Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
12 October 2020
|
Story Dr Cindé Greyling
|
Photo Supplied
Exercise and nutrition can work wonders for your mental health – you don’t even have to ‘feel like’ or ‘enjoy’ moving around and eating well for it to work – it does its thing anyway.
Nowadays, people talk about mental health like it is the common cold – which is good! But do you know what it really means? Being mentally healthy does not only refer to the absence of a mental illness but includes your emotional and social well-being. One would almost want to add physical well-being too, since a healthy body does indeed support a healthy mind. However, since so many people consider themselves ‘mental health experts’, some myths have been sold as truths.
Myth #1 – You are doomed.
Nope. Never. You are never doomed. There is always help. Mental-health therapies range from self-help, talk therapy, medication, to hospitalisation in some cases. Somewhere on this spectrum of treatments, there will be something that works for you. But you must be willing to get the help and do the work. For starters, exercise and nutrition can work wonders – you do not even have to ‘feel like’ or ‘enjoy’ moving around and eating well for it to work – it does its thing anyway.
Myth #2 – It won’t affect you.
It may. Research suggests that one in five people may suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. Being well now does not mean that it will stay that way. Biological and environmental factors both impact your mental health. Hopefully not, but at some point, you may experience an event that affects your mental health.
To remain integrated in a community is always beneficial
for anyone suffering from a mental or physical condition.
Myth #3 – Someone struggling with mental health must be left alone.
Hardly! To remain integrated in a community is always beneficial for anyone suffering from a mental or physical condition. You do not need to fix them, but to remain a friend. Continue to invite them, even if they decline. Do not judge, and do not try to understand. Just stay around.
Go and be kind to yourself, and to those around you.
UFS welcomes the class of 2010
2010-01-13
 |
Pictured with Prof Jansen are, from the left: Christo Smal (B.Sc. Quantity Surveying student from Bloemfontein), Nicole Tarentaal (LL.B. student from Bloemfontein), Charmoné Swartz (LL.B. student from Kimberley) and Lizé de Witt (B.Sc. Quantity Surveying student from Bloemfontein).
Photo: Stephen Collett |
The University of the Free State (UFS) welcomed its first-time entering first-year students on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this past weekend.
Addressing the new students and their parents at the ceremony, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jonathan Jansen assured the new students and their parents that “they are at the right place”.
“We will not cut corners with your child’s education as we are serious about the quality of the education we provide,” he said to the parents. “We shall make sure that our students are distinguished among graduates from other universities – that they are leaders. Quality is not negotiable.”
Prof. Jansen also said the standards of admission at the UFS would be raised. “We need students of a higher academic standard,” he said.
“Our students will obtain a degree they will be proud of. We are going to put everything into their education and experience here at the UFS so that they can be the best in their field of study.”
He told the new students and their parents that they were safe at the UFS as no first-year student would be initiated anymore. He said that there were other ways to create self-respect and confidence in a young person without having to use initiation.
“It is not enough to have a degree,” he said. “We want to link your degree to thorough preparation for the workplace. Your degree must be accepted globally.”
Prof. Jansen further emphasised the importance of students to understand one another and to get along with one another – especially with those who speak a language different from their own and with a different skin colour than theirs.
“Our students must have respect for one another. This is a value that should be added to your qualification in order for you to be relevant in the workplace anywhere in the world.”
He said the university was busy with a programme to install computer points in all the residences. He also extolled the virtues of the UFS, citing excellence in sport, music, debating and other activities.
Prof. Jansen also reiterated the fact that the first group of 100 first-year students who would be sent overseas to study during the second semester would come from this class of 2010.
“The class of 2010 will change Kovsies. They will be the best students that have ever graduated,” he said.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
12 January 2010