Holiday Toolkit

Emergency support

• If you're in immediate danger of hurting yourself or others:

- Go directly to the Accident & Emergency (A&E) department of your local hospital to get help.-

- Call 999 to request an ambulance if you are unable to reach the hospital yourself

• If you're feeling distressed and need urgent support:

- Contact your GP surgery to request an emergency appointment

- If your GP surgery isn't open, call the free NHS out-of-hours medical line on 111 for help accessing the right services or contact NHS 111 via their website

- You can call the Samaritans on 116 123 to talk to someone at any time, day or night

• Free, confidential, 24/7 support is available by text message. Text ‘shout’ to 85258 or visit giveusashout.org for more information.
• text Mikeysline for support
• information on anxiety, low mood, stress and where you can get help from NHS

For more information visit our emergency support pages.

Foodbank information

Money advice

Staying at college or university over the holidays

Gareth Hughes is the Clinical Lead for Student Space and is a psychotherapist, researcher and writer on student wellbeing, including the book 'Be Well, Learn Well.'

If you are staying at university for the duration of the end of term break, making some plans in advance will help to ensure it is as good an experience as possible.

Your university is likely to be quieter over the break. At least some university buildings are likely to be closed for part of the time and most staff will be taking a well-earned rest from work. It may also be that there are fewer students around and less to do with your time.

In addition, it can be easy to feel worried or upset at the prospect of spending it alone or away from your family.

While these worries are perfectly normal, there are things you can do to increase your enjoyment of the break. Taking control of your time proactively can help you to get the most out of the break and feel more positive.

Keep busy

Maintaining a daily structure and keeping active will help to maintain your mood and energy levels. A lack of structure and vegging out can be fine for a day or two, but over time it leaves us feeling sluggish and down.

Having a plan for each day can help you to stay active. You may want to think about socialising with friends who are still around; spring cleaning your room, getting regular exercise or studying for next term. This will help you to feel you are achieving something each day.

Volunteer

Volunteering is an excellent way of keeping busy and doing something positive. Volunteering to help others is also good for us and it can help to build up your CV.

Your university, Students’ Union or Guild may have some volunteering opportunities or you can explore what opportunities there are through local and national charities such as Time Bank.

Volunteering will also help you by putting you in touch with other people and giving you a sense of purpose.

Socialise

Try to maintain social contact with as many people as possible. Not all students will go home for the whole of the break. Find out when your friends are going to be around and if local restrictions allow, plan socially distanced meet ups with them. If there are periods where your friends aren’t around, try to schedule regular calls and video calls with friends and family elsewhere.

You could also use Togetherall to keep in contact with other students. This could be an opportunity to make new friends.

Exercise

It can be tempting to stay indoors where it’s warm but you should make sure you are getting outside and exercising each day. Sunlight and exercise improves mood and will help you feel better physically as well.

Try to see the positives

For many people spending time alone may be preferable. If you are going to be alone you will have complete control over your own time, you can do what you want when you want, without pressure to please anyone else.

Indulge

Give yourself rewards over the holidays. These don’t have to cost a lot of money but, if you can, treat yourself to something special. You could, for example, cook yourself a nice meal or just set aside time to watch a movie or read a book.

Seek support

If you are worried about how you will feel during the break it may help to talk to someone beforehand or please remember that Togetherall and Spectrum life provide 24/7 support during the academic breaks.

Information provided by: Staying at university over the Christmas break | Student Space

Advice for the holidays

While the holiday season can represent joy, gratitude and togetherness, it can also be associated with family and financial pressure, loneliness, anxiety and tension. Even if you look forward to the holidays, it’s normal to experience periods of stress or difficulty.

According to research from the UK, most people feel stressed, anxious, and depressed over the holidays.  In fact, over two in five Brits have felt stressed during the festive season, while one in four have struggled with anxiety or depression (YouGov 2019 UK)

If you find yourself experiencing mixed emotions, worries, or even real distress over the holidays, that’s okay, and perhaps keep some of these thoughts in mind.

First of all, it’s okay to not be okay during the holidays and reach out for support when you need it.

The holidays may cause a mixture of complicated situations and emotions, such as family and relationship conflict, anxiety around relationships, worries about food, coping with grief, or feeling that everyone else is having a great time and you’re missing out.

All these feelings are valid and okay, and you’re not alone.

