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As you will know, a lot of preparation goes into studying for university, and as you will know, some of the most important preparation work for entering college is not necessarily academic. There is a direct link between your health and academics, as result, your health is an important factor in your overall academic success. It’s also a beneficial path to a good start.

If it’s your first time moving away from home, you are likely to spend a lot of time on your own without much supervision. This will be an important time in your life when the demands will be far greater than ever before. And perhaps, this will be the first time where you have to rely on yourself and not your parents/guardians to take care of you.

Maintaining good health is critical to ensuring that you can focus on what you are learning, prepare for exams and meet other demands. Lucky for you, there are free health facilities at the university that don’t require you to spend money. Institutions understand that there are many pressures facing students. Therefore, they provide resources that support good mental health, wellbeing and fitness.

Wellbeing

As a part of cultivating your well-being, being part of a social network is an important part of a fun and healthy experience. Therefore, joining a society or club can be a great way of socializing with people with similar interests, religions, political beliefs, cultures, etc.

Mental health

Most institutions, if not all, have some form of student wellness service where they offer free professional health and counselling services. Here are some health facilities available to you as a student from a few public universities:

UNISA Health and Wellness Clinics

UNISA has health clinics in two campuses, with limited primary health care services:

• Muckleneuk campus
• Florida Campus

UCT Student Wellness Service (SWS)

They “provide professional medical and counselling services to students at a primary health care level. They are involved with the promotion of a balanced and healthy lifestyle as well as the prevention, early detection and treatment of all physical and mental health conditions.

Students can reach these services by calling 021 650 1017.

Wits Campus Health & Wellness Centre (CHWC) 

Offers a wide variety of health services to Wits students and staff members. The services are convenient, accessible, caring and cost-effective. Wits also offers a Counselling and Careers Development Unit, Disability Rights Unit, Gender Equity Office, Safety on Campus and Wits Integrity Hotline.

University of Johannesburg (UJ) Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development (PsyCaD)

Through PsyCAD, the University of Johannesburg offers student support. Sessions are free for UJ students and are generally 30min in duration.

Rhodes University Counselling Centre

The counseling centre offers counseling services to students for free, to work through any difficulty that might be experienced at a particular time. Students can make an appointment by emailing counsellingcentre@ru.ac.za

UKZN CAES Student support services

The University of Kwazulu-Natal offers a range of free, professional and confidential services. They provide academic support in the form of study skills, academic risk assessments, time management workshops; and psychological support for students experiencing personal and psychological difficulties.

Stellenbosh University Centre for Student Counselling and Development (CSCD)

The centre offers psychotherapeutic & support services which offers professional support and counseling to students who are experiencing personal, professional, or academic challenges and emotional trauma.

Students can call 021 808 4994 or email supportus@sun.ac.za

Nelson Mandela Student Health Services

The Health Services actively seek early identification of mental disorders, treatment of common mental disorders, attention to the mental health needs of people with physical health problems, and mental health promotion and prevention and counseling.

North-West University Student Counselling and Development (SCD)

At Student Counselling and Development (SCD) professional services are rendered to students by professional members of staff qualified in psychology, counselling, and social work. The aim is to be a support structure for students in times of need, as well as to inspire and aid them in developing and reaching their optimal wellness potential in all dimensions of life, ranging from emotional, social, and physical wellness, connectivity, growth and influence.

Medical support

Universities often offer Consultations and support are offered through their various Student Wellness Service, which is run by medical practitioners and nurses that are often free and done at a discounted student rate. They offer a range of services for those who are sick or in need of non-urgent medical attention and help students maintain overall health. Please consult your respective university website of student bodies for more information.

Jump for joy, dance up a frenzy, tap yourself on the back – you deserve it!

In order to keep your spirits rejuvenated for the long haul, it’s important to take time out and stay away from the grind, even for a short while.

It’s even more important to reflect on the year that was. What went right, what went pear-shaped, areas of improvement, and then celebrate yourself for showing up for it all.

And the habit of paying attention to the different parts of your life means that we need to acknowledge that encouragement plays an important role in our lives. That as the emotional beings that we are, the way we feel about ourselves and our efforts has an impact on how well we perform, and ultimately, how we live.

