Mental Health Support for Students

The American University of the Middle East (AUM) provides students with access to mental health support though various means, mainly:

• Offering on-campus mental health and counseling resources / services for students: This is achieved through the role of the Counseling and Wellness Center, including ongoing communications from orientation to graduation and beyond. When needed, signposting is recommended to access charged support and specialized care. 

• Actively promoting good mental health and reminding students to always focus on their abilities and positive thinking: This is mainly achieved through mental health awareness campaigns and workshops addressing stress management and encouraging mental well-being, mindfulness, coping mechanisms and proactive self-care.

• General education program offering courses on psychology: As part of their education at AUM and within the general education requirements, all AUM students take at least one or many courses dedicated for promoting good health and well-being.

A glimpse from Kuwait: Promoting Mental Health for Students

Kuwait, 17 October 2021 - The United Nations in the State of Kuwait Represented by the Resident Coordinator Office, the WHO Office in Kuwait and UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education organized an expert-led webinar to highlight the needs and opportunities for a mental health strategy to be considered, adopted and actioned by all schools in Kuwait. This webinar also aimed to build consensus into the mental health needs and interests of children and adolescents whilst highlighting the responsibility and respective contribution of a wide range of stakeholders. The webinar will form an early stage of a mental health policy planning exercise for schools by identifying the need for and key features of a school mental health policy.

Mental health problems can manifest in children as sadness or worry, attention deficits, behavioural difficulties, and deterioration in school performance. Early screening and deployment of effective interventions can reduce the likelihood of continuity and exacerbation of mental health associated impairments into adulthood. The rise in violence, drug addiction and depression amongst adolescents in Kuwait over the past few years has been alarming. A number of contributory factors have been found to exert impact on mental health; these include stressful events in early life such as child abuse and neglect, social isolation and negative lifestyle habits including increased passive screen time and lack of physical activity. 

The pandemic has underscored the urgency of putting in place collective action plans and policies that protect those most vulnerable and promote their wellbeing. Plans must recognise that children’s and adolescents’ development stage can influence his/her degree of vulnerability to mental health disorders. Accordingly, schools must be well positioned and prepared to identify the need for early interventions to reduce risk factors for mental health disorders and promote protective factors.

Dr. Tarek El-Sheikh, Representative of United Nations Secretary-General Resident coordinator noted that “Schools need to adopt innovative solutions to keep linkages open with students, particularly in states of emergencies,” further emphasizing that every school should be a mental health-promoting school through a holistic approach that builds on relationships with students, families and teachers.

Dr. Assad Hafeez, WHO Representative in Kuwait called all stakeholders to attend to the global statistics which reaffirm a need for urgent action, Dr. Hafeez followed that “globally the largest burden of mental health falls in young people.”

The Ministry of Health was represented by Dr. Abdullah AlSanad, who left a vivid image of friendships of early childhood and their formative impact on a child’s development.  He stressed that “Schools are central to nurturing a child’s skills of social connection and emotional regulation,” and that the Ministry of Health in Kuwait in partnership with the Departments of School Health and Primary Healthcare are in the midst of preparing a Mental health plan for school aged pupils.

Schools are one of several critical systems of care that ensure the delivery of essential health services to children including protection, and psycho-social support. The unprecedented length of school closures imposed because of COVID-19 may have thus contributed to significant imperilments to children’s overall wellbeing and development, not just their learning. With school reopening plans and the focus on accelerating learning to remediate losses, it is crucial that effective mental health and wellbeing plans are put in place so as not to lose sight of the unequivocal link between mental health and educational attainment. Equally so, these plans must necessarily factor in teacher preparedness to take on this responsibility and their personal wellbeing by mainstreaming into them the requisite capacity building exercises, tools, and modalities for the sharing of best practices by educational psychologists, and considerations to the appropriate strategies to mitigate teacher burnout. Indeed, teachers are important role models to students and formative agents in shaping their developmental experience and motivation.

Global statistics and evidence-based interventions guided the discussion thereafter, highlighting potential opportunities to tap into the promise of innovative technologies such as technology assisted teachers’ training platforms, Chatbots that aid the implementation of interventions and a games-based platform to promote the uptake of life skills and participation in students.   The webinar ended with a call to continue the conversation towards actional mental health strategies for schools across the nation.

