact of sexual violence can be to experience a
lot of negative thoughts and feelings towards the self and can be really
unkind towards yourself. And a helpful way of combating that can be to bring
that negative thought or feeling to mind, maybe write it down even and then have a
think about what would you say to a friend, a loved one a family member in
that situation? What would you say if they brought that negative thought or
feeling to you in response? And then have a go at saying what you would say
to that friend, that loved one to yourself. Either in your head or have a
go at maybe writing it down next like negative thought or feeling.
It can be a really useful way to cultivate kindness
towards yourself and also something that
you can revisit again and again whenever those negative thoughts and feelings are
coming up, or if new negative thoughts or feelings are coming up.
I hope that's helpful.
Our key message from the mental health advisors at UCS is to make kindness a
priority and a key part of your well-being toolbox.
We're all going through this together and it's affecting
students across the world.
We all experience distress and anxiety in different ways and have different ways
of dealing with it. It's okay to ask for help and it's important to pause to help others.
Kindness can be seen in small acts such as remembering to smile at
people and acknowledge people despite social distancing measures
or remembering to check in with friends. Kindness can be courageous and we've
seen that through the volunteers to the Buddy System going out and delivering
food despite going out into public spaces. We're here to support you at UCS
and it's important if you've got concerns about your mental health to talk
to your nurse, to your tutor or to access our support via the website.
Thank you very much.