Psychological Flexibility (2024-II)

Course description

To reach their optimal performance, (elite) athletes need to learn to handle the pressure to get results, to cope with adversity or setbacks and to deal with criticism or fatigue. Obtaining your PhD is much like performing as an elite athlete. It requires dealing with setbacks, slow progress and taking courage. Like an elite athlete, to stay motivated, to perform at your best and to handle difficult thoughts, being ‘psychologically flexible’ is key. This personal development course will help you develop psychological flexibility for life.

Learning objectives

During this course you will gain insight in the way your thoughts and emotions affect your behaviour and performance and you will acquire the skills to deal with them effectively. You will work on your mental skills to stay focused and avoid distraction by concerns. You will assess self-valued behaviour regarding your PhD activities as well as other areas in life and learn to behave accordingly, retaining the optimum level energy during their PhD trajectory.

Instructional method

The course consists of an individual in- and outtake and four group meetings in between. The group meetings serve to create self-awareness among the participants through education, small exercises and peer discussions. Furthermore, experiential learning through homework assignments is an essential part of the learning process.

Trainer

Martijn Ruitenburg, PhD
Sportpsycholoog VSPN | Focus like a pro

Group size

10 to 12 participants

Number of credits

1.0 EC

Course programme

The course consists of an individual in- and outtake, plus four group meetings of 3 hours each.

Individual meetings:

• Week 39/40 (: individual intake (questionnaire)
• Week 48/49: individual outtake

Course schedule

Study load

In addition to the scheduled sessions, you should take into account an extra study load of approximately 13 hours in total. This study load generally consists of homework assignments in preparation for the next session.

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate after actively participating in all course sessions.

Cancellation and No-show policy

This course is free for GSLS PhD candidates. However: free of charge does not mean free of responsibility. Once you have signed up for a course, we expect you to attend. For every late cancellation or no-show we have had to disappoint others who would have liked to attend. This is our policy:

• You may cancel free of charge up to 4 weeks before the start of the course. After this date you can only cancel if you have a GSLS PhD candidate to replace you in the course. Send the name and contact information of your replacement to pcc@uu.nl, at least 2 working days before the start of the course;
• We expect that you actively attend the full course, but at least 80%. It is mandatory to attend the first session. If you are absent the first session you cannot follow the remaining of the course;
• Not meeting the above requirements means you will be charged a no-show fee (€ 175). We will send the invoice after the course has ended. We are unable to make any exceptions, unless you have a valid reason (i.e., illness or death in the family 1^st/2^nd degree or partner). Your supervisor has to send an e-mail to pcc@uu.nl indicating the reason.

Unfortunately we don’t offer this course for participants not part of the GSLS. Our courses tend to be fully booked by GSLS PhD candidates.

I know better how to deal with my thoughts and my mind, which helps a lot in stressful periods.

This course makes you aware about the influence of your own (negative) thoughts and mind, how to accept this and direct towards a situation that you prefer/value.

I have actually learnt a lot on how to overcome difficult situations in a positive way! I have learned the importance of knowing my values and to work on them. I am now able to handle all issues related to my PhD project very positively.