by Bill Sheate
What are your dreams and expectation of university?
As the 2024-25 academic year begins you may be embarking on your dream course, or maybe you have all sorts of expectations of what university life will be like. Give yourself time to settle in, make friends, socialise - your social network (and by that I mean in-real-life friends and colleagues!) will provide you with the base from which to celebrate the good stuff and cope with the problems in life.
Here are a few of the common issues many students find can end up occupying their time more than they would want ........ [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
A lifelong skill
As an academic and as a therapist I’ve observed over the last couple of decades a steady decline in students’ general ability to take notes. Why might that be and so what? Well, note taking is a skill that previous generations took for granted because we had no choice – in a lecture we were never given handouts let alone copies of slides or the option to watch it again (or for the first time) on video! You had to filter what was important and what was not. And so, the skill was learned through years of practice; learning by doing …... [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
The peculiarities of doing a PhD
Back in June 2021 I posted a blog on Rising to the mental health challenges of doing a PhD and how the peculiar circumstances of being a PhD student can affect how you respond to stressful situations. In December 2021 a new report (Hazell et al, 2021 [1]) was published that highlighted once again the high prevalence of depression and anxiety among PhD students in the UK, in line with recent studies in the US, Europe and internationally (e.g. Levecque et al, 2017; Satinsky et al, 2021).
So what's going on? Does it really mean that doing a PhD is bad for your mental health?……. [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
Learning to live with Covid-19, mindfully….
As Universities re-open for the new academic year this autumn students and staff are facing a whole new world, a very different experience to one we may be used to or have come to expect.
Big lectures with hundreds of students are no more.
Online video recorded lecture material and online live meetings are the new order of the day.
And maybe some small group teaching or lab working, where possible, in 'bubbles' of various sizes.
But social events on campus are hugely curtailed.
Covid-19 has created it's own existential anxieties for many while for some the risks seem overblown. But as I've discussed in my previous Coronavirus blogs (1-4), this spectrum of perception is normal, depending on your own personal circumstances……. [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
What do we mean by self-awareness?
Increasingly educational psychology recognises the importance of students developing self-awareness competency - the ability to reflect on one’s own role in society, to be able to evaluate one’s actions and to deal with one’s emotions and desires.
Typically, this involves five key aspects: ……..
by Bill Sheate
Seeking help for anxiety early can make all the difference to your life at University - don’t leave it to get worse
As students begin a new life at University over the coming weeks (September/October 2018), or return to continue their courses of study, many will already have previous experience of mental health issues while some may develop them at University, often in response to the stresses and strains that come with university life (work, relationships, being away from family, finances etc). Typical problems include: ……..