Speakers in the webinar were: Dr. Bibi Alamiri, MD, ScD Kuwait Center for Mental Health Adult, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist; Ms. Shaimaa Allami Psychologist at Ministry of Education Department of Mental Health and Wellbeing; Dr. Tatjana Colin Head of UNICEF Office in Kuwait, Chief, Early Childhood Development UNICEF; Professor Atif Rahman Professor of Child Psychiatry, University of Liverpool 5. Ms. Fatema Albader Middle school English Teacher, Bayan Bilingual School Kuwait.

Offering on-campus mental health and counseling resources / services 

Mental health support by AUM Counseling and Wellness Center

A variety of psychological and well-being support and services are provided to students at AUM. This can be through frequent coaching and continuous follow up. Short-term and long-term counseling options are available to students. Additional resources are offered as reading and activities material. AUM students can seek the services as walk in visitors or as faculty and staff referrals.

AUM Student Counseling and Wellness Center offers individual one-to-one counseling to support students as they work through personal challenges that affect their ability to succeed at the university and in other areas of their lives. Sessions are in person and offer students the opportunity to talk one-on-one with a counselor to explore, understand, and work through personal issues. Students can seek counseling to deal with issues, such as:

• Psychological: Post-traumatic stress disorder, Sexual, physical, emotional and verbal assault and abuse, Disorder eating, Suicidal ideations and tendencies, Somatic symptom disorder, Sleep disorders, Conduct disorder, Substance use and addictive disorders, Obsessive compulsive disorder, Antisocial personality disorder, Dependent personality disorder, Histrionic personality disorder, Paranoid personality disorder.

• Mental disorders: Bipolar Disorder, Borderline personality disorder, Schizophrenia, Dissociative identity disorder, Self-harm, ADHD, ADD, Autism, Narcissistic personality disorder.

• Physical: Diabetes, Pregnancy, Polycystic ovary syndrome, Epilepsy, Cardiovascular complications, Chronic pain, Asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.

• General: Anger management, Anxiety, Phobia, Panic disorder, Depression, Grief and loss, Lack of Motivation, Loneliness, Managing stress, Perfectionism (Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder), Procrastination, Relationships (family, friends, and partners), Shyness, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, Fear of public speaking, Thoughts of suicide or self-harm, Crisis intervention, etc.

Students with learning disabilities can avail of a range of services including extra time during assessments, individual presentations in the faculty office, extra time for attendance, and extra time during presentations. The Counseling and Wellness center aims to consolidate the current efforts provided for students with special needs and work closely alongside faculty members to accommodate students’ specific needs. Additional link.

The Center provides a number of trainings on campus, including health and wellness prevention, awareness programs, mental health campaigns, and workshops aimed to further support and educate students struggling with minor or major physical and mental health complications.

The University may also signpost cases to provide students access to affordable and discounted charged and fee-based services.

The following post is displayed on all digital screens inside the campus. 

Actively promoting good mental health and reminding students to always focus on their abilities and positive thinking 

Reminding students to always focus on their abilities

While walking in AUM buildings, motivational and empowering quotes are everywhere on the walls calling all the community members to stay motivated and strong, and overcome any kind of challenge in life. The University also launches competitions for the best photo taken at their choice of quote on a wall.

Hosting the Inspirational Speaker Anas Bukhash at AUM

As part of the activities held at the career fair, AUM hosted Anas Bukhash. Anas inspired students and graduates as he shared his journey and advice to growing entrepreneurs. In his opening speech, Anas shared his journey with the obstacles he faced for the attendees to learn from. Throughout his speech, he encouraged students to keep their passion fueling their goals and maintain lifelong learning.

Follow your dreams, reach for the stars: AUM hosting virtually Michael Massimino, Former NASA Astronaut

The American University of the Middle East (AUM) hosted a virtual event on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, featuring Michael Massimino, a former NASA Astronaut and a Columbia University Engineering Professor, as a keynote speaker.

The event titled “Follow Your Dreams, Reach for the Stars” was attended by AUM students, alumni, faculty, and staff. During the event, Mike inspired the AUM community through sharing stories about his successful journey to become an astronaut and the challenges he faced along the way and during the space missions.