Below are pointers on why it’s essential to place value on your daily actions, and a few ideas you can use to start acknowledging yourself more:

An opportunity to train the mind to love productivity

By giving yourself rewards every time you land a win, your mind learns to associate positive emotions (happiness, pride, confidence) with applying effort and diligence.

After a long enough time, the brain will naturally read productivity as a fun pursuit. This is also a great way to develop positive/helpful mental habits and become a valuable person all round.

Major wins are made up of smaller ones

Try this idea out: at the end of each day, write down your top five (or less) accomplishments. It doesn’t matter how big or seemingly unimportant they are. Example: waking up early enough to hit the gym, plan the day out and prepare for work without hurrying is a feat worthy to celebrate.

Especially if you have consistently struggled to get it done before.

Your reward for achieving a fluid and productive day as a result might be working from your favourite coffee spot for a full day. Or perhaps a visit to a wellness center for a body massage and wind down.

Increases your level of self-awareness

When you’re actively looking for opportunities to improve and then reward that improvement, your self-awareness can only getter sharper with time.

As you grow into the habit of celebrating even your smallest victories, you’re likely to think and reflect deeply on your daily activities and how they contribute into your life.

And when you consistently write down the details of your daily activities as suggested above, you’ll have a collection of notes that act as a personal development roadmap, filled with varied lessons — from time management to self-love.

Reward yourself to inspire better emotional health

There’s a bigger impact on you when, for example, you decide to take a weekend getaway trip as a gift for your impressive performance in your studies this year.

For one, such acts of kindness and self-care draw you closer towards yourself. As a result, you begin to nurture a tender/more considerate relationship with yourself. And conversely, when you inevitably make mistakes, you’ll be in an advantageous position to quickly pick them up, openly acknowledge them and then rectify.

This is possible when you practice self-awareness on a daily basis. When there’s a need, you take full accountability for your actions.

What begins as an exercise to focus on rewarding your personal efforts may end up helping you develop other helpful habits. Because as the saying goes: “The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

In our previous article, we spoke about student wellness and how to begin your wellness journey. In addition to the suggestions we provided, such as exercising and being gentler with yourself, we thought it would be important to remind students of the importance of regular physical health check-ups.

As a student with limited funds, visiting doctors for regular health inspections may seem like an option that is out of reach. However, there are cost-effective ways to take care of your health and we are here to shed some light on a few.

UNIVERSITY STUDENT WELLNESS FACILITIES

Depending on the university or college you attend, each campus offers some form of health service or counselling service. These services are meant to advance students physical, emotional and mental wellness. The services are centred on assisting students to make healthy lifestyle choices in relation to nutrition, sexual health, and stress management. With most students back on campus now, this option might be the most viable.

UNISA has a Student Health & Wellness centre that recognises the importance of healthy living for students and offers an array of programs and services designed to promote physical health and emotional and mental wellness. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has a Student Counselling Reception that provides wellness activities and programmes that range from physical wellness to social wellness. At the Central University of Technology in the Free State, the Wellness Centre is responsible for providing services that range from health and psychological counselling services, social work services and academic support.

Additionally, the University of Rhodes has the Wellness Health Care Centre (HCC) which has a nurse on duty or on-call 24 hours a day. The HCC offers free admissions for all students and further provides support for students with stress, anxiety, and depression. The University of Fort Hare has a Student Counselling Unit that provides counselling for personal, emotional, spiritual, academic as well as social problems. Lastly, the University of the Western Cape has a Campus Health & Wellness Centre that has modern and well-staffed facilities for students’ health-related concerns.  

The universities and colleges mentioned above are provided as examples so that students begin to comprehend that student wellness is within their reach on campuses. With this knowledge, it is up to the student to do further research on what wellness services are offered at their specific university or college.

PHYSICAL HEALTH EXAMINATIONS

Understandably, most students are discouraged from taking more active steps with regard to their wellbeing because of monetary limitations.  However, pharmacies such as Clicks, Dis-chem and Local Choice have experienced nurses that provide consultations and offer basic medical care and advice regarding blood pressure, blood sugar, diabetes testing as well as cholesterol testing and monitoring. As of February 2021, a consultation with a nurse at Dis-chem costs R70, a blood pressure check is R35, a cholesterol test is R85 and a vitamin B12 injection is R60.

