Wits Office of Student Success

The final stage of self-care is not final in any way, shape or form. It is rather a constant goal we strive to achieve; we are not failures for not having true self-actualisation, but if we move in the right direction we are successfully starting to allow ourselves to become balanced. By looking after our physiological, safety, love & belonging and self-esteem needs, we move higher up towards consciously being able to know ourselves better, while being confident in who we are right now. We deserve to love ourselves for who we are now; we can still improve each day and keep loving ourselves in the process of becoming more real and true.

Your self-esteem and self-respect is essential in achieving what comes after you have developed your safety and love and belonging needs. This is because your external circle will determine what you can do internally; if you have a supportive circle around you, you can work towards respecting yourself while growing each day towards having a realistic view of yourself. We often have distorted views of who we are; let's make sure to bring truth to the matter.

Your safety needs and love and belonging needs are identified as the next steps on Maslow's (1943) Pyramid. After your physiological needs are met, your external needs need to also come into effect. Taking care of your resources (planning), while ensuring that you have the right people around you is a form of wellness and self-care.

Remember that your physiological needs may need to be tended to first before you go into higher needs on the pyramid (i.e., mindfulness and mental self care). Remember, the body and mind are connected; you need to ensure that your survival needs are catered for before the optional needs of self-growth are embraced.

Help Seeking Behaviour starts with you! There are services available, remember that action needs to happen help to be received.

This month is mental health month, get ready for posts for the upcoming days! 😁

The OSS will be hosting a Gender Empowerment support group. Support groups are a safe space for students to share their experiences and connect with other students. The Gender Empowerment support group aims to provide a confidential space for students to share their experiences of Gender-Based Violence (domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, r**e and emotional abuse), and to empower students with the necessary resources and positive experiences. The support group is open to all students with a limit of 10 students. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in joining.

The OSS will be hosting a Gender Empowerment support group. Support groups are a safe space for students to share their experiences and connect with other students. The Gender Empowerment support group aims to provide a confidential space for students to share their experiences of Gender-Based Violence (domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, r**e and emotional abuse), and to empower students with the necessary resources and positive experiences. The support group is open to all students with a limit of 10 students. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in joining

Mandela Day was a great success for the campaign that happened on the 18th of July.

"Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are"

Keep up to date with future events planned towards student support; we are here for the students.

The recovery in addiction is a very delicate process. Remember, if you are trying to seek help with your addiction, seeking a professional is best. Just to give you an idea, here are the stages of recovery. The most difficult stage is action, however, an arguably more difficult stage is relapse, where you may be triggered by something around you that allows you to 'justify' going back to the habit. Remember, for an addictive behaviour to change, you must change your environment to accommodate a new life.

Balta, V.A., (2019, June 18). The Six Stages of Change in Addiction Recovery. Florida Center for Recovery. https://www.floridacenterforrecovery.com/the-six-stages-of-change-in-addiction-recovery/

Prochaska, J. O., Norcross, J. C., & DiClemente, C. C. (n.d.). Applying the stages of change. Psychotherapy in Australia, 19(2), 10–15. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.254435778545597

Gender empowerment can be achieved by having the awareness and understanding of terms relating to Gender-Based Violence to help students understand their own and others' experiences. This week's post focuses on defining and understanding emotional abuse. If you or a friend/colleague need emotional support, please call the Student Crisis Line on 0800 111 331 or email [email protected]

When one considers what an addiction is, you have to accommodate the basics of what drives us to become addicted:

Salience starts developing: The addiction becomes extremely important for the person to have. The addiction also starts dominating thoughts, behaviours and feelings.

Mood Modification starts occurring: The addiction consequently changes one's mood, and this mood change is more of a coping strategy towards other problems.

Tolerance starts building up: Increasing amounts of the addiction are needed over time to adapt to the demands of the brain.

Withdrawal equally starts happening: Unpleasant feelings arise, sometimes with physical effects after being unable to have/use that addiction.

Conflict is a consequence: The addiction starts to interfere with other parts of your life.

Relapse is often at risk of happening on a constant basis unless enough time away is given: The cycle of addiction starts to repeat itself when relapse occurs.

As one can see... the are short-term benefits towards addictions... the feeling it may give could be euphoric. However, you won't sustain yourself through it, because you are using an external thing to treat something internal... YOU are the mechanism for growth.

Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2011). Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8(9), 3528–3552. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph8093528

Gender empowerment can be achieved by having the awareness and understanding of terms relating to Gender-Based Violence to help students understand their own and others' experiences. This week's post focuses on defining and understanding sexual abuse. If you or a friend/colleague need emotional support, please call the Student Crisis Line on 0800 111 331 or email [email protected]

The next theme of the wellness campaign will be about addictions... remember, short-term gratifications (i.e., substances) do not overrule long-term gratifications (i.e., meditation) just because one takes longer to work.

