Wellbeing activities

Our wellbeing activities give you the opportunity to take a small break from busy university life to focus on your own physical and mental wellbeing. Whether you want to meet other students, or find techniques to overcome any stress or anxiety – we offer a wide range of activities and workshops.

Registration for activities closes 24 hours before the session starts. For activities held on a Monday, registration closes on the Friday before the session.

Wellbeing activities timetable

2022-23 Student Wellbeing Activities Semester 2
Week	Date and Time	Activity	Location and Sign Up Link
Welcome	Tuesday 10 January 12.00-13.00	Time out tea	Student Wellbeing Centre
	Friday 13 January, 14.00 - 13.00	Wellbeing walk	Sign up
1	Thursday 19 January 12.00 - 13.00	Time out tea	Student Wellbeing Centre
2	Tuesday 24 January, 11.00 - 12.00	Looking after yourself at uni	Online Sign Up
	Tuesday 24 January, 12.00 - 13.00	Mature students' mixer	Liberty's Sign up
	Wednesday 25 January, 13.00-14.00	Postgraduate research students: have a break, tea and cake	Student Wellbeing Centre
	Wednesday 25 January, 14.00-15.00	Wellbeing crafts	Student Wellbeing Centre Sign up
	Thursday 26 January 15.30-16.30	Getting started with your dissertation	Online Sign up
3	Wednesday 1 February 12.00-13.00	How to be a good student by a bad one	David Brewster 1.15 Sign up
	Thursday 2 February 11.00-12.00	Planning for success	Online Sign up
	Thursday 2 February 16.00-17.00	Mindfulness	Online Sign up
	Friday 3 February 13.00-14.00	Wellbeing walk	Sign up
4	Monday 6 February 14.00-15.00	How to manage your dissertation	Online Sign up
5	Monday 13 February 14.00-15.00	How to get a good night's sleep	Student Union Meeting Room 1 Sign up
	Wednesday 15 February 15.00-16.00	Time out tea	Student Wellbeing Centre
	Thursday 16 February 16.00-17.00	Mindfulness	Online Sign up
6	Tuesday 21 February 12.00-13.00	Coping with presentation nerves	Online Sign up
	Wednesday 22 February 13.00-14.00	Postgraduate research students: have a break, tea and cake	Student Wellbeing Centre
	Wednesday 22 February 14.00-15.00	Wellbeing crafts	Student Wellbeing Centre Sign up
7	Monday 27 February 15.00-16.00	Relationships and friendships	Online Sign up
	Tuesday 28 February 14.00-15.00	How to manage stress and anxiety	Online Sign up
	Thursday 2 March 16.00-17.00	Mindfulness	Online Sign up
	Friday 3 March 12.00-13.00	Wellbeing walk	Sign up
8	Tuesday 7 March 11.30-13.00	Done is better than perfect	Online Sign up
	Wednesday 8 March 9.30-10.00	Morning meditation	Online Sign up
9	Wednesday 15 March 9.30-10.00	Morning meditation	Online Sign up
	Thursday 16 March 12.00-13.00	Time out tea	Student Wellbeing Centre
	Thursday 16 March 16.00-17.00	Mindfulness	Online Sign up
10	Wednesday 22 March 13.00-14.00	Postgraduate research students: have a break, tea and cake	Student Wellbeing Centre
	Wednesday 22 March 14.00-15.00	Wellbeing crafts	Student Wellbeing Centre Sign up
11	Wednesday 29 March 12.00-13.00	How to manage exam stress	Online Sign up
	Friday 31 March 12.00-13.00	Wellbeing walk	Sign up
12	Monday to Friday 15.00-16.00	Exam stress and wellbeing drop-ins	Student Wellbeing Centre

Self care and your studies

Time at university can be very enjoyable but also quite stressful. Academic life makes many demands on students and sometimes it might be easy to forget to look after yourself. This informal presentation will look at ways of taking care of ourselves, both physically and emotionally, including making time to calm down, take breaks, re-energise and feel good about yourself, with the goal of supporting good health and having the best chance for success.

Perfectionism and resilience

During the session we will look at perfectionism and how it can sneak into daily life, what we can do when things go wrong, what we mean by resilience and how to develop more of it.

Coping with presentation nerves

Strategies to help make presenting less of an ordeal. It is common for people to get nervous at the thought of giving a presentation. Standing up and speaking in front of a group can cause anxiety and mind blanks. This session will equip you with some strategies to manage nerves and help you overcome the fears associated with speaking in public.

How to manage exam stress

Stressed out because exams are looming? Using cognitive behavioural principles this workshop will show you some useful methods to remain calm, feel good and manage both your revision and exams by exploring: how to avoid behaviours that can make stress worse; how stress can affect you - identifying your own exam stress 'triggers'; how to use breathing techniques to help manage anxiety.

Planning for success

This workshop will provide an opportunity to reflect on your University experience so far. You will learn about the full range of support available at Heriot-Watt and we will help you to create an action plan of the steps you can take to help ensure a successful Semester.

Managing anxiety

Do you often feel anxious or stressed, or do certain situations sometimes feel overwhelming or too much? Learn helpful techniques to manage anxiety using a cognitive behavioural approach.

How to get started with your dissertation

Run by student success advisors, this workshop will help you make a successful start on your dissertation. As recent HWU graduates, student success advisors have experience of completing a dissertation or project from different subject areas, so can provide you with some tips on taking those first steps. This session will address planning and structuring, how to approach primary research, creating personal deadlines, managing stress, and staying motivated.

Time-out tea

This is an informal opportunity to meet other students online and enjoy some afternoon tea from the comfort of your own home.

Mindfulness

Do you find that you often feel stressed, anxious or on edge? Do you tend to find yourself preoccupied, thinking about the future or going over past events in your mind? Would you like to try a difference approach to managing worry, stress or runaway thoughts? Then you might find the mindfulness group helpful. This is a small, friendly group which aims to help you manage and overcome some of these issues by looking at how to be more mindful in our lives. If you would like more information please email studentwellbeing@hw.ac.uk

Exam stress and wellbeing advice appointments with the student success advisors

Our student success advisors are all recent Heriot-Watt graduates, so have successfully been through what current students are experiencing and can help with:

All aspects of coping with the stresses and challenges of preparing for assessments
Hints and tips for successful study
Advice on managing time and commitments
Signposting useful resources and support
Advice on all elements of student life.

Key information

Student Wellbeing Services

Email: studentwellbeing@hw.ac.uk