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UFS Student Toolkit first of its kind in South Africa

17 February 2020 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Supplied

Student Counselling staff members — UFS SCD urges students to make use of the mental-health student toolkit to take control of their wellbeing and happiness and enjoy a compelling student life.

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Student Counselling and Developmentnt (SCD) was recognised and applauded at the 2019 annual conference of the SSouthern African Association for Counselling and Development in Higher Education (SAACDHE), where they won the SAACDHE best region award for presenting the UFS Mental Health Student Toolkit at the conference, and for being active in the training and development of the UFS SCD team.

UFS Student Counselling and Development win at SAACDHE conference

The UFS, which was the only member institution of the Free State region, maintained vitality and relevance in the work they produced, competing against a number of student counselling centres in regions across South Africa, including KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Vaal North-West, Gaunolanga Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, and Botswana.

Students to take control of their wellbeing into their own hands

With the vision to promote, enable, and optimise students’ self-direction, the SCD launched the first edition of the student toolkit on Friday, 23 August 2019 – in an effort to assist students in coping with challenges they face in their personal lives during their period of study at the UFS.

According to Counselling Psychologist in the SCD and compiler of the UFS Mental Health Student Toolkit, Lize Wolmarans, “The UFS Mental Health Student Toolkit is about putting the control of your wellbeing and happiness in your own hands. Taking responsibility for your mental health and understanding that it's the key to success in your personal, academic, and professional life as a student.”

Dr Melissa Barnaschone, Director of the SCD, further explained that, “This is the culture our department wishes to instil in students – by building a holistic sense of wellbeing into life on campus. The toolkit was developed to empower students by providing increased access to mental-health resources and support.”

“We have big plans for the toolkit, one of which is to develop it into an interactive app for students. This will enable students to interact with the information in more depth. Secondly, the toolkit will be expanded and adapted annually as we get feedback from students. We will add new relevant topics and continue to improve the overall layout and content. We are also able to learn very valuable information from the topics accessed online – we thus know which topics are the most/least relevant to our students,” Wolmarans added.

UFS Mental Health Student Toolkit a winning formula for student wellness

As a result of the exemplary methods of student counselling in the toolkit, a number of universities and institutions of higher education within South Africa have expressed interest in buying the toolkit to benchmark and prototype the effective student mental-health and wellbeing approaches portrayed in the toolkit. Wolmarans further explained that, “This is South Africa’s first mental-health guide for university students, and other institutions recognised the potential advantages of purchasing a finished product instead of having to create their own toolkit.”

At the 2019 conference, Tobias van den Bergh, Counselling Psychologist at SCD (Qwaqwa Campus), was elected as Research, Training, and Development coordinator for SAACDHE.

News Archive

Lots of inspiration at Autumn Graduation Ceremony

2013-04-18

Graduates celebrate the results of years of study at the graduation ceremony on the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
17 April 2013

Live streaming of ceremonies available from 16 April - 19 April 2013: http://www.ufs.ac.za/ufslivestreaming/

Joshua Johnson YouTube video

The university’s Autumn Graduation Ceremony got off to a vibrant start with energetic performances and inspiring messages for graduates.

Joshua Johnson, an American student who uses his talent for tap-dancing to fund his tertiary education, mesmerised the audience on the first of the four-day graduation ceremony with his story of hope and perseverance. The student from Penn State University travels five hours by bus to New York every weekend where he tap-dances on the subway trains to earn money for his tuition fees.

Delivering a keynote address, Joshua told graduates that, in order to achieve their goals, they have to understand and work diligently with the 24 hours they get to live daily. “Start with a bang and end with a bang,” he said, encouraging the audience in the nearly-packed Callie Human Centre to join him in a rhythmic tap-dancing beat.

“Don’t follow in the footsteps of someone else. Take the beat of life, but add your rhythm to it," his wise words resonating with the exhilarated graduates.

Joshua will be the guest speaker at the ceremonies on 16, 17 and 19 April 2013 and will deliver a dance item during each occasion.

Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the University, echoed Joshua‘s message, telling graduates not to be discouraged by life’s difficulties.

“Take what you have learned over the last three or four years and use that knowledge to reach your goal,” he advised.

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, encouraged them to continue to study. “To break the cycle of poverty, get an education, get a degree.” He told them that as graduates they are ten times more likely to get a job, with the odds rising as they continue their postgraduate studies.

Well-known radio host and Idols South Africa judge, Gareth Cliff, will be the guest speaker at two ceremonies on 18 April 2013. He will be joined by Vicus Visser, the South African YouTube singing sensation. Dubbed Bloemfontein’s Justin Bieber, Vicus and his brother Vincent will perform during these two ceremonies.

The programme for the respective ceremonies is:

Wednesday 17 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Education.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculties of Health Sciences, Law and Theology.

Thursday 18 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences: only Agricultural Sciences and Architecture.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences: only Natural Sciences.

Friday 19 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences: all diplomas and degrees in the Faculty, except BCom and BComHons.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences: only BCom and BComHons.

The Qwaqwa Campus’ graduation ceremony will take place on 8 June 2013. Diplomas/certificates up to and including doctorates will be awarded at this ceremony.

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