UFV counsellors now offering workshops, online sessions, and more
Through the month of May and early June, UFV Counselling is offering a number of workshops alongside their traditional services, in order to help students struggling with online learning.
According to Priscilla Ang, department head for UFV Counselling, the workshops are intended to address “common challenges to online learning” by helping students examine their own emotions and habits.
“[The workshops] look at emotional and self-critical beliefs and expectations, and developing some ways of dealing with ourselves more compassionately,” Ang said via email. “[They] also look at external blocks to studying.”
“Students will be discovering more about their unique learning style and how that can be adapted to this time, and then practical skills to help structure and break things down to be effective within an online environment.”
She added that the workshops may also provide students with connections to one another and assurance that they are not alone in struggling to adjust to online learning.
In addition to providing workshops, Ang said that UFV Counselling is taking other steps to continue providing services to students during the pandemic. Traditional one-on-one counselling is still being offered via video or phone, and students may call Student Services to book sessions. A new UFV Counselling Facebook page containing contact information and resources for mental wellness has also been created.
“We hear of students struggling to transition to an online learning format, struggling to stay financially afloat, struggling to support family who have been affected by the pandemic, and struggling with anxious, depressive feelings and a greater sense of isolation,” said Ang, adding that UFV Counselling continues to offer support to any who feel they need it.
Ang also said that given what the counselling department has learned during the pandemic, online counselling sessions will likely become a permanent part of the department’s offerings going forward.
“This pandemic has taught many of us a new way of being, and allowed us to explore other potentials,” she said. “Our team would like to continue offering online therapy as an ongoing service, as it may offer more flexibility for some students, such as those who would like appointments on days that they will not be on-campus, or those who feel more comfortable in a virtual setting.”
The final workshop in the online learning series will take place on June 3, and the final in a series of workshops focused on decreasing anxiety will take place on June 4.
