Support for Students
& Professionals

Academic life and professional development can be emotionally demanding, especially during transitional phases and periods of high pressure. From high school through university/student life and entry into the job market, each stage has its own challenges. Psychological support can serve as a stable point of reference, strengthening goal‑setting, planning, resilience, organization, and mental wellbeing. Personalised support is offered for:

1.1 High‑school students / national exam preparation
1.2 Parents
1.3 University students / exam preparation / adjustment difficulties / academic pressure

What is it?

Preparation for exams isn’t only about memorizing material. It primarily concerns effective time management, anxiety management, recognizing the limits and expectations of both the student and the family, as well as caring for their physical and mental wellbeing. During the period of preparation for national/final exams, mental health care is equally important as academic preparation. Often many students struggle more with how to study than what to study, which is why it’s important to create realistic learning and revision plans in small, manageable chunks, at predetermined time intervals, and to schedule frequent breaks. Developing and maintaining consistent routines can significantly reduce stress and prevent overload.

Effective organization and psychological preparation can contribute to preventing and addressing overload, encouraging balance between study, assignments, and personal obligations. Proper preparation can improve performance and reduce anxiety associated with feelings of loss of control, while combined with good nutrition and quality sleep, these are fundamental both for mental health and for memory and learning. Success emerges through balance between systematic preparation, conscious self-care, and the ability to recognize and accept the need for support when it arises.

Shortly before (national) exams, students’ anxiety often meets parental expectations, creating additional pressure and, in many cases, intense emotional and mental challenges. Exam periods can worsen pre-existing mental difficulties or trigger new ones, which is why developing anxiety management strategies and mental resilience are crucial. In cases where anxiety and pressure are elevated, it’s important for students to receive support from their family environment and teachers as well as personalised psychological and emotional support. Psychological support helps students develop anxiety management strategies, strengthen their confidence, protect their wellbeing, and respond in healthy ways to the demands of this period. In this way, performance can improve, mental resilience can be strengthened, and the transition to the new phase of their lives can be facilitated.

How psychotherapy can help

Depending on each student’s needs, support may include practical guidance such as time and stress management, identifying and changing negative thinking patterns, as well as incorporating enjoyable activities that strengthen social support. In several cases, the process can be combined with psychoeducation and parental support to enhance parenting skills and improve communication within the family. Discreet and coordinated communication with educators, with the student’s and family’s consent, can ensure holistic and meaningful support for the student. After all, balance between study, self-care, and support is the key to healthy and effective preparation for facing exam pressure.

What is it?

Becoming a parent is a profoundly transformative experience that changes one’s entire life, challenging both individual identity and the couple’s relationships (e.g Levesque et al., 2020). It brings joy and happiness but also new challenges and responsibilities. Often new parents face increased anxiety, exhaustion, and self-doubt about whether they’re managing adequately in their new roles. These are just some of the factors that can affect both parents’ wellbeing and the child’s development. Research with diverse new parents shows that many struggle with a loss of individuality and couplehood as the parenting role becomes central, tensions around sharing childcare and household tasks, and the pressure of social expectations about what “good” parenting should look like (Levesque et al., 2020).

Parent counselling is a professional therapeutic service that offers parents skills, strategies, and emotional support to address parenting challenges, strengthen the parent-child relationship, and recognize and manage dynamics within the family. It can help individuals navigate the stresses and complexities of raising a child by offering a supportive space to understand their emotions, strengthen communication, and develop practical skills for family life. Through counselling, parents can explore their roles, balance nurturing with structure, and learn strategies for setting boundaries, managing behaviour, and improving co-parenting dynamics. It also provides emotional support, helping parents process feelings of overwhelm, guilt, or frustration, and build healthier coping skills.

How psychotherapy can help

Counselling and psychotherapy for new parents offer meaningful support in this transition, equipping parents with strategies for coping with the challenges they face, strengthening relationships within the family, and helping families build a strong foundation for emotional and psychological wellbeing. Counsellors use evidence-based techniques, such as cognitive-behavioural tools, communication training, and structured routines to help parents respond more calmly and confidently. Over time, parenting counselling can enhance parent-child relationships, reduce conflict, and prepare families to adapt to life changes with greater resilience. In this way, a positive and supportive family environment can be created that will support new parents to proceed with confidence and clarity, empowering both themselves and their children.

Parent counselling can benefit parents at different stages of their parenting journey, offering them the necessary tools for a more balanced and supportive family life. For example, for new parents becoming parents for the first time, adjusting to the demands of a newborn, understanding developmental stages, and managing sleep and nutrition often create anxiety and uncertainty. Through counselling, parents gain guidance and support to feel greater confidence and develop the necessary skills for effective care.

