Exam stress coping tips

Now that term 2 has started, many of you may be facing exams and assignments. It’s not uncommon to find exams daunting, but here’s a few tips on how to cope with exam stress from Student Minds:

1.  Organisation: Break your revision down into small chunks, and form a plan. Once you've got a plan, you won't have any more dilemmas at the start of the day about what to work on.
2. Schedule in plenty of free time to unwind. If you give yourself plenty of rest you can do the same amount of work in half the time or less.
3. Equally, don't panic if you go slightly off schedule - tomorrow is another day.
4.  Don't set yourself ridiculous goals. Nobody can revise 10 topics in a day! Avoid setting the day up to be a disappointment.
5. Don't cut out all the enjoyment from your life. It's tempting to decide you'll just knuckle down to work and "focus", but this is counterproductive - it's impossible to focus without giving your brain rest by doing other activities.
6. Avoid stimulants. Caffeine, alcohol and drugs impede your energy and concentration in the long term. It'll also make it more difficult to get that much-needed sleep.
7. Don’t compare yourself to others
8. If you can, discuss with your parents what they are expecting you to achieve. Parents with steep or unrealistic expectations will just add unnecessary pressure. It's helpful to let them know what you think you have the capacity to achieve, and to insist that the best way to get there is to have support from your parents, not pressure.
9. If you're feeling really worried or anxious, chat to a good friend, family member, or tutor. It helps to get it out of your system, and they may well be able to help think about practical strategies to deal with exam stress.
10. And lastly, PERSPECTIVE- exam success (or failure) does not define you as a person!

For study tips, here’s an excellent 3-minute video by asapscience on the best study tips according to science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p60rN9JEapg

Warmly,

Anon

Who can you turn to when you need someone to listen? #NLBeHeard

University can be a challenging time, and sometimes we just need to get things off our chest. Other times, we may need more specific support. The lack of funding for student psychological services means that the average waiting time to see a counsellor is 6 weeks, although this can sometimes be longer. Below, I’ve included some potential sources of support which you can turn to if you need someone to listen (hover over the bold items to find links to relevant websites):

The Mix

The Mix is the UK’s leading support service for young people. They are there to listen and support you with any challenges you may be facing- from mental health to money, from homelessness to finding a job, from break-ups to drugs. Services they offer include:

• Discussion boards for 13-25 year olds where you can talk anonymously about what's on your minds and help each other out
• The Mix counselling service: short-term help with mental health and emotional wellbeing. Their telephone counselling service is available for under 25s. To access support, call them on 0808 808 4994 between 4 pm to 11 pm.
•  Group chatrooms: A safe space for anyone aged 11 to 25 to support each other with their problems. Open every Wednesday from 8-9:30pm. 

Papyrus

Papyrus are a suicide prevention charity who provide confidential help and advice to young people under 35 and anyone worried about a young person. Their hotline service, HOPELINEUK, is staffed by advisors who are there to listen and provide you with confidential support and practical advice. You can contact them in the following ways:

Call: 0800 068 4141                      Text: 07786209697                       Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org

Their opening hours are as follows: 10am – 10pm weekdays; 2pm – 10pm weekends; 2pm – 10pm bank holidays.

Student Minds

Student Minds offer support groups as a safe, confidential place that allow students to talk and listen without judgement. They offer different support groups all run by trained facilitators:

·       Positive Minds: six-week course for students experiencing low mood or mild depression

·       Eating difficulty groups: informal groups to provide support and encouragement to any student who is experiencing difficulties around food

·       Supporting supporters workshops: for those supporting a friend or family member experiencing eating difficulties

Click here to find out if your university has a Student Minds support group.

Student Support and Wellbeing Drop-in Sessions

Some universities offer drop in sessions. The availability of these drop-in sessions and the type of support offered will vary from university to university. You can take a look at the support services on offer on your university website to find out more.

If you need someone to talk to between the hours of 6pm to 8am, Nightline is here to listen! 

If our lines happen to be closed and you urgently need someone to speak to someone, the Samaritans are a 24-hour service. You can contact them by calling 116 123.

What makes a good listener? #NLBeHeard

Active listening is not only a valuable soft skill that employers look for, it also helps you become better at supporting someone emotionally through times of need. We hear the term bandied about, but what does active listening actually involve?

Below, I’ve included some tips on how we can be better listeners:

Acceptance and Non-Judgement

People come from different backgrounds and have different experiences shaping their views. The fear of judgement can stop people opening up about themselves or their problems. Showing the person you are listening to that you are not judging them can help them feel less afraid to open up. Listen with an open mind and try to recognise how your own background and views may influence your perception of what the other person is saying. Try not to make judgemental comments about what the other person is saying or jump to conclusions. You could actively reassure the person that you are not judging them and you accept them for who they are, if they are opening up about a topic that’s very sensitive in nature or that they are really afraid of talking to anyone about.

