In the lead up to Valentine’s Day, there can be a lot of pressure on relationships, and expectations on partners. There is one way to ensure you are truly happy this Valentine’s Day, and every day after that – by dating yourself.
Tip of the Iceberg
As we all know, being in school can get pretty intense and strain your mental health. Here are some ways to support your mental health during the school year. There’s something on this list for everyone!
Mind & Body: Physical and Mental Self-Care
- Mood Walks: Weekly outdoor walks (yes, even in the winter) are an opportunity to explore your community, meet new friends, and walk your way to greater mental and physical wellness.
- Sleep: a module with tips and strategies to get more and/or better sleep.
- Stress Management: Tips and videos on coping with stress, check out the workshop to learn more!
- Peer Support – Big White Wall: A free online mental health and wellbeing service offering self-help programs, creative outlets, and a community that cares.
Self-Help Apps & Tools
CBT-based apps for mood tracking and mood management:
- WellTrack: For stress, anxiety, and depression.
- Mindshift: For worry, panic, perfectionism, social anxiety, and phobias.
Workbooks
- Just As I Am The Practice of Self-Care and Compassion: A guided journal to free yourself from self-criticism and feelings of low self-worth.
- Your Best You: Improving Your Mood: Teaches skills to manage your mood and improve general functioning.
- Your Best You: Managing Your Anxiety: A guide to managing different types of anxiety.
- CCI Workbooks: A variety of workbooks on topics such as appearance concerns, assertiveness, disordered eating, perfectionism, self-esteem, social anxiety, and more.
Modules
- Resilience: Strategies to improve your ability to recover after setbacks.
- TAO Self-Help: Educational modules with interactive activities to help you learn coping strategies for stress, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, anger management, problem-solving, and communication.
More apps and other online tools.
Guided Self-Help Tools
- TAO: You can also use TAO with the help of an AC Counsellor to motivate you and structure your progress.
- Bounce Back: A free skill-building program to help manage low mood, mild to moderate depression and anxiety, stress, or worry. Delivered over the phone with a coach and through online videos, you will receive access to tools that will support you on your path to mental wellness.
Reach Out: Counselling
- Good2Talk: A free, confidential helpline providing professional counselling, and information and referrals for mental health, addictions and well-being to post-secondary students in Ontario, 24/7/365
- AC Counselling: Access confidential support through a walk-in consultation, where a counsellor will meet with you and help you develop a plan to address your concerns.
- AC Group Counselling: Boosts your skills, coping strategies, and support system by providing a safe, supportive environment where you can share your experiences. It enhances your connection to others and provides you with a variety of approaches and perspectives to help you deal with challenges.
Crisis Support
- Mental Health Crisis Line: For ages 16+ in the Ottawa region seeking support with mental health or other challenging life situations.
- Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region: Confidential support by phone for people either in distress or crisis.
- Crisis Services Canada: Accessible by phone, text, or chat, this service is for Canadians thinking about or affected by suicide.
Good luck,
Eliza Brown, Counsellor at Algonquin College
Many students won’t be going home over the Christmas holidays. Even though it’s a celebratory time, it can also be a lonely time, whether you’re from Montreal, Mumbai, or somewhere in between. Without your studies to distract you, how can you ward off holiday homesickness?
Preventing Holiday Homesickness
Sometimes, students are so focused on getting through exams that holiday homesickness isn’t on their radar at all. You may be surprised if you find yourself feeling low after a couple of days.
- Try to plan things to look forward to over vacation– make yourself a bucket list. There’s so much going on in Ottawa over the holidays that you can find fun things to get out and do!
- Message loved ones back home and set-up times to chat.
- Ask acquaintances in your classes to see if anyone else will be in the same boat and suggest meeting up over the break. It can be a great time to strengthen new connections and bond over shared circumstances.
Coping with Low-Key Holiday Homesickness
Mild homesickness can involve feeling nostalgic about things that remind you of your community, often thinking of home, being more easily irritated, and feeling more sad or anxious than usual.
Remember that it’s normal to feel homesick, especially if you come from a close-knit family or have many close friends back home, so give yourself time to adjust.
- Keep in touch with the people you miss
- Explore Ottawa
- Cook or eat comforting food from home
- Look for light gifts to mail back home.
Practice self-care by doing activities or hobbies you enjoy and that were part of your old routine.
Coping with Intense Holiday Homesickness
Intense homesickness can manifest as constant thoughts of home, feeling hopeless and distressed, and avoiding activities and other people. Unlike mild homesickness, it’s hard to distract yourself from, and it can interfere with your daily functioning.
Ask yourself the question, ‘if things were better, what would that look like?’.
- Write a list of positive moments and things you like about your new home.
- Take every opportunity to connect with others, but try not to talk constantly to people back home, and don’t stay in your room all the time.
- Commit to getting out and trying one new thing each day, such as walking around a new neighbourhood or trying a new takeout place, and take pictures to share with the people you miss.
- If you feel really low or it lasts into the new semester, don’t ignore it. Take action by telling others that you’re feeling homesick. Good2Talk provides professional counselling to students 24/7.
- Remind yourself that holiday homesickness is temporary.
Check out these apps and online tools for additional support.
Good luck,
– Eliza Brown, Counsellor at Algonquin College
Most students feel anxious before an exam or a test. If you get so nervous that it interferes with your performance, then you might suffer from test anxiety. You’re not alone! This is a pretty common issue, and fortunately, you can learn strategies to reduce it.
You may have Test Anxiety if you:
- Blank during an exam.
- Have trouble sleeping before a test, or strong feelings of dread.
- Start to panic if other students finish earlier.
