Student welfare manager Door van der Sloot: ‘It’s been a busy time for us. We are working on developing training courses in the Surf your Stress programme, and we are getting a steady flow of students for regular consultations. At the end of last year we even temporarily stopped making new appointments as the waiting list was too long.’
Overcrowded
So it was time to recruit more psychologists and a secretary to provide the necessary support. ‘I haven’t been working in this team for very long myself and didn’t have an office of my own yet either. I don’t mind hot-desking but I do want to be near my colleagues, and that wasn’t possible. We started looking for suitable new office space in good time, but the campus really is overcrowded. So we are having to leave it, sadly.’
Students need not worry about having to go far for a consultation. The psychologists are moving to the Garden Offices on the Agro Business Park, no more than 10 minutes from campus by bike. They are not happy about the move, though. ‘If it’s up to me, we’ll move back on campus as soon as possible,’ says Van der Sloot. ‘We are no longer at walking distance now, and that might raise the barrier for students. Also, we are normally in close touch with the GPs, the student counsellors and the occupational social work department. Due to the coronavirus, all that happens remotely now, but we were used to running into them around the building.’
Online until September
The student psychologists have been working from home and holding consultations online for the past few months, and it is going to stay that way for a while. ‘The ventilation in the consultations rooms at the new location is up to the safety standards for two people yet. We hope we can solve this quickly and resume face-to-face consultations.’
This should be possible from September at the latest, if things go to plan. Longer consultations will then take place at number 10 Agro Business Park. The walk-in hour, which has also been held online since March, will be back too, and that will be held on campus, in the Forum.
No new appointments at student psychologist
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