It is time to prepare for the real world

I started this year full of excitement and determination, which came crashing down pretty instantly. Even before the official start of this school year in September, me and my dissertation partner Thomas were already working on the ethics proposal that we needed to submit in July in order to start our study in September. We had to do this because our study involves children and we knew the ethics approval was going to take longer than most studies (which it did as they did not get back to us until  2 months after they were supposed to). All of this just teaches you how much problems arise when you need them the least. The dissertation that we are working on will be focused on a anonymous peer-support smartphone application called “MeeTwo” that I mentioned in my last entry. We will be measuring how much of an impact this application has on children aged 11-19 and their levels of depression, anxiety and self-esteem. We are also working in collaboration with the creators of the application are looking for eventually publish our papers.

Aside from working hard to get my dissertation and other university work done (and there is a lot of it) I have been trying to take part in more extracurricular and volunteering opportunities. Apart from still working as a Super Peer in the aforementioned application MeeTwo and the position of a STaR Mentor for new students at the university I have taken on a few more positions. I started working with this group of volunteers called Depression Xpression, who organize therapy groups mainly for people who suffer from depression. It is done in a very simple format similar to alcoholics anonymous. Usually there is a speaker, who shares with the group their knowledge about something. For example there was a man leading the Reading Buddhist group, who came and talked about Mindfulness or a man who shared his story about depression and how he became a personal trainer. I am going to be taking over the newsletter, the social media and the general promotion of the group. I have only been part of this group for a few weeks and I can already say that it is such an amazing thing and it really gives me joy to help people and see them take something from these meetings. Another thing I am currently working on arranging is in the Prospect Park hospital, which is a mental health hospital, where I will be volunteering on the position of a “friend to people with dementia”. I am very exciting to get more experience on a mental health ward.

Other than focusing on my academical involvement I haven't had much time for pretty much anything else. My living situation is great and I am enjoying spending time with fellow third years, who understand my everyday struggles of not wanting to party and give everything I have into my studies. It's going to be a hard year, but I am very excited to see where the end of this year will take me.

Last but not least I would like to thank The Kellner Family Foundation again for making all of this possible for me and I am looking forward to seeing everyone in January!