This event came in line with AUM’s efforts to reinforce students’ skillset and nurture their mindset through exposing them to inspiring people who made a difference in the world.

A veteran of two space shuttle missions and four spacewalks, Mike was the first person to tweet from space, holds the team record for the most spacewalking time on a single space shuttle mission, and successfully completed the most complicated spacewalk ever attempted to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

AUM Holds Motivation & Self-Confidence Workshop for its Students

The American University of the Middle East (AUM) held a “Motivation & Self-Confidence Workshop” organized by the Career Development and Recruitment Center with the aim to help students advance their self-improvement techniques and skills to support their personal growth and well-being. 

At the beginning of the workshop, Dr. Jeremy Vandyken from AUM liberal arts department explained the concepts of motivation, self-confidence and success, and focused on the ways that help students overcome fears and obstacles. He also introduced students to the importance of managing their minds effectively and positively and adopting the self-motivation concept that requires efforts to achieve. Vandyken presented biographies of successful people throughout history, motivational videos and shared exercises to help students identify their fears and develop strategies to overcome them.

On the other hand, he considered that it is necessary to motivate and encourage students to develop a clear vision and goals. “Today, we are trying to explain to our students that obstacles and difficulties exist, but they should achieve their goals through self-confidence and believe in their own abilities”, he said.

Vandyken concluded: “At AUM, we always try to provide students with all skills required for their success. We organized workshops and trainings in different fields to help them gain expertise”.

Stress Management Panel Discussion and Workshop for Students: Manage Exam Pressure Efficiently

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, AUM organized a stress management workshop for students. This workshop objective was to equip students with effective strategies to manage stress, improve mental resilience, and enhance overall well-being, in addition to offering them with various tips to manage exam pressure efficiently. 

Campaign on World Mental Health Day 2023

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, AUM launched campaign through social media to raise awareness on mental health issues and educate people to take care of their body and mind (10 October 2023).

Campaign on World Mental Health Day 2022

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, AUM launched campaign through social media to raise awareness on mental health issues and educate people to take care of their mental health (10 October 2022).

Celebration of World Kindness Day 2023 with students

On World Kindness Day 2023, AUM students had the opportunity to reflect and practice kindness with the smallest gestures and remind their peers to stay positive.

Campaigns to honor AUM Champions

In the year 2022-2023, AUM has witnessed a number of victories resulting from a remarkable support and engagement in academic and sports competitions. From May to July 2023, AUM held several ceremonies to honor the students who have excelled in these competitions and achieved important milestones. 

(ex. Sports Awards | Innovation Fair Awards Ceremony)

New students orientation: Smooth and convenient transition into university life

Through Fall and Spring 2023, the Student Affairs Department ensured to provide students with student-centered and personalized approach to offer all new students with a smooth and convenient transition into the university life. The orientation sessions included one-to-one online live classes offered by trained advisors for each of the new students. This ensures that new students are well-prepared to begin their academic journey at AUM and are guided towards all that they need to know about university resources and services including counseling and wellness center.

Beyond graduation: Workshops for Alumni on thriving personally and emptional intelligence

“Thriving Personally” Workshop for AUM Alumni: Over 200 AUM alumni attended in-person and virtually the “Thriving Personally” workshop that took place at the AUM Cultural Center on December 13, 2021, as part of the lifelong learning opportunities offered by AUM to its graduates

Organized by Tawteen Career Center and presented by AUM faculty Dr. Sait Revda, the objective behind the workshop is to help alumni practice and master methods to live a less stressful life, gain more confidence, and grow strength in themselves and others. Alumni also learned during the workshop the methods of using cultural mishaps to their own benefit. A certificate was provided upon completion to all attendees.

Emotional Intelligence Workshop for Alumni: On November 25, 2021, Tawteen Career Center at the American University of the Middle East (AUM) conducted an Emotional Intelligence workshop for Alumni at the AUM Cultural Center – Conference Hall. Considering all safety precautions, the workshop was conducted in a hybrid format so alumni had the choice to attend on-campus or participate via live streaming.

The workshop was presented by AUM Faculty Dr. Dina Said who covered the fundamentals of emotional intelligence, self-assessment and self-management techniques, and strategies that focused on fostering empathy and communicating with others in an emotionally intelligent way.

A certificate was provided upon completion of the workshop to all participating alumni.

