U of L offers counselling with ‘7 Cups of Tea’
In the Buddhist tradition, tea is closely associated with the notion of pausing, emptying your mind and focusing on the here and now. One metaphor from that tradition states that the anxiety-full mind is equivalent to an overflowing cup of tea. When the cup is already full, there is no room for peace and calm to get in. Only by emptying the mind of its burdens, can we find the space in our cup for the peace we desire. It is this concept of unburdening which underpins the University of Lethbridge Student Union-sponsored peer-to-peer counselling and sharing service “7 Cups of Tea.”
“It is entirely online peer-topeer counselling that students can log on and use anonymously,” said U of L Students Union president Hailey Babb. “For us, it was a really important feature to bring in. We saw there was maybe a bit of a gap between students who felt they were struggling, and needed somebody to talk to, but weren’t quite ready to access the more institutionalized counselling services. You can sign on either as a listener or someone who is seeking peerto-peer counselling. The really cool thing about 7 Cups is it transcends all student groups and becomes a platform for anyone from the U of L to be able to login and speak to somebody from our campus.”
Babb, who is majoring in psychology, said many on campus access the service to deal with their problems.
“Typically toward the end of the semesters in November or March this service is typically more utilized. That’s when students are feeling the pressures of term exams, and it’s dark, snowy and dreary outside. Funds are also a little more tight as you get toward the end of the semester.”
Babb says common mentalhealth issues students face on campus today centre around anxiety, relationship issues and general loneliness.
“You can flag any of those issues (on our service) and find a listener who is maybe more versed in talking about those issues,” she said. “You can use it from your laptop or phone; you can really take it anywhere you need it.”
Babb said the anxieties students face are not merely confined to campus life, but extend well beyond in this tough economy into the postgraduate world.
“One of the big things now is students are feeling a lot of financial stress,” she said. “We have seen tuition has inflated some 300 per cent since the 1990s. So the pressures of trying to complete a degree successfully, and trying to do it within your means and still have a job, come out of that. I think it is an enormous amount of pressure. When employers throw around words like, ‘a university degree has become as valuable a high school diploma was 30-some years ago,’ it only adds to the stress. It is becoming a more competitive world and students are feeling the crunch in more ways than one.”
Fortunately for U of L students there is an online place to pause, and have a soothing cup of tea.