At college we believe in promoting the emotional health and wellbeing of everyone. Having the choice to access support when you need it can make all the difference to your college experience. We all need support from time to time and our Emotional Health and Wellbeing service is open to all students. Every worry is important, no matter how small you think it is or if there is someone worse off than you. Please get in touch, we are here to support you.
Fika Mental Fitness
Shrewsbury Colleges Group has joined the FIKA mental fitness programme through an app to enable students to develop good mental fitness skills to aid all aspects of life going forward. Life is full of transitions, choices and challenges and throughout these, our emotions will go up and down as life is full of transitions, choices and challenges.
The Fika app develops skills as a natural part of life so that when you encounter a low period you have the resilience and skills to support yourself through the difficult time. We tend to ignore the flow of preparing for a challenging mental health period in our lives whereas as we can all associate with anyone undertaking a physical challenge like a mountain walk; this couldn’t be done without training, preparation, and processing skills. When it comes to ‘successfully’ training for, and tackling mental challenges we too often wait for the challenge to happen emotionally and then feel unable to cope and at this stage reach out for help. Fika provides the training and preparation.
We all know that eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day keeps us healthy and 20 minutes of exercise a day keeps us physically well. Undertaking three 5-minute sessions a week on your mental well-being will significantly improve your resilience and ability to cope without becoming unwell.
Students at SCG have free access to the Fika app through the app store on both iPhone and Android devices, support is delivered in tutorial sessions, supported by student services and staff. If you would like to find out more pop along to student services.
Enrichment for wellbeing
The college offers a range of enrichment activities covering fitness, sports, friendship groups, cooking, walking, and gardening. The programme is constantly being updated based on student feedback with the purpose of providing opportunities for you to make new friends, find a hobby, relax and feel good – See our enrichment Activities
BEAM Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin
BEAM is an emotional health and well-being drop-in service for young people under 25 years old who are registered with a GP in Shropshire, Telford or Wrekin.
They have a team of experienced well-being practitioners and volunteers who will listen to whatever is troubling you.
For more information visit their website.
Counselling
What is counselling?
Counselling is a type of talking therapy. You will work with one of the trained College counsellors to help you find ways to deal with emotional issues. Appointments are usually weekly or fortnightly and counselling tends to last between six to eight sessions.
The aim of counselling is to give you space to come to understand your thought process and feelings and to support you in finding your own solutions to problems. Counselling is not usually giving advice, but it does take place in a supportive, non-judgemental environment.
How can it help?
Counselling can help you cope with mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression; difficult life events like parents getting divorced or bereavement; emotions such as anger or low self-esteem or other issues like sexuality and gender identity.
Things to consider before counselling:
- Give yourself credit for taking this step – it is an unknown one but will hopefully be worthwhile
- Ask questions – if you are unsure about anything please say
- Think about what you want to achieve – this will help your counsellor support you in getting the most out of counselling
- Be realistic – it will take time for you and your counsellor to get to know each other and build trust and give yourself space after the sessions to reflect and re-engage with your daily activities.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
What is CBT?
CBT is a talking therapy that supports you in managing your problems by developing new ways to change your thinking and behaviour. It is often the first approach recommended to treat anxiety and depression, but it is also effective for other mental health and physical problems. CBT is based on the idea that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and actions are all connected and that certain behaviours/ responses are caused by negative thoughts that leave your feeling trapped and going round in circles.
CBT helps you develop ways to change the negative thought patterns and rather than focusing on your past, it deals with the current problems you are facing and looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis.
How can it help?
CBT is effective in treating several different mental health conditions including anxiety, depression and anger. It teaches you useful and practical strategies that can be used in everyday life even after the therapy has finished.
Things to consider before CBT
As with all therapy, the outcomes of CBT are dependent on your engagement with it. You need to commit to the process to get the most out of it by attending each session and completing any extra work suggested by your therapist between sessions. It can feel uncomfortable confronting your emotions and anxieties, but your therapist will support you through this process and the focus of the sessions will be on your capacity to change your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in the here and now.
For more information please contact the Safeguarding Team on campus or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Useful links
Useful links are provided below for you to access information about emotional health and wellbeing.
- GOV.UK - Mental health resources for children, students, parents, carers and school/college staff
- Mind - Providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem
- NHS - 5 steps to mental wellbeing