Staff Symposium Student Wellbeing

In 2021, Floortje published a book titled ‘People are Complicated’. In this work, she posits that people’s complexity and variability makes them difficult to understand through logic alone or to categorise using labes from the DSM. She asserts that we are only in the beginning of understanding human behaviour. Her extensive expertise and commitment to enhance psychiatric care have led her to champion “blended psychiatry”, an approach that integrates the patient’s personal experiences, professional knowledge, and data analysis.  

Gonneke is a Professor of Youth Welfare at the department of Interdisciplinary Social Science of Utrecht University. She researches (changes in) the (mental) health of youth. By studying the correlation between (mental) health and various characteristics of the individual, the family, the physical environment, and the society, she aims to better understand differences between groups of young people in this field. Since 2016, she has been the project leader of the Dutch HBSC study. She also leads the ‘Minding the Gap’ project, which explores the relationship between poverty and the mental health of young people.   

If you are curious about what sense of belonging and pedagogical caring mean and want to know why these concepts are important for a supportive and caring academic classroom relationship, come to this workshop! With the project 'Belonging@UU Diversity and Inclusion beyond the numbers', Utrecht University aims to achieve a culture where everyone belongs, is valued and has the opportunity to develop through open, equal and inspiring education. It is important to identify the sense of belonging, because sense of belonging not only affects students' study success and perseverance, but it is also associated with other outcomes, such as well-being and motivation. During this session, the concepts of sense of belonging and pedagogical caring will be explained. Furthermore, you will use case studies to discuss how to encourage students' sense of belonging. Important elements of supportive and caring academic classrooms relationships based on pedagogical caring will be discussed and we would like to be inspired by you!  

This workshop will be delivered by Maartje van der Molen, educational consultant on Diversity and Inclusion, and Ulviye Isik, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Maartje is actively involved in the Sense of Belonging@UU project as a project officer and Ulviye Isik does the day-to-day supervision of this project. This project focuses on stimulating the sense of belonging of our students at Utrecht University.  

Bullying, discrimination, blackmail and sexually transgressive behaviour... 20 per cent of students have experienced it at some point, reports the Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg. And maybe you have seen or experienced it yourself as a teacher or student counsellor for instance. When do you intervene and how to do so? During the Active Bystander workshop you will be given tools that can help you to raise inappropriate behaviour and thus help one another.  

Bureau Belle Barbé is committed to creating a safe working and learning environment in which (sexual) integrity is central. 

COVID, war, climate change, job changes, a break-up... Life is full of change. The world’s constantly changing, as are we. But how do you actually navigate life through all these changes? And how do you help students navigate their changes? How can we stay excited, hopeful, and move forward with power?  

In this workshop we'll explore three tools that will help you navigate turbulent times in your own life and assist you in the guidance of students. You'll walk away with inspiration and practical steps to move through life’s changes. 

Global Young Leaders (GYL) is an international organization that works with young people at schools, universities, and companies to assist them in developing essential life-skills so they can navigate their important decisions and challenges, and create life by their own design. Our workshops help students understand and navigate key life topics such as decision-making, outside influences, mindset, fear, change, and intuition. Through our hubs in the Netherlands, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and USA, we work with young people around the world.  

*Interpreter available for English translation.

Emotions are not obstacles to overcome, but rather signals that you feel and experience for a reason and that tell us something important. They have a meaning and function, only we are not aware of it enough. In difficult situations, emotions are often ignored or suppressed, losing the valuable information they contain and depriving ourselves of the opportunity to respond to them in a healthy way. We need to learn to understand and use them.   

For students, as a counselor or even teacher, you can play an important role in this. By recognizing emotions as an important source of information, you can create a supportive and understanding environment where students feel heard and understood.  

Emotions and stress are strongly linked. A response to a stressful situation or event consists largely of emotion, such as fear, excitement, anger or doubt. Instead of simply saying we are stressed, we should take the time to explore what is going on and what exactly we are feeling. By giving it a name, we can better work toward solutions and respond more effectively to the challenges life presents us and our students.  

In the workshop we will show:  

• Why we are bad at recognizing emotions  

• That stress does not exist   

• That emotion regulation starts with labeling your emotions  

In this workshop you will learn:  

• A new technique for recognizing emotions 

• How to look at emotions in a different way  

• That every emotion has a function   

Emotiplus develops practical tools, trainings, content and education that teaches people how to effectively use their emotional intelligence to promote performance, communication and mental resilience. The practical applicability of their method is leveraged from top sports to top healthcare, from corporate business to education. As emotional intelligence pioneers, they also conduct scientific research to learn and optimize their method.  

During this workshop various topics will be presented and discussed such as; what different e-health programmes and tools are available and what themes are highlighted? How do you apply this in conversations and in education? In addition to these important topics, the challenges and innovations within (e-health) wellbeing projects will be discussed. 

Caring Universities is an initiative aimed at improving students’ mental health. The Mind-Health Check gives insight into the problems students face, so relevant e-health interventions can be developed and offered for free. One core pillar of the Caring Universities project is its scientific basis. We publish the results of our yearly survey on student wellbeing, and also research and publish articles on our e-health programmes. 

Are you already using the guidance circle in your contact with students? Students can come to you with all sorts of questions. There are many guidance options for students, but who do you refer to for what? In this workshop, we explain the UU Guidance Circle so that it becomes clear which forms of guidance are available for students. Subsequently, we get to work with a number of practical cases: who would you refer to in this situation, and why? After attending this workshop, you can refer your students to the right person when they come to you with a question. 

*Interpreter available for English translation.

Discover how to recognize mental complaints in students and make them discussable in a safe, supportive way. In this interactive workshop, offered by Power by Peers, you will receive tools through case studies and practical exercises to recognize stress, depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety and panic disorders in students. Acquire the skills to start an open conversation and contribute to a positive change. Essential for study counselors, mentors, course coordinators, teachers and everyone who is in contact with students. Make a difference in the life of a student by starting the conversation about mental health.  

This workshop is an introduction to the more extensive workshop ‘Making Mental Complaints Discussable’, which is scheduled for April 16 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. 

Power by Peers is a social enterprise where people make work of and with their own experience. All people who work with and at Power by Peers are entrepreneurs, whether or not in training. Our base is Utrecht Overvecht, but we work everywhere where there is work that suits us. We offer services in the field of mental health, addiction, poverty, social isolation, debts, migration/integration, illiteracy and physical disabilities. 

*Interpreter available for English translation.

How are today’s students doing? What substances are students using now and what is the prevalence of use? When is use still recreational and when is something problematic? How is mental health related to use? In this workshop, we pause to consider these questions and discuss signals of risky substance use and where you can refer students for preventive measures. 

Eva Kalis MSc works as a prevention expert at Jellinek. Jellinek is the expert in the field of substance use and addiction and offers expert help to everyone with a light and heavy addiction. Her expertise lies with the student target group. If you have questions, feel free to email her at eva.kalis@jellinek.nl. 

ADHD/ASD and neurodiversity are omnipresent in society and thus also within education. What is the best way to deal with this, in what can you provide support, and in which areas do you perhaps not need to? In addition, what are the core characteristics of ADHD and ASD and what options for help exist in the Netherlands and the surrounding community both within and outside the university? Have you encountered this in your work and would you like to know more? Then come along and discuss it confidentially together during this interactive workshop.