Listening

This may sound like an obvious one, but one of the first rules of active listening is actually showing someone that you are listening to them. That involves not going on your phone to scroll through Instagram mid-conversation, making eye-contact with the other person (to the extent that you’re both comfortable with of course), and showing through your facial expressions that you are really registering their message. The use of non-verbals is also a golden strategy, especially if the conversation you are having is over the phone where you cant use visual cues to show that you are listening.

Empathy

Many people get confused about the difference between empathy and sympathy. Imagine that someone is drowning in a pool and needs your help. Sympathy would be feeling sorry for the person, whereas empathy would lead you to actually throw out a rope for them. You can see which of the two is more helpful. Empathy involves actually trying to put yourself in the other person's shoes and see where they are coming from, whilst sympathy involves simply pitying the other person. It’s not always going to be easy to put ourselves in others shoes if they are going through something we have no experience of ourselves or cant really relate to, but we can at least try to better understand their experiences by asking questions. We can use our words to acknowledge their struggles and emotions, and avoid minimising their problems by bringing up a problem of your own that you thought was worse.

Reflection

Reflective listening is a method of communication which involves two key steps: seeking to understand what the other person is saying, then offering the idea back to the speaker (e.g. paraphrasing what the speaker has just said) to show that you have been really listening. It's also important to reflect the language that the other person has been using- this reduces the risk of you appearing to make any assumptions about the other person. You should also reflect tone of voice (this doesn't have to mean matching the tone of voice exactly, it can be closer to neutral). You can imagine that it may not come across well if the person you’re listening to sounds very despondent, and you reply in a very cheerful tone of voice. To illustrate this, I’ve included a link to a video clip of Inside Out (a great movie I’d recommend).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT6FdhKriB8

And lastly, remember to take care of yourself! Supporting others whilst we are emotionally and mentally drained ourselves can be difficult, so it's important to remember to look after yourself. If that means that you aren't able to support someone at the moment, that's okay, your needs come first. If you need to talk to someone, Nightline is here to listen (go onto nightline.org.uk for contact details).

If you’re staying tuned to our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (@LondonNightline), you’ll see our daily listening tips! And if you have any questions about anything mentioned in this blog post, please put them in the comments.

Warmly,

Anon

Welcome!

First of all, welcome back to the blog! If you are new to this page, Nightline is a free, anonymous, and confidential listening and information service for students, run by trained student volunteers. Our volunteers listen to whatever is on a student’s mind, providing a space to explore their feelings free of judgement at a pace that works for them. Our lines are open again from 6pm-8am during term-time. For details on how to contact us, please see the bottom of the blog.

If you’re a fresher’s student, starting university can be quite a minefield to navigate. When asked how they were feeling during fresher’s week, students’ responses ranged from ‘excited’ and to ‘overwhelmed’, ‘confused’, and ‘need coffee’. With so much going on during freshers, this was not unsurprising!

If you are feeling overwhelmed during freshers, it can be important to remember to take a step back. You don’t have to say yes to absolutely everything- it’s okay to take an evening out for yourself to catch up on some reading or binge-watch a Netflix show. Some may also find meditation exercises a helpful pause to the day- apps such as Headspace provide a few free sessions of mindfulness exercises. Studies have shown that mindfulness can reduce levels of stress, anxiety, and negative affect.

Here is a list of other self-care tips posted a while back on our Instagram page:

• Get plenty of sleep
• Cook
• Write or draw (e.g. journaling)
• Talk to myself
• Cuddle cats (check out London's cat cafes if you like feline friends!)
• Walk or bike (e.g. in a park- enjoy nature and sunlight)
• Tidy
• Read

And of course, if you would like to talk to someone, Nightline is here to listen. Here are our contact details:

Phone: (+44) 207 631 0101

Text: (+44) 7717 989 900

Instant messaging: nightline.org.uk

Email: listening@nightline.org.uk

If you are not able to reach us, please call the Samaritans on 116 123.


Warmly,

Anon

Family and Holiday Stress

The holiday season can be a wonderful time - but it can be a stressful one too, especially when you're spending all of your time surrounded by family. It can sometimes get a little bit overwhelming, in particular when you're coming home from university. You're used to setting your own timetable, and returning back to the family house can be a bit like being back at college again!

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the holiday season has to be full of stress. Some of our top tips for this festive season include:

- Take some time for yourself. Curl up under a warm blanket with a hot chocolate, take a long walk in the crisp, cold air, or read a favourite book. Family and friends will hopefully understand that this can be a stressful period for everybody, and let you have your 'me' time.

- Keep in touch with people who understand. Spending time with friends is just as important as spending time with family, especially if they know about your family stress, and can help alleviate it in any way.

- Talk to your family about what's going on. They're probably stressed out just as much as you are, and chatting to them about it will allow everyone to get a little bit of that stress off of their chests.

- Keep things in moderation. Not looking after your diet, but rather overindulging on chocolates and alcohol won't help with your stress levels.

Well, that's it for the Nightline blog for this term - I'm very much looking forward to writing more for you in the coming term. I hope that you all have a very merry holiday season!

As ever yours,

-Wendy