Psychological support and counselling

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Are you struggling, need someone to talk to? Come along – together, we can navigate through challenges and find a solution more easily!  We offer individual psychological counselling to the LSMU community (students, teachers, and other staff members).

Both remote and face-to-face psychological counselling are provided by:

To avoid any conflicts of interest, students are recommended to register with psychologists who are not involved in their teaching or evaluation process. Please refer to the following information to learn more about our psychologists’ contact with the students and involvement in the student assessments during the following courses: Dr. Roza Joffė-Luinienė – undergraduate studies in Health Psychology, year 4 (Spring semester); undergraduate studies in Public Health, year 2 (Spring semester), undergraduate studies in Oral Hygiene, year 2 (Spring semester), graduate studies in Animal-Human Interaction, year 2 (Autumn semester); undergraduate studies in Food Science, year 1 (Autumn semester), and year 2 (integrated studies, Autumn semester); Vaida Šūmakarienė – undergraduate studies in Midwifery, year 3 (Spring semester), undergraduate studies in Nursing, year 3 (Spring semester), integrated studies in Medicine, year 4 (Spring semester), graduate studies in Lifestyle Medicine, year 1 (Spring semester), undergraduate studies in Animal-Human Interaction, year 3 (Spring semester), part-time undergraduate studies in Human-Animal Interaction, year 4 (Spring semester), elective course “Psychology of Communication” under the study programme Veterinary Medicine (Spring semester).

  • Each individual is allocated up to six consultations per calendar year, with opportunity to have more in certain circumstances.
  • Each consultation lasts 45 minutes.
  • Registration for consultations is available using our virtual registration form, where you can also select a suitable time slot.
  • During the initial counselling session, we’ll discuss expectations, counselling goals, and conditions.
  • At the end of the first counselling session, an Informed Consent Form outlining the counselling conditions will be signed.
  • If you have registered for counselling, you are obligated to notify any late arrival or inability to attend via email to the respective psychologist: ruta.lingyte@lsmuni.lt; roza.joffe@lsmuni.lt; jelena.lukoseviciene@lsmu.lt, vaida.sumakariene@lsmu.lt.
  • Please bear in mind, delays result in lost time which cannot be retrieved.
  • If you’re unable to attend, you can register for another session.
  • Should the need arise, you are permitted to select another psychologist.
  • Counselling sessions are not provided to individuals currently affected by psychoactive substances.
  • Please be assured of the confidentiality in all psychologist consultations.
  • For the report on the provision of psychological services, we only collect general statistical information about the number of people consulted and the number of consultations they have had.
Remote counselling (using MS Teams for audio and video support)
Face-to-face counselling

PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE GROUPS

LSMU students and staff are welcome to register and participate in the Psychological Resilience Group (PRG). The aim of the PRG is to provide underlying knowledge and practical skills on how to help oneself to improve own mental health. It offers an opportunity to gain new insights and personal experience. The sessions will include theory and practical exercises that can be tested between the sessions. The work groups will take place remotely via the Microsoft Teams platform. Topics (1.5-2 hours):

  • Recognition of emotions;
  • Stress;
  • Stress management and relaxation techniques;
  • A plan to improve own mental health;
  • Self-esteem building and personal growth.

Members of the LSMU community (students and staff) are welcome to participate in the “Building Psychological Resilience” group (in Lithuanian). The group will take place from 28 February 2023. The group will meet on Tuesdays (5 consecutive Tuesdays), remotely via MS Teams, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.

For more information, please register. We recommend that you participate in the full series of sessions to get the most out of the group.

MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY SKILLS GROUP

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a research-based mindfulness and cognitive psychotherapy programme, based on modern psychological research. It is popular around the world and has proven to be effective for people with anxiety, depression and other mental disorders.

This programme is an integration of two key training programmes. One of the programmes is the stress management programme proposed by the American Professor of Medicine Jon Kabat-Kabat-Zinn. Professors Z.Segal, M.Williams and J.Teasdale have introduced the essential elements of cognitive psychotherapy into the programme, thus developing a more profiled programme for the treatment and prevention of psychological and psychiatric disorders (in particular, depression).

This series of practical and experiential training sessions is designed for those who want to discover new ways of living with stress, pain, and unpleasant sensations, and to learn new patterns of thinking and behaviour that will help them to get well and prevent future recurrences (prevention). The skills learnt in this programme can help you to calm down, regain inner peace, become more reflective, and gain psychological flexibility and resilience.

We welcome the LSMU students to participate in the group “Mindfulness-based stress management” (in Lithuanian). The group will take place from 22 February 2023. The group will meet on Wednesdays (8 consecutive Wednesdays), remotely, via MS Teams, from noon to 01:30 p.m.

For more information, please register. We recommend that you participate in the full series of sessions to get the most out of the group.

Week 1 – Self-awareness and autopilot

Week 2 – Dealing with disturbances and barriers

Week 3 – Body/movement and breath awareness

Week 4 – Staying in the present, recognising denial

Week 5 – Acceptance or permission to be

Week 6 – Thoughts are not facts (early signs of depression and anxiety)

Week 7 – Best self-care principles

Week 8 – Applying the knowledge and skills acquired to future challenges and problems

Classes are organised in small closed groups of up to 20 participants. The programme consists of 8 weekly meetings of 1.5 hours each via a remote meeting platform. Homework is an equally important part of the programme, as participants receive not only concentrated theory during the weekly meetings, but also clear, structured homework that helps them to understand the benefits of the practices and to find answers to the questions that matter to them personally.

The programme is led by Jelena, a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and soon-to-be certified mindfulness teacher.

Do you have any questions? Please contact psichologine.pagalba@lsmu.lt if you have any questions about psychological support at the University.

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Is your loved one or yourself in a crisis and thinking about harming oneself or attempting suicide? Help is available throughout Lithuania! To learn more, please visit tuesi.lt/en