Guidance and support for well-being for Laurea students

Studying and student life can include many challenging moments, which is why Laurea offers guidance and services to support the well-being and progress of its students. Laurea’s well-being services help our students in a multidisciplinary manner to improve their general well-being and career-related success.

At Laurea, student well-being refers to the comprehensive well-being of students and supporting them in their studies, learning, and development. The aim of the student well-being services is to give the students the support they need, as well as tools for maintaining their well-being and dealing with any factors that might interfere with it.

Laurea offers counselling psychologist, university social worker and special needs teacher services, as well as various guidance services you may need for progressing in your studies and career. Our students can also make use of the support provided by the university chaplains of the parishes in our campus municipalities. Laurea Career Services help students find a job and reflect on their careers

Below is a brief presentation of the providers of well-being services at Laurea. You can also learn more about these providers in the linked articles and by watching the videos.

Counselling psychologists help students with issues that concern them

Counselling psychologists provide students with discussion support, participate in study units that promote well-being and develop well-being support measures implemented at Laurea. Counselling psychologists plays a wide range of roles at Laurea.

– Getting in touch with us is easy. Even though our job title is Counselling Psychologist, student concerns don’t only have to do with studies, says Manne Pyykkö, one of Laurea’s counselling psychologists.

Help and methods for dealing with the concerns students have are discussed with everyone at a personal level.

– We often do everything we can to find solutions right on the first visit. However, getting answers is a longer process, and we go through the student’s story together, says counselling psychologist Taina Laine.

University social worker helps students by discussing topics that concern them

Laurea social worker Leena Kuosmanen offers discussion support for students and participates in various study units that promote well-being. You can see the social worker, for example, if you are nervous about starting your studies, need tips for time management or need help with learning difficulties.

In addition to personal counselling, Leena organises peer groups if many students contact her about similar themes.

– The peer groups can involve more relaxed discussion when students also receive help from their peers. In addition to peer support, students can find new friends in the group, says Leena.

University chaplains support students in times of crisis

University chaplains Panu Mäkelä and Hanna Vuollo are part of Laurea’s well-being team. Panu works in Espoo Parish Union. His services are available at the Leppävaara and Otaniemi campuses. Hanna works in the Vantaa parish union, her main location is the Tikkurila campus. The chaplains also visit other campuses upon request. 

Indeed, their task is to offer discussion support to Laurea’s students and personnel. Everyone is welcome to see the chaplains, regardless of their beliefs, nationality or stage of life.

In addition to supporting students through discussions, the university chaplains are involved in crisis work, including crises that apply to individuals or the school community as a whole.

– When a student contacts us, we are often dealing with profound themes. Students’ questions may concern crises in their personal lives, sense of meaning and directions of life. We stand alongside students in their everyday lives, explain Hanna and Panu.

Career Services helps students find a job and reflect on their careers

Laurea Career Services helps students with job searches and career-related reflections. The topics addressed during individual meetings and workshops held by Career Services include drafting a CV, making career plans, personal branding for jobseekers and preparing for job interviews.

– Students often come to me when reflecting on what to do when they grow up. This is not an age-dependent issue, but something that older students are also thinking about, says career guidance specialist Esa Hukkanen.

The question is always approached individually with the students. Some students’ job search is guided by their current skills and previous experience. Others are strongly motivated by finding employment in a specific industry.