- Tend to do much better on homework assignments than on exams.
- Either procrastinate or over-prepare.
- Know the material much better than the test grade indicates or remember the right answers after the exam is over.
- Have difficulty concentrating or organizing your thoughts.
- Get headaches, nausea, excessive sweating, rapid heartbeat, or shortness of breath right before or during an exam.
- Get very worried about what the professor will think of you, or what will happen, if you fail.
Don’t psych yourself out!
- Pay attention to your thoughts.
- Identify those that increase anxiety, such as: ‘I know I’ll fail’; ‘Everyone will think I’m stupid’; ‘I’m going to panic in front of everyone and be so embarrassed’.
- Replace them with more realistic thoughts, such as: ‘I’ll do the best I can’; ‘Doing badly doesn’t reflect on me as a person’; ‘I’ve done well on other tests in the past, I can handle this’.
Before the Exam
- Study well and be prepared. Algonquin has an online Studying & Test Taking guide with great tips, and there are also guides for different study skills like time management and stress management.
- Get into a good sleep schedule, exercise regularly, and eat well.
During the Exam
- Start by reading the directions, then review the entire exam, then review the directions again.
- Organize your time well; jot down approx. how much time to spend on each section. Monitor if you are rushing or getting behind.
- Answer the easiest questions first.
- Visualize yourself getting the exam back with a good grade, or visualize a relaxing scene to help calm down.
- Practice controlled breathing until you feel calmer, for up to 4 minutes: breathe in slowly and deeply for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 2 seconds, then breathe out for 8 seconds.
Need More Support?
- Check out this Test Anxiety booklet.
- Attend the ‘Exam Prep and Test Anxiety – Ace that Test’ workshop.
- Counselling Services can assess your level of text anxiety and coach you on how to manage it.
Good luck!
– Eliza Brown, Counsellor at Algonquin College.
“I get stressed from juggling classes and my part-time job. How do I balance school, work, and life?”
As a college student, there are so many things to juggle that this can start to feel like a common dilemma:
I say if you’re forced to choose only two, then sorry– you’re doing it wrong.
Follow these 5 tips to improve your work-life balance:
1. Make sure your ‘anchors’ are in place.
What are anchors, you ask? Basically sleep, meals, and other healthy habits like exercise. It sounds basic, but these things underpin your quality of life, not to mention your productivity. If you’re lacking in these areas you’ll start to become overwhelmed, and college becomes a treadmill set to max. So have a consistent sleep schedule, Google easy/cheap/healthy recipes, and if you don’t have much time to work out, at least get out for a walk once in a while.
2. Make a weekly schedule.
First, click here for a schedule template.
Next, fill in your schedule in the following order:
- Fixed commitments (such as classes, work, and commuting)
- Healthy habits (sleep!)
- Homework time
- Everything else (like errands, seeing friends, etc.)
When in doubt about how many hours you need, overestimate. Be specific: assign each block of time to a class. Most students who do this find it’s a bit like a puzzle, but after a few tries, they can make everything fit. If you find that you don’t have enough hours in the week, you may have to make some lifestyle changes.
3. Use a To-do list.
Write a list of everything you have to do, not just school stuff. If your list is so long that just looking at it gives you anxiety, break it down into four sections according to this chart so that you can tell at a glance which items are priorities. Try the app Evernote for added practicality.
4. De-Stress.
It’s normal to feel stressed and overwhelmed when you’re spread too thin. Nip it in the bud before your stress gets out of hand– check out this stress management guide. Remember, figuring out how to have work-life balance that works for you is always a work in progress, so don’t get too discouraged.
5. Ask for help.
There’s a lot of Algonquin staff you can meet with to help you cultivate better work-life balance or improve your routine. For example, Student Success Specialists or Counsellors can be a great starting point.
Good luck!
By Eliza Brown, Counsellor for Counselling Services at Algonquin College.
“I’m having trouble making friends in college. I’ve met some cool people in class, but everyone already seems to have their own social circle. On top of that, it’s hard to coordinate schedules and find time to hang out. How do I make closer friendships?”
The paradox of college: despite literally being surrounded by thousands of peers, it can be hard to meet people. These 10 tips will increase your chances of hitting it off with a new crew of friends.
“How can I stay motivated while taking classes over the summer?”
Summer is almost here! It’s the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the weather. You may feel your mood improving, which is great! What’s not so great is feeling like you’re missing out on hanging with friends or family over the summer. FOMO (fear of missing out) can be a genuine source of stress, and staying focused on school during this time of year can be a challenge. Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated.
“I’m a perfectionist, and I get really disappointed in myself when I don’t get the grade I was hoping for. How do I move on from mistakes?”
People often think of perfectionism as being perfect or doing something perfectly, and assume it must be a good thing. But relentlessly striving for perfection can become unhealthy. Perfectionists tend to base their self-worth on unrealistic standards, and can become extremely critical of themselves or others.
Dear Patti,
I get very nervous when I write exams. My brain starts going a hundred miles a minute and I cannot focus or remember any of my notes. How can I stay calm?
As our emotional mind starts to “spin,” it can take over our logical mind and make it very difficult to think straight. At these times, using the technique of grounding can help you regulate your emotions. Grounding is a coping technique designed to immediately reconnect you with the present moment using your senses, which can help you focus your mind.
Dear Patti,
No matter what I do, I can’t fall asleep. Even when I go to bed early, I’m still tossing and turning at 1am. Help!
Sleep difficulties can strike at different stages: falling asleep, staying asleep and waking up. Trying to regulate your sleep is almost like a research project… you need to try changing different variables to see what is most effective for you. Here are some ideas to experiment with.