{"id":4056,"date":"2009-11-19T09:40:22","date_gmt":"2009-11-19T13:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/UpbeaT\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2009-11-19T09:40:22","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T13:40:22","slug":"students-interrupted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2009\/11\/19\/students-interrupted\/","title":{"rendered":"Students, interrupted?"},"content":{"rendered":"I might have sounded a little bit too serious<\/a>, with the word \"interrupted\" shoved so coarsely into the title of this post, but the reality is that in university, though one might be constantly surrounded by lots of people, it's nevertheless easy to feel lonely, scared and lost. And when this happens, it can indeed feel like the end of the world is near.\n\nIn my last post<\/a>, I talked briefly about how to make more long-lasting friends here at U of T \u2014 although not nearly as well as one of our commenters, Curtis<\/a>, did! What I've realized during my few years here is that our relationships with the external world directly affect how we feel about ourselves. In that sense, you can't foster one without the other, nor can you isolate the two and hope that whatever negativity is affecting one realm will not seep into the other. I know this sounds like common sense, but when students do end up bumping into a wall, they will often fail to consciously protect the healthier areas of their lives, and thus allow the situation to snowball into something deeply destructive. It's exactly like a physical illness: if it's left untreated, your whole body will ultimately be compromised. The only difference here is that we are talking about our mental health, so that the harm is intangible and the consequences often overlooked.\n\nUnhealthy relationships, for example, can not only kill your GPA and your health, but also destroy your self-confidence. I remember going through hellfire in my second year. I lost all motivation and drive to do well in school because, after a few blunders on midterms, I was too distressed by the fact that with my crappy marks, no professional or graduate school would ever accept me. I was always sick, with long-lasting coughs, colds that came every single month, and recurring nightmares. My sleeping pattern was completely out of whack: I went to bed when the sun came up, slept a huge amount every day because I was always tired, and ended up skipping a lot of my classes. My life had spun out of control, and all colour was draining away from it. The worst of it was that for the longest time, I could not break away from it because I never saw it as \"unhealthy,\" nor did I pay enough attention to how much I was suffering, both physically and mentally.\n\nI was lucky in that I was able to recognize those blaring signs of a bad relationship, when I \"serendipitously\" picked up a very helpful book <\/a>from Indigo. But looking back, I realize how much I would have benefited from the counselling and psychological services offered by the school. Recently,\u00a0 U of T's Counselling and Learning Skills Service (CALSS) and Psychiatric Service were combined to form Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS)<\/a>. The office is located in the Koffler Student Services Centre, almost right across the hall from the Second Cup and the lower entrance to the bookstore. The hours are:\n\nMonday to Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.\nTuesday: 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.\n\nGenerally, you'll talk to the reception desk first, and you'll set up an appointment for a 20-minute phone evaluation, in which a counsellor or clinician will ask you a few simple questions regarding your needs. Then they will direct you to the most appropriate program within, or outside, CAPS. Should you be referred to a program within CAPS, someone will phone you later to offer the appropriate method of counselling. There could be a bit of a wait list (three to four weeks), so make sure you book the phone evaluation as soon as you can.\n\nI understand that there can be a stigma associated with seeking counselling, but honestly, when you are unhappy, who cares what anybody else thinks? CAPS is not synonymous with \"asylum.\" Rather, you can see it as a place that will help you get past some of the little bumps in life that, believe it or not, happen to everyone. Some of the areas CAPS helps students with are\n