{"id":1912,"date":"2024-08-02T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2024-08-02T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T14:02:09","slug":"how-counselling-through-uwe-bristols-wellbeing-service-helped-me-to-accept-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/how-counselling-through-uwe-bristols-wellbeing-service-helped-me-to-accept-myself\/","title":{"rendered":"How counselling through UWE Bristol\u2019s Wellbeing Service helped me to accept myself."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jade, BA(Hons) Creative and Professional Writing student.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our student, Jade, has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety. She reflects on her experience of using UWE Bristol\u2019s Wellbeing Service and shares what her university experience means to her. Read more about Jade\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jade\u2019s story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My name\u2019s Jade and I\u2019m a third year Creative and Professional Writing student. Saying you need help is scary. For me, as long as I didn\u2019t talk about it, it wasn\u2019t real – I could just pretend I was fine. But I wasn\u2019t fine at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was anxious. I was trying to cope with lots of different things all going wrong at once. I was worried about the future. And I was exhausted by the negative voice in my head. I was struggling. It sounds silly to say it now, but I felt that admitting it meant I wasn\u2019t cut out for my degree at UWE Bristol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pushing ourselves to complete a degree is <\/em>a hard thing to do. Finding things difficult doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not for us. Though I was enjoying my Creative and Professional Writing degree, I often felt out of my depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s totally normal to feel overwhelmed learning about new things. It doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t do it. And it actually takes a good deal of courage to be able to talk about what\u2019s going on for you. To say, \u2018Hang on a minute\u2026 I\u2019m not feeling great, can I maybe get a bit of help over here?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cStruggling doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t do it. It just means it isn\u2019t easy right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

My experience of UWE Bristol\u2019s Wellbeing Service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I can honestly say I wish I\u2019d spoken to the people at Wellbeing sooner. I\u2019m in my final year now, but it was only last summer I gave them a call. I found out they\u2019re not just there for first years. They\u2019re there for you throughout your degree – for emotional and mental health support. Whatever is going on for you, there\u2019ll be somebody who can support you through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I attended counselling sessions over Teams, but I could have chosen a phone call or in-person meeting instead. They were there for me, without judgement, when I was at my lowest. I shared my worries about finishing my degree, what was going on for me in my relationships and home life, and the low moods and overwhelming emotions I was experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It felt incredibly validating to have somebody acknowledge my feelings. We worked together to come up with strategies for how I could get myself out of unhelpful thought patterns and create healthy ways to cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe validation I got from my counselling sessions helped me process what I was going through. It gave me positivity and confidence when I was feeling really rubbish and alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What my experience means to me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was fresh out of a break-up, scared about retaking my third year over, and I was processing some tough family stuff. My mental health was all over the place. But I felt less alone knowing I wasn\u2019t by myself to sort through everything. I could get it all off my chest in a safe space, then feel lighter and able to focus on what was going right for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With ADHD, my thoughts can be tricky to work through in my head. Letting it out can feel like I\u2019m a bit too much for people. I worry my family and friends will think, \u2018oh what is it this time?\u2019 And because I want to avoid bothering anyone, I bottle it up. They met me where I was at. I didn\u2019t feel like I was too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was okay I was overwhelmed and not able to calm myself down in that moment. Talking it through was like unbottling it all, and not having to cork that bottle for anybody afterwards. It was okay to be me. My condition means I get overwhelmed and find it hard to cope sometimes. Having that experience made me think about how my ADHD affects me and understand there are some things I can\u2019t change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Talking to somebody impartial who understood me meant I didn\u2019t feel guilty for sharing my worries.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What I\u2019ve learned through counselling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve learned that being happy and productive every day isn\u2019t real life\u2014it\u2019s certainly not university life. I\u2019m going to mess things up sometimes. There will be days when I forget something important, I get stuck with my writing, or I burn three lots of toast in a row because I\u2019m distracted. But there will be days when what I do is good enough<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve found out degrees aren\u2019t just about getting good grades or becoming independent. A big part of it is finding out who you are and learning to accept that person. For me, that means accepting and managing my ADHD, being kind to myself, and getting help when my mental health isn\u2019t so great. It all feels easier knowing things going wrong can be part of the university experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s reassuring knowing the Wellbeing service offers a range of mental health support for UWE Bristol students.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

My advice to other students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d recommend UWE Bristol\u2019s Wellbeing Service if you feel overwhelmed at university. You can book counselling sessions to help with things like adjusting to student life, self-esteem, or coping with difficult things from your past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also many other support options available. Wellbeing offers a 24\/7 crisis support line and text line for immediate help, online self-help resources, and student-led wellbeing workshops you can attend on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These resources offer guidance on things like balancing work and free time, homesickness, and building skills like mindfulness techniques or self-care. The Wellbeing Service can also help direct you to different services externally that may be useful to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out more about health and wellbeing<\/a> at UWE Bristol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jade, BA(Hons) Creative and Professional Writing student. Our student, Jade, has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety. She reflects on her experience of using UWE Bristol\u2019s Wellbeing Service and shares what her university experience means to her. Read more about Jade\u2019s story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":1915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,4,1],"tags":[140,92,32],"class_list":["post-1912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-wellbeing","category-support","category-uncategorised","tag-mental-health","tag-student-life","tag-student-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1919,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions\/1919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student-views\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}