Workshops and Groups

About Ride the Wave

Ride the Waves of student life with the Student Wellness Centre’s skill-building workshops designed to offer useful tips to increase resilience, manage stress, and develop skills to cope with the turbulence of life.  Workshops are delivered by clinical staff from the Student Wellness Centre. For questions, or to give us feedback, email wellness@wlu.ca.

Schedule

Stress Management and Avoidance ~ Thursday January 21 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm and Tuesday January 26 from 10:30 to 11:30 am | Join the Meeting
Good stress? Yes, there is such a thing. Stress can sometimes be helpful, but it is important to recognize when it is taking a toll. In this session, the facilitator will explain how stress impacts your life including what it looks like, what it feels like, and how to recognize it in your own behavior. We will also discuss some key strategies to manage your own stress during COVID-19 and beyond.

Consent and Healthy Relationships ~ Tuesday January 26 from 2 to 3 pm | Join the Meeting
Healthy relationships are essential for well-being. In this workshops we will talk about respectful relationships, how to maintain one's wellness within them, and coping if they end. It will address the development of positive conversations about consent and the importance of personal boundaries.

Coping with Difficulty ~ Tuesday February 2 from 2 to 3 pm | Join the Meeting
Everyone experiences times when challenges build up and overwhelm.  This workshop offers simple but effective strategies to help you develop distress tolerance skills to help you cope during difficult times.

Pawsitive Puppy Hour ~ Thursday February 11 from 1 to 2 pm | Join the Meeting
Join our counsellor Stephanie and Leonard the French Bulldog to discuss ways to practice self-care with our furry friends.  Learn how to interact with your pet to self-soothe, promote relaxation, and ease stress before tests/exams.

Step by Step: Conquer your Presentation and Speaking inhibitions! ~ Tuesday February 23 from 2 to 3 pm | Join the Meeting
Start taking steps to overcome the fear of public speaking: one of the most common fears shared by the majority of the population!  Through valuable insights and practical strategies this workshop provides guidance to help you break down and overcome the barriers to speaking more comfortably and confidently. These skills can be applied to learning and social environments both in person and virtually. 

Turning the Light Back On (Coping with Grief) ~ Tuesday March 2 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm
Grief not only has the potential to leave us feeling sad and overwhelmed, but it can have lasting effects on our memory, concentration, and cognition. Coping with loss requires us to gain an understanding of the stages of grief so that we can implement the appropriate strategies to help us deal with these unresolved emotions.  The grief workshop will help you recognize where you are in your personal recovery, while introducing you with the necessary tools for your healing journey.

Roommate Communication and Conflict Resolution ~ Tuesday March 9 from 2 to 3 pm
We will address the common disputes and communication issues that can arise between roommates, especially when access to other social contact and activities outside the house are severely limited.  This workshops will pay particular attention to the fact that at this unusual time, our roommates may be our parents, siblings, or other immediate family members whom we did not expect to be living with under such stressful circumstances.

Digital Fatigue ~ Tuesday March 16 from 9:30 to 11 pm
The pandemic has urged us to shift to a virtual world, and even though we have encountered many challenges, it has opened the door to new opportunities.  Working online offers a new and meaningful way to stay connected; however, it requires us to take extra precautions to ensure we stay well and avoid digital fatigue.  This workshop will review the importance of incorporating self-care into our daily routine to reduce the risk of burnout.  It will offer best-practice strategies as we continue working with online platforms.

Self-Compassion ~ Tuesday March 23 from 2 to 3 pm
Do you find it difficult to turn off the critical voice inside your head? In this workshop you will learn how to practice self-compassion to improve your mood, increase your resiliency and motivation, and feel more comfortable with yourself overall.

Grounding and Mindfulness ~ Tuesday March 30 from 11 am to 12 pm
Learn strategies to increase your self-awareness and focus on the present moment.  This workshop teaches skills that are great for daily practice and to help you cope when feeling stressed.

Am I Hungry?  Mindful Eating ~ Tuesday April 6 from 10:30 to 11:30 am
This workshop you will learn how to cultivate your awareness with mindfulness techniques to learn intuitive eating.

Graduate Sections

Each semester, we set aside two workshops just for graduate students.  This semester, the following workshops will be held online for graduate students only on Fridays from 2:30 to 3:30 pm.

Grounding and Mindfulness ~ Friday February 26 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm
Learn strategies to increase your self-awareness and focus on the present moment.  This workshop teaches skills that are great for daily practice and to help you cope when feeling stressed.

Self-Compassion ~ Friday March 26 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm
Do you find it difficult to turn off the critical voice inside your head? In this workshop you will learn how to practice self-compassion to improve your mood, increase your resiliency and motivation, and feel more comfortable with yourself overall.

About I Can't Find My Keys!

This group will introduce key concepts of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).  This is an open group with five topics that will each run twice.  You can attend as many or as few that you wish in any order you like.  This workshop runs online on Mondays from 1 to 3 pm.

