Successful Student Transitions - A Time to Thrive

Welcome to the next episode of Student Voices.

In this episode Elizabeth speaks to Evie, a first year university student, about her journey so far.

They discuss:

• How Evie made friends and the surprisingly simple technique she used to connect with people.
• Getting used to independent living, the finances, cooking and the laundry!
• The importance of rest and giving yourself some downtime.
• Coping with the dip and how everyone experiences university differently and why it is so important to recognise that.
• Evie's greatest challenges.
• What Evie believes every student should know about the experience before leaving home.

Welcome to our series of student voices.

In this episode Elizabeth speaks to Theodora who is a first year university student about her journey so far.

They discuss:

• What helped Theodora to plan and prepare for moving to university.
• What helped Theodora to settle in the early weeks.
• Fresher's week and how to do more than simply survive it.
• Friendships, what matters.
• The academics and how Theodora has found the things so far.
• The value of structures, routines in helping to find downtime and do things on your own terms.
• What is essential for new students to know.
• The best and most rewarding part of the journey so far.
• The biggest challenge.

Introducing the next series of guest interviews,

In this episode Elizabeth speaks to Sam. Thank you Sam!

Sam is a first year university student and he shares his thoughts on his experience so far.

This will make for interesting listening for other first year students who want to reflect on their experience AND for prospective new students who want to learn a bit about the experience, helping to set those all important realistic expectations so important for successful transitions.

Elizabeth and Sam discuss:

· The planning and preparation prior to moving to university.

· Strategies for making friends and getting involved in term one.

· Embracing independent living and what it means to Sam.

· Practical tips on what and what not to take.

· The highs and lows of the first weeks – the inevitable dip and how to cope.

· Academics and how they differ from school and college.

Welcome to 2024!

As the New Year and new term begins we share ideas for getting set up to thrive in term two.

It is still a time of transition and returning after the holidays can be both exciting and daunting, especially if some exams are involved.

Listen as we discuss:

• Why we love the new breath that the New Year brings and how RAFT our transition acronym can help to settle into this new start.
• The value of taking time to do a well-being audit. What are your well-being strengths - do you know, listen to find out?
• Noticing what is going well generally and where you might make some changes.
• Why learning to ask for help just might be your new superpower in 20204 and beyond.
• How developing and honing your self-compassion will be a great tool for 2024.

Wishing you a really positive start to 2024

End of university term is looming. Students are packing bags ready to return home for the festive/holiday period.

Another period of adjustment looms as parents/families and carers welcome their young adult back into the family fold.

An exciting homecoming or a challenging period of re-negotiation?

Very likely it will be a mix of both as everyone negotiates the new balance set within a developing context of independence.

So, this week, in the interest of holiday harmony, we share advice to help avoid the pitfalls and thrive through this mini-transition.

We wish you all a happy, healthy and joyful holiday period.

We discuss:

• Student experiences will have varied and home life may have moved on. How to find the new balance.
• The importance of setting realistic expectations and communicating them.
• Good endings and new beginnings even when the transition is a mini one.
• A reminder to put your well-being at the heart of the festive experience. Rest and recovery.... and whatever else makes you feel well.
• Setting the scene for a positive return to university in January.

In this episode podcast co-host, Louise shares her top five highlights from the Successful Student Transitions podcast so far.

Louise shares:

• Her thoughts about the word THRIVE - what it means and what it does not.
• The transitions journey, it's highs and lows.
• Why understanding what feeds your well-being is a very personal journey.
• How PERMAH is a helpful framework for reflecting on what contributes to your well-being.
• What meaning and mattering is so important when thinking about how to enhance our well-being.
• The huge value of understanding our personal strengths and individualit

We are excited to have now published over 50 episodes and with thousands of downloads we are excited to be supporting students as they make exciting new choices and transitions in their lives.

In this episode Elizabeth shares her personal favourites from 52 previous episodes - listen on to discover what they are.

In this, the final episode in this series for parents, we take the focus away from supporting our young adults and towards thinking about what the future hold for parents of empty or emptier nests.

We discuss:

• Why this is a transition experience for us as well as our young adults.
• Why we deserve this time for us to figure out what comes next for us - and no we're not being selfish.
• How it helps to think about what is not working or serving us anymore.
• Why thinking about our underlying beliefs and values is a good starting point.
• Why we need to stop 'should-ing' all over the place,
• How looking back can sometimes be necessary for moving forward.
• Why it is often really motivating to dream a little.... go on try it!
• The value of trying and experimenting with new things.

As parents we have all experienced times when our children and young adults have faced academic challenges.

Starting university represents the beginning of independent living and also a more independent approach to studying.

This can be a challenging time for our young adults.

In this episode we discuss how to best support them through academic novelty and challenge:

We discuss:

• The importance of deciding how we want to parent at these times.
• Why challenge is good for our young adults.
• How important it is to monitor our own reactions as parents and be value driven in our response.
• The challenge of pressure points and why we need to avoid being one ourselves.
• The value in nudging our young adult towards the creation of some kind of routine.

This is the final episode in this eight part series for first year university students.

Adjusting to university life is not only about adjusting to the new environment and social life. There is a need to adjust to the academic reality as well.

How is this going for you?

In this episode we share five tips to support you through some of the academic issues and challenges.

Our aim: to support you to create academic success for yourself.

Today we discuss:

• A helpful way to think about and approach overwhelm and challenge.
• Why it pays to ask for help AND introduce the idea of academic humility....
• We discuss those pesky reoccurring challenges of procrastination, perfectionism and fear of failure and suggest ways of handling them.
• We remind you that this is a new and different learning environment and offer suggestions for growing into it....
• And finally, we go back to a previous idea - creating routines, how your routine?