Students continue to grow in many ways throughout the school year, including gaining learned skills, deepening knowledge and increased social engagement. Although there may be times of high stress that are predictable, such as midterms and finals, stress can also continue to build throughout different points in the semester due to other reasons. Students may be focused on getting through the next assignment deadline, going through the motions of their day-to-day routine or studying for an upcoming exam. During the busyness, it can be common that focusing on emotional needs and self-care becomes a lower priority. By fostering discussion related to emotional awareness and proactive use of coping strategies and self-care, before stress levels increase, you can continue to support your student and their mental health.
Here are some tips to help your student increase emotional identification to grow effective coping and self-care:
Encourage frequent check-ins with themselves.
- Discuss ways in which your student can take time to check in on how they are really feeling. Encourage time daily or weekly for quick check-ins to increase intentionality and to be mindful.
- Help them identify specific emotions and how to cope with those emotions. Have they noticed increased anger, anxiousness, stress, sadness or worry? Students can experience many of these feelings at once, and each emotion might require different coping strategies. By checking in, they can ensure that they are being intentional with their emotional needs.
Inquire about what they have been doing to cope when encountering stress.
- Be direct with your student by asking what they do to cope with current stressors. Providing a space for accountability can be important in increasing autonomy in self-care.
- Model your own use of self-care by sharing how you care for yourself, provide ideas of healthy coping strategies that they can try, and see if your student is using any maladaptive coping strategies.
Be a consistent support and offer a safe space.
- Students might not always be sure of what support they need or how to verbalize what they may be experiencing during times of stress. Ask how your student would like to be supported and how often they would like to communicate about their mental health and emotional well-being.
- Help them let go of shame or guilt for feeling these difficult emotions and provide validation of their experience. Provide space to normalize the need to increase emotional awareness.
If your student is interested in participating in counseling services, Counseling and Psychological Services is here. First appointments are available same-day, and students can schedule by calling 402-472-7450.
More details at: https://caps.unl.edu