Honours+ Care Package

While being an honours student can be an incredibly fun and enjoyable time of your life, it’s not without its stresses. Being away from home, making new friends, dealing with the pressures of work and study are all common problems that you might face during your Honours+ experience. To make life a bit easier for you, Honours+ has set up a Care Package.

Honours+ Care Package

Honours students are naturally driven and high-performing students, always looking for a new challenge. However much we appreciate this attitude and ability, it might also sometimes be the cause of certain issues. Especially when deadlines start adding up, pressure is building and a lot of new information comes your way, students might feel overwhelmed at times.

Therefore, Honours+ decided to provide our Honours+ students with the H+ Student Care Package this year. Please note that this is optional, on a voluntary basis, and merely meant for those of you that feel they would benefit from a bit of extra support.

Check the information below to see which parts of this Care Package you would like to benefit from.

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Wellbeing Session with professional Coach
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Workshop Time Management
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Workshop Science of Wellbeing
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H+ Walking Buddies Group
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Workshop Stress Management

Free Wellbeing Session With Professional Coach

by Bibi Linssen from Flueres

We have arranged for every H+ student to have max. 3 sessions of 45 minutes each, with a well-being coach. You are free to schedule a session anywhere between December and the end of Honours+.

This coach is Bibi Linssen, and she would like to offer you all the following:

“My name is Bibi Linssen and as your well-being coach I look forward to supporting your Honours+ experience.
I work for a company called Flueres in Maastricht, where we support employees of all kinds of companies and schools by coaching and training on wellbeing, leadership and teamwork. I have worked for Maastricht University in different capacities, the main one being a student counsellor at the Personal & Professional development team. Bringing a wide variety of work- and coach experience, I will support you in your Honours + project with any topics related to your personal and professional development and wellbeing. We can meet online or in Maastricht. I am here to have your back!”

Given the fact that Bibi also has other professional obligations for Flueres, and therefore needs to carefully mind her schedule, we will send you an email in December to invite you to contact her for a session, should you wish to.

Wellbeing Coach

Bibi Linssen

Bibiana Linssen

Psychologist

Barbara Kuiters

drs Barbara Kuiters

Workshop "Science of Wellbeing"

by Barbara Kuiters

During this workshop, which is part of this year’s Honours+ workshops,  we will dive into the Science of Well-being.

By teaching you how the brain works and providing you with recent findings on how to boost optimal functioning, this workshop will help you capitalize on positivity and improve your productivity, performance and well-being.

This workshop will be brought to you by drs. Barbara Kuiters. She is a skilled psychologist with an expertise in positive psychology and neuroscience. She runs a successful company as a psychologist, therapist and teacher to educate other (mental) health professionals on the power of positive psychology.

This workshop also counts towards the two workshops students need to have attended by the end of Honours+. Sign up via the button below.

Sign up here for the workshop "Science of wellbeing"

Workshop "Stress Management"

by Key2Advance

During this workshop, which is part of this year’s Honours+ workshops,  we will dive into the topic of how best to manage stress.

We all find ourselves in stressful situations from time to time. Whether at work, during our studies, or when life throws nasty surprises at you. This is normal. But, when does it become problematic? When are you in danger of stress becoming a danger to your health and what do you need to do to avoid this? This workshop will give you basic insights into what stress is, where it comes from, and its effects. You will also get to identify your stress sources and tips on how to better manage these stressors and how to ensure
you have enough resources.

This workshop also counts towards the two workshops students need to have attended by the end of Honours+. Sign up via the button below.

Sign up here for the workshop "Stress Management"

Professional Trainer

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Karolin Biewald (Key2Advance)

Professional Trainer

Patrick Stastra

Patrick Stastra (TijdWinst)

Workshop "Time Management"

by TijdWinst

If you want to excel it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to do more, quantity wise. It foremost means that you deliver better quality. However, of course you really excel when you can do more and do it better.

The problem with our brain is that it needs to be able to focus on the task at hand and that’s hard when there’s so much going on. If you’re stressed, lack a good overview, or your life is just an all-around mess, it’s probably hard to excel at anything.

In order to overcome this, you should:

  • know how your brain works to steer it away from procastination, “multitasking”, and distractions (e.g. a pesky social media habit);
  • know how your brain processes information;
  • streamline all the work that is coming at you (emails, homework, assignments, papers etc.);
  • plan ahead for the large tasks so that you don’t have to do everything at the last moment;
  • keep a good overview of everything on your plate and decide what to focus on.

In the Time-Management workshop we promise you one thing: we are going to cover all of these subjects (and more) in a non-boring fashion. You will be provided with ready-to-use insights and practical tips on how to stay on top of things with the use of the latest insights and technology (you may expect many useful suggestions for how various specific apps can adequately support time management).

This workshop also counts towards the two workshops students need to have attended by the end of Honours+. Sign up via the button below.

Sign up here for the workshop "Time Management"

Honours+ "Walking Buddies"

Hiking in nature for Honours+ students

Walking in nature clears your head, the fresh air lifts your spirit and it is a great way to meet new people. Besides that, we hope that it will add to your knowledge of this beautiful area in the south of the Netherlands. This area is renowned for its diverse landscape, rich history, flora, and fauna, all of it to be explored during the many walking trails that are set out already.

To this end, we will launch a group for all Honours+ students interested in going on walks or hikes with fellow students.  It is up to you to decide how often you would like to go for a walk, how long, when, where and with whom etc.

In case you are interested to be part of this Walking Buddies Group, please send an email to honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Sign me up for the H+ Walking Buddies Group

Know that stress and anxiety are normal reactions

Feeling stressed, sad, or helpless is understandable during moments in your life when a lot of new information comes your way and you are trying to focus your attention on a lot of different things. But learn to recognize when your thoughts are spinning on negative loops and try to interrupt them.

Laura Murray, a senior scientist in Mental Health at the Bloomberg School, writes in a Baltimore Sun op-ed: “The thought patterns circulating through our minds are intricately connected to how we feel and act. Now is a good time to step back and consider what’s trending with our internal narratives.

For example, if you are thinking “This is too much! I cannot handle this!” Not surprisingly, your emotions will more likely skew to significant anxiety. Focus instead, on changing your thought channel to more helpful programming that includes thoughts like, “I am not alone in this, I am allowed to ask for help and guidance and there are capable people here that will help me get through this.'”

At Honours+, you are not just a student, you are an honours student and therefore part of a community. Honours+ Central Management, your Supervisor and the Wellbeing Coach are here to guide you and help you where you need to. Know that you may ask for that help and guidance.

Reach out to Honours+ Central Management when you need to. We can always make time for you to listen to your troubles and concerns, offer clarity where you need it, or just a listening ear. Come by our office at EDLAB, schedule a Zoom call or just send us an email.

Contact H+ Central Management