General education program offering courses on psychology

As part of their education at AUM and within the general education requirements, all AUM students take at least one or many courses dedicated for promoting good health and well-being.

• PSY120 - Elementary Psychology: The course is an introduction to the fundamental principles of psychology, covering particularly the topics of personality, intelligence, emotion, abnormal behavior, attention, perception, learning, memory, and thinking.

• PSY333 – Motivation: The course offers a survey of current research and theory in motivation. The effects of both learned and unlearned motives on behavior are discussed. Examples of topics covered are: hunger, aggression, pain, emotion, stress, frustration, conflict, etc.

• PSY385 - Positive Psychology: This course is an introduction to Positive Psychology. The two main goals are for students to (1) learn about the content and science that informs Positive Psychology, and (2) apply in their own lives empirically-validated strategies.

SPECIAL COVID-19

AUM Podcast – Mental Health

The rise in popularity of podcasts became a worldwide trend during the pandemic especially as AUM always looks for ways to stay connected with its students, alumni, staff and community. AUM launched the series of AUM podcasts designed to tackle topics and themes that share compelling stories featuring different topics and themes on well-being, mental health and celebration of happy moments. 

Awareness campaigns on social media

During the pandemic, AUM has been regularly launching social media campaigns to raise awareness among the students and the community on how to stay safe, healthy and motivated. These campaigns include sharing various tips on physical and mental health and well-being. Below is a selected campaign launch on social media:

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Kuwait launches novel initiatives to improve access to mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

In response to the rising need for mental health and psychosocial support services among responders and the community at large, the Kuwait Ministry of Health through Kuwait’s Center for Mental Health and Central Administration for Primary Care launched a number of novel initiatives to improve access to care and overcome limitations imposed by lockdowns and quarantines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental wellbeing

Among the general population, there are reports of increased rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms, particularly among the elderly and persons with disabilities. This is due to worry about infection compounded by limited access to medical and social support because of isolation and lockdowns. There are also reports of increases in self-harm and suicidal behaviours.

According to the Ministry of Health, there has been a significant increase in the number of new and formerly stable patients presenting to outpatient psychiatric clinics and inpatient units. Meanwhile, the number of patients presenting to primary health care clinics and emergency departments of general hospitals showed a decline.

Caregivers of persons with mental, neurological and substance use disorders and healthcare staff have experienced significant stress and burnout due to staff shortages and increased workloads.

Mental health and psychosocial support response

The Kuwait Center for Mental Health launched a hotline (+965 2462 1770) to deliver online consultations. It operates daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In addition, an Instagram page provided evidence-informed information about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, coping with stress, and the available resources for mental health and psychosocial support. The Center, together with the Primary Mental Health Committee launched the “Ghad” national campaign for the prevention of self-harm, using mainstream and social media.

The Ministry of Health launched an interactive application “Shlonik”. Through this application, the Ministry aims to engage with citizens and residents to ensure their safety, provide health information, and monitor patients. It also includes a health bot. thus far, the platform served more than 25 000 patients in quarantine and more than 8000 individuals infected with COVID-19, including the provision of psychosocial support.

All the outpatient psychiatric consultations and primary mental health clinics were conducted online from end of March 2020, and the first dedicated remote psychiatric service hotline was opened for healthcare providers. A total of 155 healthcare providers were treated between March and June.

Specialized psychiatric clinics delivered psychotropic medicines to the homes of their registered patients to ensure continuity of their treatment regimens.

Mental healthcare providers working in the private sector developed initiatives to support the COVID-19 response through providing education on coping with psychological problems. This is being done through social media, newspapers, and TV channels. Some of them also offer free remote psychosocial support to frontline workers. They use digital platforms and train volunteers to provide basic psychosocial support.

Lessons learnt and way forward

• There is a high demand for mental health and psychosocial support services among people infected with COVID-19 and especially patients in quarantine facilities.

• There has been a decrease in the stigma associated with mental health problems as the need for mental health and psychosocial support rose and became more evident among the general public.

• It is necessary to integrate a mental health component in general health care and other sectors like education.

• All frontline workers must have the skills to provide basic psychosocial support including psychological first aid.

• Mental health services can be made more widely accessible to the population by building on platforms like “Shlonik”.