Blog
by Bill Sheate
I'm delighted to announce that from April 2018 I will be running a weekly clinic on Friday mornings (between 8.30am - 2.00pm) in Bloomsbury. Located right next to the British Museum, Museum Street is right in the heart of London academia, surrounded by the University of London, UCL, and Birkbeck among others.........
by Bill Sheate
Most university students’ approach to exams is shaped by their experience of exams at school, but this means that most are often poorly prepared for the different style of learning at university and the way in which exams are used, from undergraduate through to postgraduate level. Other forms of assessment are also increasingly utilised at university to assess the attainment of learning outcomes intended by the curriculum. But exams still have a role .............
by Bill Sheate
A recent IPPR study reported in The Guardian has found suicides among UK university students at record levels (The Guardian, 2 September 2017 - Suicide is at record level among students at UK universities, study finds).
We have known for a long time about rising demand for university counselling services and a common assumption is that it is a response to rising student debt due to tuition fees and that universities need to invest more in those services. Well, yes, they do, but the issue is far more fundamental than that on at least two different levels..........
A half-day (4 hours) practical Self-Hypnosis Workshop that takes you a step beyond mindfulness and relaxation. No previous experience necessary, however, as this is a standalone workshop equally suitable for complete beginners and those experienced in other forms of relaxation/mindfulness. The workshop uses a cognitive behavioural, fully evidence-based (non-state) model of hypnosis...........
by Bill Sheate
This week - in Mental Health Awareness Week - I’ve concluded the last of six core sessions of what is now an annual programme of resilience skills training for our one-year MSc course in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London. I see the programme as an integral part of transferable skills training – those skills and attributes now seen as at least as important by employers as the qualifications our students leave with. Indeed, by seeing mental health resilience skills as part of transferable skills we can begin to break down the reluctance of some to even consider going to a mindfulness or relaxation class..........
by Bill Sheate
Mastering mindfulness is a key technique in helping to reduce anxiety, but is surprisingly simple to do, if you understand some basic principles. It should never be a chore. Here are 12 simple steps to mindfulness: .........
by Bill Sheate
Insomnia is often linked with stress, anxiety or low mood/depression, but not always. It can exist as an ongoing chronic problem which can seem quite unresolvable, going on for many years despite numerous attempts to find a solution. A defining feature of insomnia is the sense of having slept badly and of suffering as a result.......
by Bill Sheate
At advanced levels - especially postgraduate - exams are less about what you know and more about how you apply your knowledge and understanding to problem-based situations. They’re not there so much to test your knowledge, as to be part of making learning possible, for example as opportunities to apply higher order learning skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation (and creativity). There are some very simple hints and tips that can make all the difference to your exam technique, especially for essay-type questions – the whole way in which you perceive an exam, approach it, prepare for it and sit it..........
by Bill Sheate
For many at university, exams and deadlines become the primary focus for their approach to learning, fueled in part by an education system prior to university that benchmarks individuals throughout their school career....... Turning the whole approach around can be a much more helpful way of looking at assessments and exams.........
by Bill Sheate
What do we mean by ‘stress’ and how does it relate to ‘anxiety’? Are they the same thing? Actually, no they’re not, but they are related. There have been a number of approaches to understanding stress over the years, but it is Richard Lazarus’ transactional model that is the most widely accepted. It involves three key elements:
• a stressor,
• appraisal (primary and secondary), and
• response (problem-based or emotion-based)......
by Bill Sheate
A Guardian article today - University mental health services face strain as demand rises 50% - highlights the increasing strain upon University counselling services as demand increases. Students accessing counselling services in the Guardian sample rose from just under 25,000 five years ago to more than 37,000 in the 2014-15 academic year, a 50% rise......
