Mental Health

It is common to encounter hurdles during your student life. Before you know it, life happens, and you’re not able to study as much as you’d like to. Maybe you need to support a loved one during difficult times. It could also be that you have trouble focusing. Or perhaps it’s not the studying that troubles you, maybe interacting with your fellow students during group projects gives you anxiety. One thing to remember is that it’s okay to ask for help and that you’re not alone. Radboud University can offer help in several ways. 


Study advisor
When you start encountering problems, the best person to alert first is your study advisor. Early contact can prevent study delay. Beyond providing information about your program, they are also able to lend a sympathetic ear and, if suitable to your situation, refer you to one of the specialized people listed below. Especially when you don’t really know what kind of help would best suit your situation, the study advisor is a great starting point. 

Student psychologist
When you mainly struggle with personal and study-related problems, the student psychologist may be a right fit for you. If you have a hard time coping with anxiety, stress or depression they’ll be able to help. The same goes for perfectionism and problems with motivation or focusing. An intake can be made online. 

Student counsellor
This is the right person to contact when you are in need of adapted studying or are at risk of delay. Some reasons for requesting special provisions could be long-lasting health conditions or diagnoses like ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. Other situations could be encountering financial problems, expecting and/ or caring for a child or combining your study with exceptional talent.

Study trainer
The study trainer will mostly be able to help with strategic studying and problems with procrastination. Negative thoughts during studying or time management in general are also a topic to talk about with the study trainer. They can refer you to several courses, like the ones on self-management or perfectionism.

Confidential advisor
A confidential advisor is someone you can go to when you’re experiencing undesirable behavior from others. For example: your study experience could be disturbed by bullying, (sexual) intimidation or discrimination. Some subtle forms which could reduce your enjoyment of studying are being ignored on purpose by fellow students or repeatedly receiving comments about your appearance.

The advisor will independently listen to you and try to find a solution to stop the unwanted behavior. There are two kinds of confidential advisors you can contact: the advisors from Synergy and the advisors from Radboud University

The confidential advisors from Synergy are Carlijn Kosse and Demian Maslowski. Here below they will introduce themselves:

"I am Carlijn and I'm 20 years old. I am currently in my 3rd year of the bachelor Business Administration. In my spare time I prefer to go into town with my friends, but every now and then I manage to visit the Radboud Sports Center for a spin class. I think it is important to have a confidant within the association because everyone should be able to feel safe and in their place. In addition, I hope that perhaps some taboos can be broken."

"Hey I am Demian and I will be one of the new confidential contact persons. You could know me as the chairman of the Formal Commitee or because I helped out during the orientation week. I am a laid back person that finds it important that everyone feels save and respected. It does not matter if you are in the Synergy Office or partying. So feel free to approach me with any concerns you have. They can also help you with filing a complaint with the complaints committee at Radboud University."

Please contact Carlijn and Demian when you encounter inappropriate behaviour. You can contact them by mailing to the following mailadres: ccp@synergy.nu.

The information about confidential advisors from the Radboud can be found here.

Support with addiction

When you are at risk of getting into trouble due to an addiction, the student counsellor or student psychologist could refer you to IrisZorg for a Moti-4 intake. It is also possible to sign up by yourself. Moti-4 is a program of four individual meetings, in which you will critically examine your addictive behavior with a prevention worker. It is not a treatment, rather, it should be seen as a preventive intervention. The target audience consists of students who experience substance abuse or have trouble with excessive gaming or gambling.

Student chaplaincy
Looking for something else? Often overlooked, the Student Chaplaincy is a good place to check out. Besides religious services they can also offer you conviviality in the form of, for example, the film club, where multicultural Fine Arts movies are analyzed. Several discussion groups are available as well, for example a grief group for students and the Talking Face2Face group, in which ethical and philosophical questions are discussed. The chaplaincy also offers several workshops and courses: In Balance, Almost graduated: What’s next? and Bible Study. If art inspires and motivates you, it’s possible to be part of one of their art projects. The ‘purification grave’ is one of those projects and has received some media attention: students are invited to meditate in the grave dug in the garden. Last but not least, the chaplaincy regularly organizes excursions to abbeys. If you are not particularly interested in any of these activities, the chaplains are also able to offer you a listening ear. All students of every kind of background are welcome to visit.

More information about the Radboud Health support can be found here!