Staff Symposium Student Wellbeing | 20 January 2025

In this interactive workshop, we offer educational staff tools to identify depressive symptoms in students early and discuss them in a safe, accessible way. Using case examples from lecture halls, we show how to recognize and discuss depressive symptoms in students. We look at recognizable signs and common manifestations of depressive symptoms and offer concrete strategies for starting a supportive conversation. We also cover referral options and relevant support networks in the Utrecht region where students can receive further help. The aim is to provide education professionals with the knowledge and tools to help them take a first step towards mental support within the education context. 

Foundation Door het Geluid is a nationwide initiative for students and founded by students, to help address mental health. The foundation provides interactive workshops on topics such as performance pressure, depression and (excessive) substance use. By using trained student ambassadors, Door het Geluid creates a safe and recognisable environment in which mental health is openly discussed. 

The transition from high school to university is a major life event for many of our students and sensitizes the stress circuits in their maturing brains. This is an adaptive and healthy adaptive response. However, high performance pressure and increasing digitalisation are examples of contemporary risk factors for this adaptive response to become maladaptive. The aim of this presentation is to share scientific findings to illustrate how these risk factors via steroid hormones interact with the brain and shape emotions. These insights may contribute to a better understanding of the biopsychosocial mechanisms that contribute to anxiety and depressive symptoms in university students.    

Dennis Schutter is a psychologist who works at the division of Experimental Psychology of the faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University. His teaching and research are at the intersection of psychology and neuroscience. Currently, he investigates the role of the cerebellum in the neural circuits of stress and emotion regulation. 

Life can be quite frustrating sometimes, right? You could also say: things go differently than expected. What do we all expect, anyway? And what do those (high) expectations do to us? That is what we consciously reflect on in the workshop ‘What did you expect?’. Don't expect a magical cure for infinite happiness. But you do learn to make the step from difficulty to possibility on the basis of four questions. This will help you to react more resiliently in, for instance, a difficult collaboration, a choice you are struggling with, when you have difficulty with the behaviour of another person or when you demand a lot from yourself. We discuss various recognisable situations. We also cover how to discuss expectations of yourself and others. This helps to create clarity in a conversation. 

Jan Wolter Bijleveld always finds it intriguing how expectations co-determine how we experience our lives. For over 15 years, he has been writing and speaking about letting go, peace/space in your head and expectations. He also helps organisations with a social mission tell their story. His most recent book was ‘Wat had je dan verwacht?’. For more information, visit hoofdruimte.nl external link. 

1 in 6 young adults has thought about suicide at some point. In 2023, 226 young adults died by suicide. Suicide is the leading cause of death within this age group. When all kinds of problems keep piling up, a person may feel increasingly desperate. Talking provides relief and can be the start of a solution. Do you know how to tell if someone is thinking about suicide? And how to ask the question if you suspect it?  

During the suicide prevention information session on 20 January, you will learn how to spot (possible) thoughts of suicide and how to start the conversation. It will include signals, risk factors, practical do's and don'ts in the conversation and referrals to help.  

113 Suicide Prevention Foundation is the national suicide prevention organisation. Their mission is a country where no one dies lonely and distraught by suicide. They are convinced that hundreds more suicides can be prevented every year if suicide is better discussed and care is organised in a more innovative and humane way.

Young people face many overwhelmingly big issues on their future plate. From threats of war to the consequences of climate change: a safe and predictable future is no longer a given. Climate scenarios show what is and will be lost, even if every effort is made to adjust. Young people who absorb information about the state of the world in its entirety are actually entering a grief curve. This starts with disbelief, transitions to fear, anger and, at the bottom of the curve, feelings of despondency, hopelessness or depression. As a teacher or student counsellor, how can you support young people in going through this curve ‘successfully’? And, how can you ensure that young people do not get stuck in despondency or anxiety, but help them make the turn towards grieving, connection, resilience, active hope and meaningful action? That is what this 1-hour workshop will address.  

Leonie Stekelenburg is an expert in climate stress and anxiety. With this, she works with diverse audiences such as ZuidAs pinstripe suits; Impact entrepreneurs and inspired teachers. Her work is also part of Climate Communication (with Climate Conversations founder Manu Busschots); Stichting Klimaatpsychologen and the ‘Masterclass Sustainable Education - emotions in the classroom’. She is most passionate about helping young people cope with the fear and immobilization that arises upon learning about the overwhelming threat to the future.   

For many of us, listening is an important part of our job. We may be engaged in analytical, conceptual listening, looking for the relevant information. Often, you then hear what you are looking for. But does the other person really feel heard? Can you open up instead of being preoccupied with your reactions? In Deep Listening we listen not only with our mind, but with our whole body. With our undivided attention. This naturally increases empathy for the other person, and thus connection. This is good for your conversation partner, but also for yourself. Consciously noticing what is going on inside you during a conversation also supports your well-being. In this workshop, we will practice the different steps to achieve deep listening. It will be interactive, meditative, attentive and connecting. 

