Resources and self-help
Self-help techniques can help you to manage your mental health and wellbeing. Below are some resources that you might find helpful.
These NHS Self-Help Guides are a useful starting point to understanding the difficulties you may be experiencing. They offer guidance on mental health challenges ranging from stress, shyness, anxiety and depression to anger, alcohol dependence, domestic violence and eating disorders. Each guide has an introductory video and is available to download as a leaflet or audio file.
Our Support wheel can help you decide what support you need.
Mindfulness techniques
Mindfulness practice 1: Introduction to the body scan
What the body scan is, why it’s helpful and how to do it.
Mindfulness practice 2: The guided body scan
Instructions for practising deep physical and mental relaxation and awareness.
Mindfulness practice 3: Sitting meditation
A guided instruction in mindfulness for beginners. If you are already using mindfulness, you may find this a useful refresher and aid to developing your practice.
Mindfulness practice 4: The three-minute breathing space
Learn how to become aware of your body so that you are not just ‘in your head’.
Relaxation techniques
Easy breathing relaxation
Learn to relax by becoming aware of your breath.
Relax at your desk
A quick way of releasing the tension that builds when you sit in front of a computer.
Reduce your stress and tension
Learn how to switch on the relaxation response with this short, guided meditation.
Prepare for sleep
Prepare for restful sleep by letting go of the tension in your body.
Visualisation 1: Create a calm space
This guided visualisation helps you to enter a state of deep relaxation. You can use this whenever you want to.
practise feeling more relaxed in your body and in your mind.
Visualisation 2: Guided imaginary journey
Follow your guide to a place of deep relaxation.
Guided relaxation
Release your tension in this guided tour through the muscle groups of your body.
Managing anxiety and panic
How can I stop a panic attack?
Manage exam stress
Learn how to transform panicky thoughts into more creative tension.
Please note you may need to log into the Video Portal (with your usual University log in details) to access the recordings.
Challenging unhelpful thinking habits (students)
We can all fall into unhelpful thinking habits. This recorded workshop is suitable for anybody who feels stuck or held back by their patterns of thinking.
Challenging unhelpful thinking habits (colleagues)
This workshop is the same as the one for students, but with examples more appropriate for colleagues.
Anxiety Workshop Part 1: Understanding Anxiety
This recording is suitable for anyone who feels stuck or held back by their anxiety and covers:
- Exploring what anxiety means, the function it serves and its causes
- Understanding how anxiety works as well as what maintains it
- Investigating your own individual experience of anxiety and how it keeps you feeling stuck.
Anxiety Workshop Part 2(a): Managing Avoidance
This recording is suitable for anybody who feels stuck or held back by their anxiety and covers:
- Understanding the role of avoidance and how it maintains anxiety
- Exploring alternatives to avoidance and how you can practice them
- Safely habituating to anxious sensations or situations through exposure exercises
- Testing negative predictions through behavioural experiments
Anxiety Workshop Part 2(b): Managing Worry
This recording is suitable for anybody who feels stuck or held back by their anxiety and covers:
- Outlining how to manage worry
- Distinguishing between what is and is not within your control
- Investigating practical steps you can take when feeling stuck
Reducing the stress of perfectionism
If you find that you are never really satisfied with your achievements, spend a lot of time procrastinating rather than working and are increasingly self-critical, this could be the workshop for you. You will learn:
- About the psychology of the perfectionist
- How perfectionism becomes self-defeating.
- Ways to challenge your perfectionist mindset.
Make the most of your mind: the psychology behind effective learning
This recording is full of study tips based on published research on effective study habits. It explains the science behind effective learning and advises on how to build strong memories and use your revision and study time productively.
In addition, listen to our podcast for further advice on how to improve your study follow the links below:
Developing Skills in Assertiveness
- Do you sometimes feel trapped in a limited range of responses to the demands of others?
- Do you sometimes find it difficult to express yourself?
- How do you handle criticism?
- Are you your own biggest critic?
This recording briefly considers the different communication styles which contrast with an assertive style: passive, passive-aggressive, aggressive. It then looks at how an assertive style allows us to be more effective communicators and helps us to find a better balance in our relationships.
Managing PhD Stress
- Are you finding PhD studies stressful?
- Are you, for example, avoiding work due to a lack of confidence?
- Or, are you disengaging out of anxiety and a fear of seeking academic support?
- Are you unsure how to realistically develop as an autonomous doctoral scholar?
This recording supports you to develop a deeper understanding of particular stresses during your journey towards completing your PhD. It also considers options to offset the challenges and identify ways you might be inadvertently making things more difficult for yourself. The recording focuses on some psychological issues specific to the PhD and examine ways of navigating them more effectively.
Now or Never? Tackling Procrastination
This interactive resource takes about half an hour to complete and will help you overcome the procrastination habit.
Challenging unhelpful thinking habits
Anxiety workshops
- Anxiety 1 Interventions
- Anxiety 1 Psychoeducation
- Anxiety 2 Interventions
- Anxiety 2 Psychoeducation
- Anxiety 3 Interventions
- Anxiety 3 Psychoeducation
Reducing the stress of perfectionism
- Am I a perfectionist questionnaire
- Reducing the stress of perfectionism text 1
- Reducing the stress of perfectionism text 2
- Hot cross buns
- Moderating my standards
- Overcoming perfectionism link
Make the most of your mind
- Information on different aspects of mental health
- Mandarin mindfulness practice
- Guided meditations
- Insight Timer app (can be used in Mandarin)
- Download from the Google Play store
- Download from the Apple App store
- Societies for connecting with other Chinese students
Please visit this bereavement page for information on how to access support from the University or external services. Alternatively visit the NHS information on coping with Bereavement page.
Podcasts
Spectrum.Life's app-provides you with interactive resources to help track and improve your wellbeing. Within the app, you will get access to a library of resources personalised to your preferences, wellbeing articles, videos, mood trackers, four-week plans, mini health checks and more.
Qwell-provides free, safe and anonymous online mental health support whenever you need it.
Living Life to the Full-offers free courses covering low mood, stress and resiliency.
Student Minds-offers free, online courses to support you with managing your mental health at university.
Students Against Depression-offers comprehensive information on depression, resources to tackle it and the opportunity to discuss it with other UK students.