As children grow and enter adolescence, parents face new difficulties. Adolescence is characterized by seeking independence, behavioural changes, and frequent conflicts. Counselling can help parents better understand adolescent development, set healthy boundaries, and strengthen their relationship with their child. Thus, they can address conflicts more effectively and support the adolescent in their transition toward adulthood.

At the same time, many families experience challenges, such as divorce, family reconstitution, raising children with special needs, or experiencing traumatic events. In these cases, parent counselling can offer personalized support, helping parents develop strategies to overcome obstacles and promote the child’s wellbeing. Through this process, parents are empowered to create a healthier and more supportive family environment.

The most recent research findings reveal that parent counselling and psychoeducation can play a decisive role for parents with complex needs, strengthening long-term the child-parent attachment relationship and the child’s wellbeing. Parent counselling constitutes a meaningful investment with long-term protective benefits, as it not only offers immediate support but strengthens over time the mental health and resilience of children and families, empowering parents in creating more stable and functional relationships with their children.

Depending on the particular needs of each parent and family, counselling benefits may include improved communication, strengthened parental confidence in their decisions, more effective management of behavioural difficulties, reduced anxiety and parental burnout, as well as support during important life transitions, such as divorce, relocation, or job loss. At the same time, it can contribute to improving parents’ relationship as a couple, strengthening cooperation and clear distribution of responsibilities.

What is it?

University life is often accompanied by intense challenges, anxiety, emotional pressure, and heavy workload without adequate guidance and support. These are common phenomena and can negatively affect students’ academic trajectory and personal wellbeing. Mental health constitutes a foundation for academic success and has now been recognized as a fundamental factor in wellbeing and productivity. In tertiary education students, good mental health is associated with higher academic performance, better social relationships, active participation in student life, and overall quality of life. Conversely, poor mental health is related to lower performance, reduced resilience, and increased risk of dropping out (e.g., Nair et al., 2021).

Today’s students face different needs and attitudes compared to the past, with most mental difficulties appearing before age 24. Universities now operate in an environment of intense competition and high demands, which often leads to anxiety, insomnia, and negative coping behaviors. At the same time, there’s an increase in mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, with more and more students seeking help for serious problems. However, barriers such as stigma, fear of potential academic consequences, and the tendency to consider stress “normal” in these environments often deter students from seeking necessary support (e.g., Nair et al., 2021).

Research explored how college students perceive the benefits and barriers of seeking mental health support, showing that many view counselling as helpful for reducing stress, improving mental functioning, and resolving problems. the most common barriers were embarrassment, denial, and fear of being labelled “crazy,” reflecting how stigma can silence conversations about mental health and delay treatment . Younger students and those who had previously used counselling perceived more barriers, possibly due to limited experience navigating mental health systems or concerns about disclosing personal information again. Students with family or friends who had received mental health care reported more positive attitudes and less stigma, highlighting the power of familiarity and exposure in reducing negative beliefs (Vidourek et al., 2014)

Mental health challenges are just as common among students as in the general population, but you don’t need a diagnosis to benefit from counselling. Any student navigating new pressures, transitions, or uncertainties can find support helpful. Today’s students speak more openly about their wellbeing, often even on social media, and counselling, psychoeducation, and mental health services have become an essential part of the modern student experience.

How psychotherapy can help

Psychological support is no longer a luxury but a meaningful investment in mental health and wellbeing and a prerequisite for academic success. Students’ mental health needs substantial support so they can meet the increased demands of their academic and personal lives. Through the therapeutic process, they can strengthen their resilience, improve their organization and academic performance, develop healthy habits, and create balance between academic and personal demands. After all, strengthening resilience and cultivating healthy coping mechanisms constitute central goals that can transform the university experience.

Psychotherapy can offer a safe space to recognize that it’s normal to feel anxiety, worry, or sadness during difficult periods. Students can process difficult and demanding situations, learn emotional management strategies and practical solutions for maintaining their wellbeing. It can also help students understand and address loneliness by offering a safe, supportive relationship in which feelings of isolation, disconnection, and not belonging can be explored with compassion. Loneliness is widespread and linked to significant physical and mental health risks, yet it is not a psychiatric disorder, meaning many therapeutic approaches can be adapted to support those who struggle with it (Vidourek et al., 2014)

At the same time, they can strengthen their resilience by recognizing and enhancing their existing skills while developing new ones, simultaneously creating balance between academic and personal demands. Regardless of the difficulties they face, it’s important for them to know they’re not alone in facing challenges and can address them with timely and appropriate help.

Some of the benefits that many students have reported over time include learning techniques that reduce stress and help with time management and consequently better organization and daily relief. They often report that through psychological support they’ve managed to strengthen their resilience and effectively address difficulties beyond the academic framework. Understanding the causes of the difficulties they face as well as developing healthy habits can enhance their quality of life. This support constitutes not only a personal benefit for themselves but also an important social and economic investment, as students will evolve into future citizens and professionals who will contribute actively to society.