Jacky Limvers is a wellbeing officer for students at Utrecht University. Deep listening is an important aspect of her work. Trained in both mindfulness and deep listening, she believes the world would be a better place if we knew how to truly connect with others and with ourselves.

In this session, Job van Ballegoijen de Jong breaks the taboo and talks candidly about his time as a pretend student. For six years, for fear of disappointing those around him, he lied about passing exam after exam. When everyone thought he was close to graduating, there were only a handful of credits to his name. In this session, Job talks about his life in the lie. He takes us back to his time as a student in Leiden, shows how lying became second nature to him and how difficult it was to stop doing it afterwards. It is an interactive session, with plenty of room for questions, and an open and honest conversation about what can be done, by students themselves as well as the educational institution, to prevent students from ending up in such a hopeless situation.

Job van Ballegoijen de Jong pretended to study successfully for years, but turned out to be a pretend student. After this period, he eventually successfully completed the International Criminal Law course at Columbia University and the University of Amsterdam. Now he has been working as a lawyer on Amsterdam's Zuidas for many years. In September 2024, he published his book ‘Morgen vertel ik alles’ about his period as a bogus student.

Everyone has some experience, but not everyone is an experience expert. So what does make you an experience expert? Ilse and Simone like to take the time to talk about experiential expertise, this time translating it to education. How do you recognise signs of someone struggling? And how do you reach precisely that target group, which is exactly not so keen to talk about those problems? In this presentation, Ilse and Simone share their life stories. Ilse struggled with an eating disorder in her student days. Spoiler: you couldn't see that on the outside. On the outside, there stood a perfect student.  

Simone spent years in front of the classroom and is familiar with all kinds of vulnerable situations and calling attention to/discussing issues that affect students:  

• Shame on the emotional life and therefore that very desire for control 
• Guilt in young people when parents get divorced  
• Vulnerable situations that play out in the home situation: loneliness, abuse, addiction, money worries.  

This affects not only the pupil but also the teacher. In this presentation, we offer great tools for discussing vulnerable issues. 

Ilse Jansen is the owner of The Me Project, a company for coaching and reintegration. Together with her team she puts people and customized trajects first. Every day they make difficult and vulnerable issues discussable, give people choices and perspective en work with themes such as participation, meaning and (working)values and motivation.  During her study Ilse struggled with an eating disorder. Now this belongs to her past. But at that time there was a teacher who made the difference... She managed to connect with Ilse and motivatie her to get help and work on recovery. In the presentation  Ilse will tell you more about this.  

Simone de Jongh has 15 years of experience in education and works as a coach in which she coaches people, transforming the shame on old pieces into valuable experiences.  In 2023, her niece, was murdered by her brother-in-law. A dad, who gave his daughter life and took life. It gave another dimension to her business and life. She is currently writing a book about this. Loss always brings change, grief, mourning, a different view of yourself and everything around you. Often you may and cannot tell your story, because death, loss, illness, murder and mourning are generally the topics, which are considered not sexy and mood-enhancing. The details are too confrontational, upset the other person and you don't want that. Just like many students, who don't share their emotional life, because they don't want to upset the other person. This can and should be done differently. ‘Every house has its cross. Just ‘get on with it’.’ During this day, we want to take you with us that there is actually a before and after. That, as a teacher, you are of enormous value to your student, in addition to your subject knowledge, the personal connection with your students can make the biggest difference.

In this workshop participants playfully explore the “hidden curriculum”: the unwritten behavioural rules that speak from the routines, rituals, and institutional structures in our education system. We will share our knowledge about (the educational debate surrounding) the concept of the hidden curriculum and discuss the potential impact of the hidden curriculum on a student’s negative self-image and their sense of belonging. Then we make the concept concrete and palpable by sharing stories of (first-generation) students struggling with the unwritten rules in our education system. Finally, participants will work in groups to playfully explore how the hidden curriculum manifests itself in their own classrooms. 

This workshop is part of the recently funded USO-project Playing the hidden curriculum external link. The project team consists of staff and students across three different faculties in the UU and is led by Jasper van Vught, assistant professor in the department of Media and Culture Studies.  

What do we notice about how difficulty is expressed at the university? How do students describe their personal and academic struggles to us, and how do we respond both personally and institutionally? What impact does this have upon the general discourse around mental health, and by extension, upon students’ own engagement with difficulty? Is there a case for change? Two counsellor’s from UCU’s Connect Centre share their reflections on these questions, and invite discussion from your perspective. 

Mark and Annemieke work as counsellor’s at UCU’s Connect Centre. They speak with hundreds of students each year about all kinds of personal situations relating to young adult life at university, and are keen to explore the role of language and communication in how universities can respond to these effectively.