UWG Offers Mental Health Support And Academic Services To Maintain Student Success During Finals Week

The week of final exams is the most crucial and stressful week for all college students. Many students feel heightened levels of anxiety, depression and isolation during this time. UWG offers several services to students to help prepare for finals week, including tutoring and academic coaching. UWG also offers free counseling services to all students to help ensure a healthy mental state around finals week.  

“We provide services in person five days a week,” said Jamie Brown, Assistant Director of UWG Counseling LPC, CPCS. “It’s a walk in process. You can walk in anytime from 8 to 11… or between 1 and 4:30. [Students] get same day service, so they see a counselor that day.”

While UWG counseling has limited hours that may not work for everyone’s schedule, there are alternate services available for students who need emergency help.

“We also have something called Uwill, and that’s a service that’s available 24/7, seven days a week,” said Brown. “Let’s just say you’re cramming for a test…and suddenly you’re like ‘I can’t take this anymore. I just feel overwhelmed, I just don’t want to be here. I need somebody to talk to.’ You can use Uwill and that counseling service is something that there’s a counselor, I can’t tell you exactly what state or where they’re gonna be, but once you call them they will connect you with a counselor.”  

Uwill is a free teletherapy hotline. They offer immediate service to students in crisis at all times of the day. Information on how to contact them is available on UWG’s counseling website along with other mental health resources. 

While exam week seems like it is inevitably stressful, UWG counselors are there to help students feel prepared and ready for exams while also maintaining personal health. 

“The best advice I can give is to have a plan.” said Brown. “How that plan looks is to be organized. For example, know the dates of when you have something due, know the dates of when the test is. Prioritize, so think about if you organize, you prioritize.” 

Brown emphasizes creating an organized schedule that not only prioritizes academic success but also mental success.  

“I hear a lot of students who come in and say ‘I’ve got both of these assignments on the same day’ or ‘I’ve got both of these tests on the same day’ and they’re very overwhelmed because they’ve waited till the night before,” said Brown. “There needs to be some type of planning going into exam week, it shouldn’t be a time that you treat like any other week of school. It’s a specific week for a specific purpose.”

Contrary to most beliefs, students who get enough sleep and eat a proper diet are more likely to do better on exams. Having sufficient energy to make it through exams and think questions through is dependent on how well personal health is supported.

“Practice self care… make sure during exam week you are taking time to stay in some kind of routine of eating and sleeping and not… staying up so late that the next day you’re not really productive enough to do something else,” said Brown. “Lots of times during that week people get hyped up on caffeine and snacks and then they wonder why they crash and they can’t follow through the whole week. You’ve got to be mindful of what you’re putting into your body. Your body is already going to be under a certain level of stress by virtue of exam week… so that’s why having a plan is so critical.” 

UWG is offering students an opportunity to de-stress and take a break from studying to focus on themselves at the start of finals week. On May 6, UWG is hosting “Time to Ungrind” in the TLC from 3:00 to 4:00. “Time to Ungrind” is a campus wide campaign to promote healthy coping mechanisms and study breaks to students.  

To learn more about UWG counseling services and other academic support offered to students visit https://www.westga.edu/student-services/index.php.