Resilience by mental skills

Are you new here in the Netherlands and/ or are you in the process of getting used to living in a different culture? Do you struggle with balancing between the expectations of two different cultures? Do you sometimes feel homesick?

• dealing with homesickness
• dealing with different cultural expectations
• speaking about topics that might be a taboo in a specific culture (such as mental illnesses)
• understanding the difference between 'we' and 'me' cultures

Are you feeling stressed? Are you looking for ways to deal with stress? Do you feel like you don't realise on time when your stress level is rising?  

• overlooking causes and signals of stress (stress management)
•  taking good care of yourself in the fundamentals (nutrition, physical activity, sleep)
• managing stress with regards to your social environment (saying no, asking for help, making time for your social environment)
•  managing busyness by prioritising better
• incorporating moments of relaxation (‘just doing nothing‘) 
   

Are you familiar with perfectionism? Does it bother you at times? And/ or are you perhaps sometimes a bit hard and strict on yourself?

• gaining insight into yourself and the critical attitude towards yourself
• exploring and developing your compassionate inner voice
• recognising your critical inner voice
• emphasising your strengths and values
• approaching difficult emotions and situations with self-compassion

Do you struggle with procrastination? Do you sometimes lack an overall overview? And/ or do you have difficulties with structuring and planning? 

• easier prioritisation
• reducing procrastination
• creating a good schedule and keeping it up to date
• creating a good visual overview
• stopping things from being remembered

Do you think that your way of learning/studying does not work well? Are you sometimes overwhelmed when it comes to memorising new knowledge? Do you have the feeling that you are getting stuck when you are learning/ studying?

• understanding learning processes and the functioning of memory
• memorising and retrieving knowledge more easily and quickly
• distinguishing between global and in-depth learning
• insights into which skills you can broaden to get more out of your studies

Are you afraid of not performing well (enough)? Do you struggle with fear of failure? Do you experience a lot of tension when it comes to achieving and performing?

• knowing what fear of failure is
• understanding how fear of failure works
• knowing and understanding which situations trigger nervousness
• reducing high tension due to fear of failure
• not letting fear of failure stand in your way

Are you worrying? Do you think a lot about things in your head? Do you struggle to stop negative thoughts?

• knowing what worrying is 
• gaining insight into your process of worrying
• solution-oriented thinking
• recognising cognitive biases
• challenging solvable worries
• accepting and letting go of insoluble worries

Do you feel out of balance? Are you experiencing a sense of inner restlessness and/ or discomfort? Do you find it hard to balance between things that give you energy and things that cost you energy? And/ or do you find it difficult to determine what you find important in your (student) life? 

• determining things that give and cost you energy
• balancing things that give and cost you energy
• more insight into reality: what do you have and do you not have influence on
• creating balance through relaxation, time management and setting boundaries 
• insight into the values that are important to you

Do you experience decision stress? Do you find it difficult to make decisions? Do you feel you can't make (good) decision(s)?

• knowing what decision stress is
• reducing decision stress
• applying a decision-making method for difficult situations
• making decisions that suit you

Do you feel overactive and/or inattentive? Do you find it difficult to focus?

• filtering and prioritising better
• dealing with the symptoms of overactive and inattentive behaviour
• exploring the causes of overactive and inattentive behaviour
• dealing better with emotions that are associated with overactive and inattentive behaviour

Do you sometimes feel exhausted, tired and/ or drained? Do you have little energy? Do you feel or know that you are not always paying enough attention to your health?

• better insight into your current lifestyle and what effect this has on your physical and mental health and well-being
• distinguishing between ‘(work)load’ and ‘(work)load capacity’
• increasing your ‘(work)load capacity’
• improving nutrition, exercise and sleep
• doing activities that give you energy
• developing and sticking to a personal lifestyle plan

Do you sometimes feel lonely? Do you find it hard to put this feeling into perspective? And do you find it challenging to connect with others?

• broadening your social skills
• connecting with others more easily
• being able to feel connected with your environment
• applying helpful thoughts
• stopping hindering thoughts

Do you have limited handle on your social media and phone use? Do you spend a lot of time on social media and your phone? Do you experience FOMO? Are you sometimes insecure and/ or restless by the things you see on social media?

• knowing what too much social media and phone use looks like
• being able to oversee the negative consequences of using your social media and phone (such as feeling restless and/ or insecure)
• reducing social media and phone use
• decreasing ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO)
• improving your sleep by adjusting your phone use
• seeing the difference between what is real and not real on social media

Communication

Do you find it difficult to express your boundaries and say no? Are you looking for ways to ask for help and how to accept help? Are you unsure how to act and communicate well in case of an argument or a conflict?

• introduction to communication theory and exercises 
• insight into your way of communicating
• knowing how to communicate a message (well)
• understanding which factors influence the reception of a message
• expressing your boundaries
• asking for help
• communicating in an appropriate way in case of an argument or a conflict