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An online lecture in the morning, a webinar at lunchtime and reviewing documents in Moodle in the evening, completing practical courses and keeping an eye on the current timetable. With the start of the digital summer semester, students are facing unfamiliar challenges in organizing their daily study routine. In addition to the academic demands, uncertainties, loneliness and mental stress are increasingly coming to the fore in the current situation. The part-time job has been put on hold for the time being and meetings with fellow students are not possible for the time being. The focus is now on time spent independently studying. Acquiring knowledge independently, compiling documents and planning the day in as good a structure as possible: if you are struggling with this, you are not alone.

Dr. Elke Eckhardt is head of psychological counseling at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. She is a systemic counselor and works in close cooperation with the Studentenwerk Halle. She offers students professional counseling independent of health insurance companies. The inhibition threshold to go to counseling is always very high. Recent studies by the German Student Union show, for example, that more than half of all students experience exam anxiety during their studies. What is behind this? In addition to poor preparation, it is primarily the demand for perfection, external pressure and fear of failure. Developing strategies to combat this requires more than just "studying until you can't do anything".

Seeking help requires the first and most difficult step. Once this step has been taken and students attend a counseling appointment with Elke Eckhardt, they experience confidentiality, appreciation and empathy. The systemic orientation of counseling is based on the assumption that you are an "expert in your own cause", i.e. that you have the ability to find a solution. Strengthening autonomy and self-esteem and accessing one's own resources are very often at the heart of the counseling process. Looking at the system helps: How are you integrated, what is your relationship to the people in this system? Opening up new perspectives makes it easier to clarify your own view of things. Where do perfectionism and the fear of failure come from, for example? And also: What good has it been, for example, to be so perfectionist so far, even if it is very stressful?

Awareness and acceptance is already an important step towards change. A single conversation is often enough to make the problems clear. Sometimes it also takes a little more time. Depending on individual needs, the systemic counselor will respond to the student.

Normally, counseling at Kurhaus Bernburg takes place in a protected space in which such and other problems can be dealt with confidentially. Due to the contact restrictions, Dr. Elke Eckhardt is now making use of other options. In addition to counseling by phone and email, she now also advises students via video chat.

Once the counseling sessions have been completed, the students have gained self-confidence and experience in how to take good care of themselves in the future and take responsibility for their own path.

More information
<link studieren/service-und-beratung/psychologische-beratung.html>www.hs-anhalt.de/psychologischeberatung