Students all over are experiencing higher stress levels and more burnouts. This is more prevalent amongst students who push themselves to perform better and juggle studying with extra-curricular activities. Students at Wageningen University are also facing difficulties dealing with stress. Based around all these notions, Student Alliance Wageningen (S.A.W.) decided to conduct burnout prevention workshops aimed at active students taking part in a board year. The workshops were planned as interactive trainings given by trained professionals on how to spot the symptoms of a burnout and prevent it. The initial plan was to have the session for about 20 people. However due to an overwhelming response from the students, S.A.W. ended up conducting three separate trainings on the evenings of March 12-March 14, 2019. After the trainings, information on how to receive help within Wageningen University was also shared with the participants.
The feedback from participants was quite positive. One attendee said, “There is a lack of activities on burnout and stress awareness at university. SAW did a great job with addressing such an important issue in these trainings”. Another participant recommended having these workshops at the start of every board year. “The training was quite enjoyable as well as meaningful. Every student participating in a board must attend these workshops. It would have helped me so much if I had this at the start of my board term”. S.A.W.’s chair, Nick Ligthart, was also quite happy with the outcome of the evenings. “The severity of the stress issue can be gaged from the fact that so many people wanted to attend such a session. We are quite happy with how the evening turned out, and of course have taken note of the recommendations of the participants. We are planning more such trainings in the future, also for students in general”.
S.A.W. is thankful to the trainers who travelled from Utrecht for the sessions, the WUR team of student psychologists, student deans and study advisors, and Trainingen Op Maat for helping with this session