Welcome to the Student Health and Wellbeing Blog (2024) ๐Ÿ’š


The Student Health and Wellbeing Blog is one of the primary channels through which Health, Counselling and Disability services communicates to students and staff. In this post learn about the history of the blog, what content you can find on it, and how to subscribe. Reading time ~ 10 minutes.


The quick version for those that don’t have much time โŒ›

I’m Gareth. I’m a psychologist. I write this blog. The purpose of the blog is to give students (and secretly staff) the knowledge, skills and tools for productivity and mental health/ wellbeing. It is also useful for staff wanting to know what support options are available for students.

Good starting points:

Don’t want to have to keep revisiting the blog? Subscribe (see QR code below) and receive all new content to your email once a week. Or bookmark the site in your browser of choice โญ

Also, check out the Oasis website. Oasis is a Student Wellbeing Centre on the Bedford Park campus. Find them also on Instagram and Facebook.

The longer version for those with a relaxed outlook and a bit of time on their hands

Hello there!

Nice of you to drop by ๐Ÿ™‚

My name is Gareth and I am the eMental Health Project Officer at Flinders University. I am a psychologist by trade, but don’t tell anyone because they won’t speak to me at parties.

In 2017, I helped the team here at Health, Counselling and Disability Services set up the ‘eMental Health Strategy‘. That is really just a fancy name for us distributing more wellbeing and mental health related stuff to students via digital channels like this blog, imaginatively called the Student Health and Wellbeing Blog (yes, I realise I could have tried a bit harder with the name).

This blog is about university students, particularly Flinders University students.

The goal of the blog is to provide students (and staff as well) with the knowledge, skills and important news updates you need to thrive here at university.

Thriving means different things for different people.

For some it means being a kick-arse student and getting good grades.

For others it means being happy and healthy.

For others it means building friendships that will last a lifetime.

For some it means doing absolutely everything – study, work, play, socialise, jazz dance

For some it just means scraping through their degree by the skin of their teeth as they juggle study, work and family.

Whatever thriving and wellbeing means to you, I reckon I have got something on this blog to help you out.

At the most basic level, the blog is a good source of news coming out of Health, Counselling and Disability Services and Oasis, the two major wellbeing focused services in the university. For example, we highlight the various health and wellbeing related programs and events that we are running. These include the Be Well Plan (mental health & resilience), Studyology (procrastination) and Mental Health First Aid (helping others).

We also develop and distribute a whole range of handouts which we call our Self-Help Library on various topics relevant to students. We delve into topics related to what it means to have a good student experience. For example, in 2019 we started putting out the ‘Getting off to a good start‘ guide for new students which covers good study skills as well as self-care.

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Basically, I spend hours perusing the psychological and self-help literature and keeping track of useful resources in order to find stuff I think can make your life better.

It might be talking about how to manage your time, how to prepare for placements, links out to interesting wellbeing articles I find, summaries of interesting research I read or just reading me rant about something random.

Have a browse. See what you can find. You can browse by category or date or enter a search term.

Can’t find what you need? No worries – drop me a line (gareth.furber@flinders.edu.au).ย I find so much wellbeing stuff in my travels, that I can barely keep up writing about it. But if you send me a question, I am confident I can probably find you something relevant. If I can’t, I’ll go searching.

 

Subscribe

Now assuming that you do find stuff on the blog you like, I know you donโ€™t have the time to be coming back and visiting this blog regularly. Youโ€™ve got places to go, people to see, assignments to write, things to do, Netflix shows to binge.

So, to make your life easier, Iโ€™ve added the ability to subscribe to this blog.

Simply scan the following QR code with your phone and enter your first name, email (Flinders) and which College you are in.

 

The way the subscription works is this:

Every week, youโ€™ll get an email from me, under the heading of the Health, Counselling and Disabilities Newsletter. The email will contain links to the most recent content added to the blog.

If there is something you like the look of, click through. If not, wait until the following week and Iโ€™m sure there will be something of interest.

If you think a fellow student might be interested in regular news and articles from me (eMental Health Project Officer), direct them towards this post.

Why an email newsletter?

I work as part of Health, Counselling and Disability Services. We are keen to make your time here as a student a healthy and happy one. The newsletter is one of the services we offer to help students keep up with what health/wellbeing services are available to them.

Part of staying healthy is staying informed, and through the blog and the newsletter we aim to let you know about the different tools, techniques, events, services and news that can help you live a happier and healthier life.

If that sounds like something you are interested in, subscribe. If not, just remember that we are here 5 days a week if you need health or wellbeing assistance.

 

Last of all – you can get involved with the blog/newsletter

Want to get involved with helping other students navigate the complex world of university study? How about getting involved in the blog.

‘How would I do that Gareth?’ – I hear you ask.

Simple.

Here are just a few ways you can get involved:

  1. Got an idea for a blog post? let me know by emailing me – gareth.furber@flinders.edu.au
  2. Want to have a crack at writing a blog post? – again, email me with your suggested topic. I can help with topic selection, writing and editing. Want to see what some other students have written on the blog? Try here.
  3. Feel like sharing your positive story of overcoming adversity to thrive at uni? – we could organise a podcast or written interview. It is always powerful to hear from people who have overcome adversity.
  4. Involved in a project that is addressing the health and wellbeing of students? – let me know and we can promote it on the blog.
  5. Feel like the blog might be helpful to someone you know? – simply share the URL – https://blogs.flinders.edu.au/student-health-and-well-being/ย with anyone you think might enjoy or benefit from the blog

 

Take care

Dr G

Posted in
Well-being at Flinders

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