All of us at some point in our lives have known the feeling of stress, the cause can vary but a commonality we all share is finding ourselves under pressure from anything from coursework deadlines to dissertations. Stress is a normal part of life, but what happens when that stress becomes consuming, overwhelming even? The first Wednesday of each November is marked as National Stress Awareness Day, an opportunity for us to come together across our communities and start a conversation.

To help you Suss the Stress, we have put together this handy blog full of useful ways to support you in reducing and managing academic stress. Did you know that the Catalyst Helpdesk has knowledgeable staff on hand to help you, every day of the week? From accessing support to tackling tricky assignments, there’s plenty of people dedicated to supporting you with any query you might have.

The helpdesk is accessible 8am-8pm on weekdays, and 10am-6pm on weekends. And of course, the Student Advisors (like me!) are here on weekdays between 11am and 4pm to give you a helping hand getting started with checking out books, accessing printers and other resources, understanding referencing and so much more. Just pop to the helpdesk to book a 15 minute appointment or book online through the ‘My Library’ tab.

Workshops

If there is a particular topic that’s got you stressed out such as procrastination or presentation skills, why not book on to a workshop? There’s a little section on the My Library tab called ‘What’s On’ with a link to ‘Join a Uniskills Workshop’. Here you can access and book on to a wide range of workshops. For example, a great one that’s running each week till Christmas is ‘Shut Up & Work’ where you can come along to a structured study session that uses the popular Pomodoro Technique to help you stay focused and get things done. This workshop also has refreshments and academic support throughout!

Appointments

As mentioned, you can book a 15 minute appointment with a Student Advisor to get started with the library, but did you know you can also book a longer more in-depth UniSkills appointment in the same place? Whether it’s referencing, academic writing, or just generally getting to grips with your work, everyone is here to help.

Online resources and Toolkits

So if you’ve not heard the word ‘UniSkills’ enough already, here it is one more time to help you access really useful resources and toolkits. Again, pop over to the ‘My Library’ tab and you’ll see a long list of links you can use to help improve your academic skills, it looks like this:

Here there are presentations and even quizzes to help you get ahead on a variety of skills. To the right of this you can also find subject-specific links setup especially for your field which give you the perfect tools to nail an assignment, so make sure to take a look!

Playlists

To help you #SussTheStress, here are 3 playlists you can use to understand, combat and overcome stress:

  • On Lynda.com you will find this playlist of short online courses and videos looking at stress, time management and resilience. Click here for the playlist.
  • On the Library Catalogue check out some self-help books all about stress management and making the most of your studies.
  • Finally, once all is said and done, kick back and relax with this Feel-good Films playlist on BoB, with all-time film favourites from Shrek to Matilda. Click here for the playlist.

We hope this blog has given you plenty of things to try out and suss your stress. Make sure to use the hashtag and let us know how you #SussTheStress!

Written by: RACHEL ARLAND

3rd Year Early Year Childhood Studies Student

Student Advisor for Library & Learning Services