Self-Help Tools and Resources
At SAIT, finding wellness and balance in all areas of your life will help you achieve what's important.
You need to take care of yourself — learning, thinking creatively and achieving your goals will become easier when you do.
In addition to the services we offer in person, we encourage you to use the following online tools and resources.
If you need to speak with someone, make an appointment with Student Development and Counselling.
Build resilience with headversity
Welcome to headversity — your personal resilience coach.
SAIT students can download the headversity app for free from the App Store or Google Play.
Use the app to develop skills — self-expertise, mindfulness, mental fitness, mental health, hardiness, energy management — and tools to thrive during adversity.
Join now with this passcode: SAITR8.
Therapy Assistance Online (TAO)
Therapy Assistance Online (TAO) is a collection of exercises, modules and personal wellness courses designed to help you manage your emotional well-being.
Also available is a Mindfulness Library with videos of various relaxing meditations you can practice.
Get free, unlimited access to TAO self-help content from your phone, tablet or desktop.
Use your SAIT email address to sign up.
Resilience 101: Tools for lasting success
Developing resilience strategies can help you achieve greater personal, professional and academic success.
As a registered co-curricular activity, Resilience 101 includes approximately 12 hours of designated online content delivered through TAO.
Register by emailing resilience.101@sait.ca.
Campus Well e-magazine
SAIT Campus Well is an online health and wellness magazine for post-secondary students.
Topic areas include fitness, mindfulness, nutrition, time management, money, roommates, sleep, and lots more.
Check out the Wellness Passport, read the latest stories online and view upcoming workshops.
Don't forget to sign up to receive updates by email.
Mindfulness videos
Watch all or one of these YouTube videos to restore calm in your day.
Whether you are feeling tired, overwhelmed or need to take a five-minute break, these mindfulness videos are sure to help you stay focused and grounded.
Self-screening tools
Wellness check
Looking after yourself is vital to achieving academic and personal success.
The Wellness Check lets you check in on your personal and academic well-being, create a plan for success and find out about the people and resources available on campus to help you succeed.
It's anonymous, only takes a few minutes to complete, and can be done more than once to enhance your well-being.
More online resources
Mental health and wellbeing
Anxiety is a normal reaction to a stressful event and can be experienced by anyone at one time or another.
The following methods can help you manage anxiety:
- relaxation and breathing techniques
- mindfulness exercises
- access or expand your social network
- medical check-up to rule out any physical factors
- a healthy diet, adequate sleep and regular exercise
- talk to a counsellor who can help you learn coping techniques and thoughts
Resources
Depression involves feelings of extreme sadness, despair and loss of interest in activities that used to be enjoyable. These feelings can interfere with daily living and last two weeks or longer.
The following tips can help you manage your depression:
- get out of bed every morning
- set small, short-term goals
- self-care
- a healthy diet, adequate sleep and regular exercise
- medical check-up to rule out any physical factors
- talk to a counsellor who can help you learn coping techniques and thoughts
Resources
Resources
🔗 Quiz: What's your stress index?
▶️ Ted Talk: How to make stress your friend | Kelly McGonigal
Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person's demands exceed their resources and ability to cope.
Each person experiences and reacts to stressful situations differently, learn to recognize the signs and then identify the cause of the symptoms.
Stress management combines changing the stressful situation and your response to the situation.
Symptoms
- withdrawal
- blaming or anger
- fatigue or an inability to focus
- forgetfulness or lack of concentration
- anxiety or excessive worry
- irritability
- change in eating or sleep patterns
- headaches
- stomach difficulties
- teeth grinding
- suppressed immune system.
Causes
- change in life circumstances — financial, health, family, work or school changes
- feelings of being challenged or threatened
- feelings of a loss of personal control
- feeling overwhelmed with the workload.
Helpful tips
- Discover your specific triggers and symptoms.
- Manage your time — prioritize, reduce and schedule time demands, and balance activities.
- Develop healthy practices — eat properly, sleep seven to eight hours, exercise regularly, relaxation and meditation techniques.
- Develop a support system — talk with friends and/or family.
- Positive and calming self-talk — examine thoughts and beliefs.
- Meet with a counsellor.
Social wellbeing
Anger is a normal, often healthy emotion.
However, when anger gets out of control, it can lead to difficulties.
Here, we offer some ideas for managing anger.
Relaxation response
The key to developing relaxation skills is practising them when you don't need them.
Practice will make it easier to put this skill in place when you start noticing yourself feeling stressed or irritated.
Relaxation tools can help to calm down anger and physical tension. Many people breathe shallowly, more quickly, and from the upper chest when angry and stressed.
Try the following:
- Diaphragmatic breathing: Lie on your back and place one hand flat on your stomach and one on your chest. Breathe in and out, and notice how your breath causes your stomach to rise and fall rather than your chest. This is diaphragmatic breathing.
- Cued breathing: Now that you know what diaphragmatic breathing feels like, see if you can feel that sitting up. Pick a behaviour you do several times a day (this could be getting a glass of water, turning your computer on or picking up your phone). Each time you do this behaviour, take a moment to practice five or diaphragm breaths.
Don't believe everything you think
The meaning we give to an event or comment can transform a neutral situation into an anger-filled one. You have a lot of choice over the meaning you give to events.
Decrease stimulation
Other ways to decrease the escalation of anger could include:
- Yelling or name-calling you may be doing in your head.
- If you're feeling wound up and the TV is blaring, turn it down.
- Pay attention to your tone of voice and choose to turn the volume down on it.
Exercise
Moderate, regular physical exercise — 20 - 30 minutes per day — can help reduce agitation caused by anger and stress. It is an excellent stress management practice and can reduce overall mental, physical and emotional tension.
What to do in the moment
If you're already very angry, remove yourself from the immediate situation.
Take some time away, and tell people when you'll be back. If possible, don't drive.
Anger interferes with people's ability to think very clearly. You don't want to say or do something you'll regret.
Resources
🔗 Controlling anger before it controls you
🔗 Anger self-help: cognitive behaviour therapy
📖 When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within | Matthew McKay
Resources
▶️ Ted Talk: How Miscommunication Happens (And How to Avoid it) | Katherine Hampsten
Life success toolbox
Self-esteem is what you think about yourself and the value or worth you consider yourself to have as a person.
Low self-esteem can keep you from the things you enjoy and from working towards personal goals.
Self-esteem is a significant part of your well-being and can sometimes be related to mental, emotional or relational issues.
Resources
▶️ Ted Talk: Body Language and Confidence | Amy Cuddy
Resources
🔗 The strengths recipe for success
🔗 VIA Institute on Character strengths self-assessment
▶️ Ted Talk: The Happy Secret to Better Work | Shawn Achor
▶️ Ted Talk: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve | Carol Dweck
▶️ Strengths | Marcus Buckingham
Resources
▶️ Fixed mindset vs. growth mindset
▶️ How to practice effectively
▶️ Why exercise is so underrated
▶️ Ted Talk: The Power of Passion and Perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth
With Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) you will discover ways to develop skills such as regulating your emotions, increasing your distress tolerance, calming your mind and enhancing your interpersonal effectiveness.