Don’t wing it during the holidays - come up with a plan to feel better and take control 

1. Write down the days you’ll be surrounded by people or have a lot going on. Think through the days that might be tough and identify when you’ll need extra support or breaks.
2. Identify the people and resources you want to use for support. Talk with these people beforehand or investigate a resource and define strategies for coping.
3. Set your intentions: Whether it’s sleep, how you eat, how much you drink, where exercise plays a role, or whether you engage in certain conversations, set your intentions in advance so you can feel in control in the moment. This approach can be generalized for the holiday season or you can do this on a day-to-day or event-by-event basis.

Take time to develop a list of coping skills that work for you and then think carefully about when you’ll use them.

1. Take time to get support from people who understand your experiences on Togetherall. Get ideas, get support, or create your own group of friends to support each other during the holiday season.
2. Take a nap
3. Go for a walk alone in a favorite location or walk with someone who helps you feel better
4. Plan to meditate in a way that works for you and will help you to feel calm and gain perspective.

Remember to allow yourself to be in the moment

Rather than comparing your experiences, feelings and relationships to others’, allow yourself to be present in your life without judgement.

Be realistic about the holidays and plan ahead if you think you might experience complicated emotions.

The holidays can be wonderful, happy, complicated, and stressful.

If you feel like you need a safe space to talk with others who understand, try Togetherall; a free, safe anonymous online community where you can give and get support from others.

Information provided by: Chief Clinical Officer of Togetherall, Dr. Ben Locke

Information for parents

Some activities for under 13s 

• Feeling snowflakes - print and cut out the snowflakes and answer the questions
• Make sure to get some good sleep
• If you are stressed do some breathing
• you can use the worry tree or some coping cards
• you can get some relaxation in or some animal relaxation
• get a workout in with the 7 minute animal workout
• and out favourite technique for the wole family is the 5 senses

With concerns about money here is a great blog to read for parents tips on supporting children's wellbeing in the cost of living crisis.

Student minds have created a guide for parents about money and mental health.

Care experienced students

Who Cares? Scotland

Barnardo's 

Going home for the holidays

Gareth Hughes is the Clinical Lead for Student Space and is a psychotherapist, researcher and writer on student wellbeing, including the book Be Well, Learn Well

Not every student looks forward to going home for the holidays. This can be for many reasons and it is ok for you to feel this way. A few strategies can help you manage how you feel about this.

Many students feel obligated to return home, even when they don’t want to. It is important to remember that you are an adult and are entitled to make your own choices. Take time to think about the following:

• why you are planning to go home
• whether you do need to go
• why you don’t want to return home.

Thinking through what will happen

It may help to think about who you are going home for and who, if anyone, it will help. It may also help to think about the potential consequences of either choice (going home or not), and how likely those consequences actually are.

Student life can be very pressurised and in these circumstances it can be easy to lose some perspective. Ask yourself – will being at home be as bad as I think? Are my fears realistic?

Try to work through the consequences in a calm way and to be honest with yourself about what the likely outcomes are. It may help to talk to someone else about how you feel.

If you are worried about a specific issue it may be useful to discuss this with your family, before you return home - if you feel this is possible. Sometimes, addressing areas of conflict can help resolve issues and strengthen your relationships.

You can get more information about preparing to address conflict here: Preparing to address conflict | Student Space

Reducing the impact of the break

If, after thinking it through, you feel you should still return home, even though you don’t want to, see if there are ways in which you can reduce the impact the break has on you.

Could you:

• go for a shorter period than you’d originally planned?
• Break up the time at home, by going out with friends or getting out of the house for a while?

Even if you eventually decide that you have to stick to your original plans, being clear about why you are going home can help you feel more in control and can make it easier to survive the holiday period.

If you do go home, it is important that you look after yourself while you are there. Try to find time for yourself and give yourself small rewards along the way. Keep in mind the reasons you decided to go home – you may find they help to motivate you.

Information provided by: If you’re going home for Christmas but don’t want to | Student Space

Safety information

Self care in winter

“Practicing gratitude is how we acknowledge that there’s enough and that we’re enough.” —BRENÉ BROWN

Have you tried our uhi wellbeing bingo?

Have you looked at your positives lately?

Look at our self care stocking activity for some ideas or there is a leaflet from NHS Highland about self care in winter .

Estranged Students

The Christmas period can be challenging for people who have become estranged from their family or children.

This guide is intended to help you with some of the most common festive frustrations and give you an idea of how others in our community cope with the season...

https://www.standalone.org.uk/guides/festive-guide/ 

Self-care

Highland Council Ready for Winter Advice

You can find information on being ‘Ready for Winter’ on the Highland
Council website here