Addictions are specific habits or behaviours that can cause either disease/social problems in one’s life. Addictions are NOT only from substances like alcohol but include any experience where there is a ‘loss of control’ and attempts to lower the behaviour/substance intake becomes increasingly difficult or almost impossible. These addictions/ habits are often shown in the form of immediate gratification (short-term reward) where one can feel temporarily stable. However, this process often results in long-term issues, such as diseases or unwanted social circumstances.

If you can, please come support the health sciences students! 😁

"A winner is a dreamer who never gives up" - Nelson Mandela

Gender empowerment can be achieved by having the awareness and understanding of terms relating to Gender-Based Violence to help students understand their own and others' experiences. This week's post focuses on defining and understanding physical abuse. If you or a friend/colleague need emotional support, please call the Student Crisis Line on 0800 111 331 or email [email protected]

Gender empowerment can be achieved by having the awareness and understanding of terms relating to Gender-Based Violence to help students understand their own and others' experiences. This week's post focuses on defining and understanding sexual harassment. If you or a friend/colleague need emotional support, please call the Student Crisis Line on 0800 111 331 or email [email protected]

Your self-esteem and self-respect is essential in achieving what comes after you have developed your safety and love and belonging needs. This is because your external circle will determine what you can do internally; if you have a supportive circle around you, you can work towards respecting yourself while growing each day towards having a realistic view of yourself. We often have distorted views of who we are; let's make sure to bring truth to the matter.

Gender empowerment can be achieved by having the awareness and understanding of terms relating to Gender-Based Violence to help students understand their own and others' experiences. This week's post focuses on defining and understanding domestic violence and intimate partner violence. If you or a friend/colleague need emotional support, please call the Student Crisis Line on 0800 111 331 or email [email protected]

Your safety needs and love and belonging needs are identified as the next steps on Maslow's (1943) Pyramid. After your physiological needs are met, your external needs need to also come into effect. Taking care of your resources (planning), while ensuring that you have the right people around you is a form of wellness and self-care.

Gender empowerment can be achieved by having the awareness and understanding of terms relating to Gender based Violence to help students understand their own and others' experiences. The Office Student Success will be raising awareness of GBV by defining key concepts relating to GBV in the month of June and July. If you or a friend/ colleague need emotional support, please call the Student Crisis line on 0800 111 331 or email [email protected]

Abraham Maslow’s (1943) Hierarchy of Needs model is a theory of human motivation.

It is shown through a pyramid, and has 5 layers: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualisation (achieving one’s potential). These needs are ordered in ascending order, with physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualisation at the top.

This model will be used in sections throughout the self care series, as it is important to know what self-care can really look like, and what self-care can do in aiding success in one’s academic experience.

Self-care is a tool for success... it's not a ‘waste of time’

Make sure to attend the GEO (Gender Equity Office) 'building healthy relationships' open support group if you're interested; These types of support groups will happen bi-weekly for GEO, so click on their page and check them out 😁!

The Office of Student Success (OSS) is dedicated in raising awareness and addressing issues of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to promote gender empowerment and wellness. This post aims to highlight important terms to enhance students understanding on the various ways in which GBV related experiences may occur

Don't forget to download and share our app; let's increase the resources out there for others and ourselves! .

Contribute towards understanding and opposing GBV with your input. It starts with you

One of the most prevalent forms of GBV is sexual assault by intimate partners
While explicit violation is never warranted, there are other less-known forms where GBV is perpetuated

Come join our webinar NOW on GBV Activism
, join the discussion and debate for change

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NjY0ZGNkMDEtYzFjOC00YWIwLWIwMDMtZGFlZmZmOWEyNDky%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%224b1b908c-5582-4377-ba07-a36d65e34934%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22b208c7d5-9cb5-413d-b88b-3e370fbd6660%22%7d

There are many sides to the GBV story; let's ensure that all of them are covered

The power behind our words, thoughts, and behaviours are the things that can make peace, or make war. Let's fight for peace and see the links that exist in the LGBTQI+ community

For our next theme, we are covering gender and sexuality. Let's all think about the adversities that people encounter in the transgender community. We need to start respecting how people want to live, as it is their lives, their choices and their bodies that people should be able to live freely in.

Women's month may be over, but the need for humanity and righteousness is not. Let's continue opposing GBV wherever we can

🌻….

Join us tomorrow… Link in bio

DAY 1! 🌻

"Talent is like a little seed; when nurtured, it will flourish."-
Matshona Dhliwayo

Join the OSS as we start our day with a mindful affirmation to set the tone of the week and end it off with a MS teams meeting that assists students in finding a dynamic way to bloom with our lovely academic advisors!!! 🌸

Keep staying in tune for updated links in bio! 💕