Schedule

What Is Anxiety?  The Connection to Mind and Body
Monday January 18 and Monday March 1, 2021
Join the Meeting

Learn to Manage Anxiety Through Mindfulness and Creative Expression
Monday January 25 and Monday March 8, 2021
Join the Meeting

Anxiety and Exposure
Monday February 1 and Monday March 15, 2021
Join the Meeting

Examining Patterns of Thinking and Feeling
Monday February 8 and Monday March 22
Join the Meeting

Self-Care for Anxiety
Monday February 22 and Monday March 29, 2021
Join the Meeting

About You're Not the Boss of Me!

This group will introduce key concepts of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depression relapse prevention.  This is an open group with five topics that will each run twice.  You can attend as many or as few that you wish in any order you like.  This workshop runs online on Wednesdays from 2 to 4 pm.
Join the Meeting

Schedule

Session One
Wednesday January 20 and Wednesday March 3, 2021
Join the Meeting

Session Two
Wednesday January 27 and Wednesday March 10, 2021
Join the Meeting

Session Three
Wednesday February 3 and Wednesday March 17, 2021
Join the Meeting

Session Four
Wednesday February 10 and Wednesday March 24, 2021
Join the Meeting

Session Five
Wednesday February 24 and Wednesday March 31, 2021
Join the Meeting

About A Hawk's Guide to Thriving

A Hawk's Guide to Thriving focuses on coping strategies that will support your mental health and wellness during the school year.  Workshops will run on MS Teams on Thursdays from 1:30 to 3 pm starting on January 21, 2021.  Join the meeting.

Schedule

Self-Care and Resilience
January 21 and March 4
Do you find that you “crash” or “shut down” when you feel overwhelmed? This workshop will provide you with strategies to manage stress and improve your self-care habits. You will also learn relaxation techniques and strategies to improve your sleep. 

Managing Emotions
January 28 and March 11
Negative emotions are a biological human reaction, but sometimes they can feel scary or unbearable. In this workshop, you will learn about the purpose of emotions, as well as emotion regulation with the use of distress tolerance skills and opposite action.  Join the Meeting
 
Mindfulness and Meditation
February 4 and March 18
Ever wanted to try mindfulness and/or meditation, but unsure where to start? Or, perhaps you have experience but would like to gain additional skills? This workshop is open to all levels!  Join the Meeting
 
Get Up and Go
February 11 and March 25
Are you struggling to get out of bed? Do you struggle with procrastination? In this workshop, you will discover strategies to improve motivation and overcome unhealthy habits.  Join the Meeting
 
Manage Exam and Performance Anxiety
February 25 and April 1
Quizzes, midterms, finals, oh my! In this workshop, you will discover strategies to overcome exam and performance anxiety and find tips on moving forward from mistakes.  Join the Meeting

About the DBT Group

This is a two-hour, weekly, interactive group based on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).  DBT teaches effective ways of behaving and coping with emotional chaos and interpersonal conflict.  Learn skills for coping with extreme emotions so that you can succeed in university, manage your relationships, and get through life stress without making it worse.  We will cover skills from the four DBT modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness, put into the context of a university student’s life.

Committment to Change

In order to get the maximum benefit from your time in skills group, there are two commitments that you must be willing to make.  You must be able to commit to regular attendance of all sessions.  If you miss two group sessions, you will no longer be able to join.  You also need to commit to practicing skills in between sessions.  Our experience has been that students were most satisfied with this group when they practiced their skills several times per week.

This is a closed group.  To participate, you must be referred into the group by a practitioner in the Student Wellness Centre.  The group may have been suggested to you by your counsellor or physician, but if think you it might be a good fit for you, call the Student Wellness Centre and ask to schedule a DBT intake appointment.

Details

Registration for the Winter 2021 group in now closed.  If you are interested in participating in group that will start in May 2021, give us a call and ask for a DBT intake appointment.

For those in the Winter 2021 group, the link to the MS Teams meeting and all materials will be sent to your Laurier email.

About the Harm Reduction Group

This weekly online interactive group is based on the understanding that harm reduction is an effective and informed way to address problematic substance use.  The weekly sessions are intended to provide a supportive space to look at why and how substances can have negative consequences in various areas of student life; to provide skills for safer use; and to support individual work to better understand your relationships with substances.   Attendance each week allows students to learn and discuss the unit topic, listen to each other, and practice skills between sessions.

Expectations

Members of the group are not required to share their thoughts nor abstain from using substances during the five weeks; they are however expected to maintain confidentiality and show respect to the other members of the group.  Students involved will agree not to use substances or be noticeably intoxicated during group sessions.  Attendees must be open to change and to building awareness of the potential harms of their past and current substance use.

This is a closed group and members will be referred by counsellors or physicians from the Brantford and Waterloo Student Wellness Centres.  If you are interested in attending this group please ask to speak to the mental health nurse in the Student Wellness Centre on your campus.

Details

The group will be held online on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 pm starting on January 19, 2021.   You will be sent the link once you have registered.