Practical 

Mental Illness in the University Application

• Is your student wondering about possibly talking about their mental health issue in their university application? Here are some helpful articles: 

  • US Apps: how to write about mental health issues in their college applications

  • UCAS: Article 1; blog post; UCAS report 

Building Rapport 

• Rapport in counselling means having a sense of connection with the other person. 

• Rapport in the college counselling context is crucial for an effective working relationship between you and your student. 

• 2 articles: building rapport as a teacher and as a college counsellor.

General  / Theoretical

Stress 

• Stress almost always comes with a negative connotation in our daily usage but it is not a bad thing. 

• A degree of stress can increase performance and is necessary to motivate us, but only to a certain level. 

  • Check out how stress can be good at moderate levels (and not helpful at high levels) in this article. 

• A great FAQ about stress here by WHO 

Mental Health

• According to WHO, mental health is "a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community."

• Mental health is more than an absence of mental disorders. 

• Another definition: Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

Well-Being

• Well-being comes in many domains 

• Learn about student's well-being at school through an infographic released by OECD. 

Mental Illness

• "While mental health is always there and may be positive or negative, mental illness affects a person's ability to function over a long period of time. 

  • Mental illness is not the same as feeling sad, unhappy, or stressed because of difficult situations."

•  CDC article with basic facts about mental illnesses (read for answers to:)

• How common are mental illnesses?

• What causes mental illnesses? 

Anxiety

• Definition from American Psychological Association

  • Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.

  • Anxiety is not the same as fear, but they are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threat, whereas fear is an appropriate, present-oriented, and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat.

• 6 signs of anxiety in students teachers can look out for

• As with the distinction between mental health & mental illness, make the distinction between 'anxious feelings' (a normal occurrence, not a mental illness) and 'anxiety disorders' (mental illness). 

  • The word 'anxiety' is often used to denote both.