The UOW Counselling service provides free and confidential skills-based psychoeducation workshops. These workshops provide practical skills for managing emotions, motivation and relationships. If you have a friend who is having difficulties managing emotions, stress and anxiety these workshops will provide you with practical skills to best support your friend. Refreshments will be provided during the workshop.
These workshops are approved UOWx activities.
Please register below for each of the workshops. There are 20 places available for each workshop. If it is fully subscribed, you will be placed on a waiting list and will have priority placement when the workshop series is run again.
Homesickness - Home away from home
Date: Monday 25 March 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 19 Room 1067
Date: Tuesday 26 March 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
Moving away from home is part of an exciting life journey; learning new things, experiencing a new culture, living in a new environment, and so much more. Experiencing homesickness is also completely normal when we leave what's familiar, and these feelings can become challenging when they impact our day-to-day life, study, and well-being. This workshop will support you in learning strategies on how to manage homesickness, where you can make friends and connect to the diverse Illawarra community, and how to create a home away from home.
Coming to the Party with Social Anxiety (Part One)
Date: Tuesday 26 March 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 24 Room G02
Date: Wednesday 27 March 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
This is the first of two sessions that follow one another. In this session we will focus on understanding what social anxiety is, how it is formed, what reinforces it and why our brain thinks it’s a good idea.
Under Pressure: Short Term Strategies for Managing Stress and Emotions
Date: Wednesday 27 March 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 24 Room 102
Date: Tuesday 26 March 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
Stress is an often-inevitable part of student life: between juggling deadlines, exams and balancing other life commitments. If this stress builds and increases to become distress, it can have a negative impact on our mood, motivation and wellbeing. This workshop will go through a range of short-term, practical skills and strategies to enable us to better manage and respond to stress and distress while we are experiencing it.
Calm in Chaos: Mindfulness for Thriving at Uni
Date: Thursday 28 March 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 41 Room 204
Date: Thursday 28 March 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
Between new friends, new experiences, new freedoms—and actually studying—university life is often chaotic and stressful. This workshop introduces students to a range of ‘mindfulness’ practices which can help maintain a sense of calm, control, and wellbeing.
Keeping It Together: Medium Term Strategies for Managing Stress and Emotions
Date: Wednesday 3 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 19 Room 2104
Date: Thursday 4 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
Given the peaks and troughs of stress that come along with student life, it can be helpful to have practices and routines that assist us in mitigating and tolerating the peaks of this stress. This workshop will look at some of the medium-term, ongoing strategies that can help to build our resilience and capacity to navigate stress and its impacts.
How to Connect with Style; Soft Skills Hard Results (People Skills)
Date: Thursday 4 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 24 G02
Date: Wednesday 3 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
Effective interpersonal skills are key to building and establishing potential successful personal and professional relationships and boundaries. This workshop aims to assist you to understand, learn and implement basic skills, techniques and strategies essential for communicating and connecting more effectively with others.
How to Adult-Practical life skills
Date: Monday 8 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 28 Room 101
Date: Tuesday 9 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
Moving to another country can be hard and stressful. It is normal to feel overwhelmed and lost. This workshop will help you navigate around Uni - where to find supports and who to ask for help. It will also provide information on navigating public transport, places where you can shop for food, accessing entertainment, where to go to/what to do to set yourself up for casual/part-time work and much more!
Coming to the Party with Social Anxiety (Part Two)
Date: Tuesday 9 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 19 Room 2001
In this session we will use the knowledge we have gathered from Part One to apply cognitive behaviour therapy and cognitive restricting techniques (which trials tell us work for 75% of people), to take control back from the disorder and begin using it to benefit us.
Discovering What Drives You: Motivation and Values for Sustainable Growth
Date: Wednesday 10 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 38 Room G01
Date: Thursday 11 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
When people are driven by their values, they tend to be more satisfied, work effectively and lead a healthy and satisfied life. This workshop aims to explore and prioritise inner values and drives that will help you to attain goals that are meaningful and sustainable to you.
Dare To Do Difficult
Date: Thursday 11 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 29 Room G10
Date: Thursday 11 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
In this session we’ll look at facing some of the difficult stuff in life, like managing difficult conversations and dealing with disagreements. Some questions we’ll find answers to include, what do you do it you’re concerned about a friend? How do you raise a concern with someone in a position of authority? What can you do if you see something that concerns you? During the workshop, we’ll be thinking about what makes these situations difficult and the skills we can use to help us manage.
Balancing Brilliance: A PhD Guide to Mental Wellness
Date: Tuesday 23 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 17 Room 102
Date: Wednesday 24 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
PhD students often have trouble balancing the many demands of academia while still meeting their own social and emotional needs. High expectations, social isolation, financial stress, imposter syndrome: this workshop explores the common challenges PhD students face—and the evidence-based strategies that can sustain wellness when things get hard.
Embracing Imperfection: The Art of Self Compassion
Date: Wednesday 24 April 2024
Time: 12.00 pm - 2.00pm (AEDT) * Lunch Provided*
Venue: Bld 40 Room 122
Date: Tuesday 30 April 2024
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00pm (AEDT)
Venue: Zoom
While busy balancing study and life, we frequently forget to extend the same kindness and understanding to ourselves that we often offer to others. This workshop is designed to guide students through the elements of self-compassion, empowering them to navigate challenges with resilience and embrace a more compassionate and positive self-image.