Departmental Event: Stress and the Pressure to Perform

On Wednesday, April 25, the study associations AKT and Hucbald, and the student-advisor of MCW department, Ivana Cerovecki, hosted the first departmental event about stress and the pressure to perform.

As Ivana Cerovecki and Sanne Sprenger – Coordinator of Internships, Alumni Relations & Labour Market – noticed an increasing number of students suffer from depression, burnout or anxiety during their studies or internships, the student association for Media and Culture was alarmed and initiated this event to inform students about how to take care of themselves and seek for professional help in case of stress.

Marion Weustink – Mindfulness trainer at U-Centraal – started the afternoon program by offering a half-hour meditation session after which the 24 students could participate in one of three offered workshops, led by student psychologist Renske Marechal, UU career officer Marte Otter, and mindfulness trainer Jacky Limvers. Finally, the documentary film Generatie Nooitgenoeg (2011) was screened in the theatre. Filmmaker, writer, and alumna Emma Westermann was invited to reflect on the film and her recent book The Millennial Manifest (2018).

The event helped and inspired the participating students to become more aware of their own challenges to be efficient in their work and the risky patterns they have to stop to avoid stress and anxiety during both their studies and their career.