Importantly, certain Dis-Chem, Clicks and Local Choice clinics offer pap smears, breast exams as well as family planning services. These procedures may also be available at Marie Stopes clinics, mobile clinics and campus clinics. Numerous reports suggest that young people often think that cancer only affects older people and in a bid to debunk this – we encourage all our students to look into getting pap smears regularly in order to detect cervical cancer and any other conditions such as infections and inflammation. During certain months, Dis-Chem offers pap smears at their Wellness Clinics for just R180.

DENTAL SERVICES

Equally important to physical health is oral health. Because of a lack of awareness and information, most students associate dentists with medical aid or excessive fees. Would you believe us if we told you that there are government facilities that offer free dental services?

The government hospital in your area has a division dedicated to oral health and on top of this, there are government dental clinics such as the Cape Town Dental Clinic that offer free dental services. It is advisable for students to be proactive about their health and do further research on the free and affordable dental services that might be available in their area.

CONCLUSION

What we have emphasised with these articles is the importance of student wellness and how it encompasses both emotional and physical health. When in doubt about certain health-related concerns, always do your research and never let your social standing as a student hinder you from accessing free or affordable health services.

Almost at any time, changing the direction of your life—especially if it’s likely to have enormous impact—can go one of two ways. First, it can completely frustrate your progress. Or second, you can work to find ways to emerge on the other end a transformed person. On both occasions, of course, the process is never easy to go through.

In the last two weeks, via a three-part series, we uncovered and shared ways to stay accountable to your goals and demonstrate accountability to yourself and the people around you. This final piece ties up the conversation by discussing how to handle the transformations in your life while taking accountability as a way to navigate through those uncertain times and stages of transition.

Handling uncertainty: how do I successfully turn around my life’s direction while facing overwhelming insecurity?

To survive in times of transformation requires that we work towards finding a new focus. Change, no matter how big or small, can be equally unnerving. Another difficulty is facing the cold fact that endings (and the shifts that follow them) require you to let go of what has become familiar and comfortable.

Feeling set back: changing your path or strategy doesn’t mean you are a failure.

In this case, a balanced perspective is important, as it is possible to view your whole world from the keyhole of your recent ‘failure’. And this type of thinking can devalue prior achievements and the progress you’ve made. Managing change is a mental game, and it also provides an opportunity to look inward and create room for reinvention.

It’s also important to acknowledge your emotions at any point of the transition you’re experiencing. To let go of the past, and the underlying expectations you had of yourself, and the subsequent disappointment in having to take a detour, for example. Without familiarity, it’s fairly easy to get our confidence knocked down as we test our feet within a new reality.

Taking accountability: this is how you bounce back.

To begin rebuilding and gaining a stronger personal understanding, assuming responsibility is an important ingredient in the process. This means having honest conversations with yourself about the ways you might have contributed to your current reality. This approach provides a big shift in perspective, personal development lessons, and encourages empowering discoveries.

The stages of transition: how change and transition differ.

“Change is the external event or situation that takes place; change can happen very quickly,” once wrote William Bridges, a change management consultant. His research into dealing with change clarified the difference between the two concepts.

“Transition is the inner psychological process that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the new situation that the change brings about. The starting point for dealing with transition is not the outcome but the endings that people have in leaving the old situation behind.”

To expand on the stages that shed insight into understanding transitions, the Bridges Transition Model outlines the process in three stages:

Endings

A period of change starts with another phase coming to an end or taking a different direction. This step mainly involves recognising what will change and how to manage that change. This might include your relationships, the routines and habits you have developed over time that might need reworking for you to grow further.

Neutral Zone

The second step comes after letting go of what has been until now. This is the stage where important mental shifts happen. This is the stage between a former reality and the preparation to enter a new one.

It’s the time when you’re likely to create new approaches and fully come to terms with the changes moving forward. The neutral zone is the launchpad for new beginnings.

New Beginnings

Initiating yourself into a new reality involves adopting a fresh perspective—perhaps a change in deeply held values. And a well-managed transition will allow you to begin the next chapter of your life with a deeper understanding of your goals.

Conclusion

“Don’t panic when the new business model isn’t as ‘clean’ as the old one,” Seth Godin once cautioned the music business against wishing that the new digital reality was as good as the old one, right from the start. The same is true for dealing with change on a personal level.