Statistics establish the rising trend in psychological distress in students at university. After really quite a long time governments have identified that it is important to increase mental well-being and help students function optimally. The recommendations are systemic and make the connection between cost-of-living, a constrained housing market and the uncertain employment prospects after they have attained their degree.
As there are so many factors to consider perhaps the best possible solution would be a more comprehensive mental strengthening programme which equips students to deal with life challenges in a more grounded, practical and proactive way?
Some universities are already seeing the significance of providing a service for students which extends beyond achieving a degree.
Coaching Business professionals for more than 35 years has enabled me to see several consistently recurring themes which constrain people from achieving their professional potential. Perhaps surprisingly people report the same difficulties whether they are in internships / first jobs or have secured a role as a board member or CEO.
I have had literally hundreds of conversations with people who express similar personal and professional challenges:
- “I feel like I’m not good enough for my job. How do I relieve my imposter syndrome so that I can make my best contribution without constant worry?”
- “I believe that my views are not worth listening to, so very often even if I have a good idea I don’t speak up. How do I find my voice and articulate myself in a more compelling way?”
- “I feel dissatisfied with my current situation, but feel really overwhelmed by the fact that I don’t know what to do about it. How do I make decisions in these circumstances?”
It’s fairly easy to see that the psychological drivers for these prevalent phenomena can be traced to:
- a lack of personal/professional confidence
- an ungrounded self-image in which means the person cannot realise their own capability
- a lack of clarity about how to make grounded, basis lead decisions which consider both potential risk and the probability of success
I have come to realise that many of these tendencies are ingrained in students by the pressure to perform academically and the culture in some universities.
The majority of universities which we speak to are still ‘in the process of thinking about’ making a more significant adaptation to their services for students. How likely are we to solve the problem by thinking about it rather than taking substantial and purposeful action.
Erasmus University has taken the initiative and has provided their students with Momentum’s mental fitness programme Optimising Your Own Performance (OYOP) which enables students to develop a personal paradigm which is specifically designed to carry them forward to a more positive future.
OYOP shows people how to develop a more accurate and healthy self-image which inevitably builds their confidence and self esteem. As students learn how to adapt their own paradigms they are empowered to make significant mindset changes which enables them to achieve in the short term for the imminent academic test.
In preparation for the future they learn how to manage stress levels, take more responsibility for best possible decisions and envision a more significant future.
The OYOP programme spans several months, providing five one day workshops interspersed with weekly mental strengthening practices which develop new paradigms and healthier thinking habits. As with physical strengthening practices success can be achieved in literally five or ten minutes a day.
Even with full academic schedules meaning that students were not always able to do the brief practices which develop your mental strength on a daily basis, students were able to achieve the improvements below:
If the approach was taken more widely universities could take more credit for developing the whole person rather than focusing purely on academic achievement.
If you are interested to know more about how students can be empowered to take charge of their lives more positively even before they graduate you can attend a free introduction to Optimising Your Own Performance which also serves as a standalone mental strength development talk.
Or you can get in touch in the first instance with Adoni on doni.mais@achieving-momentum.com.
