DSW Workshop on “Let’s Appreciate Ourselves”

Appreciation can be referred to as an emotion or as a disposition. At a very particular moment, it might be one’s emotional feeling that s/he may feel appreciated or may feel joyous. Specifically, it can be said that emotions are our brief feelings at a certain moment or time. But over the process of practice, a person can develop a trend of feeling appreciated. Then it becomes his/her disposition.

Appreciation generally occurs from gratitude. It also strengthens and maintains our social bonding. Employees, especially who work in high-stress environments like universities, frequently state that they are having issues related to low self-esteem, depression, lack of motivation etc to perform at their best, which can take a toll on their mental health. Enriching the knowledge of appreciation for self and others can be helpful for them to deal with such issues.

With the objective of raising awareness about mental health and how to take care of one’s own mental well-being, the Directorate of Students’ Welfare (DSW) of the University of Asia Pacific (UAP) organized a workshop on Self Appreciation titled, “Let's Appreciate Ourselves” for the employees of UAP on 12th June 2023, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. Mr. Takad Ahmed Chowdhury, the Director of Directorate of Students’ Welfare (DSW), inaugurated the workshop with an introductory speech thanking the administrative staff members of the university who attended the valuable workshop. The DSW Director noted that, mental health is a critical issue for everyone, and encouraged all to participate in all the activities and discussions designed by the facilitator during this workshop. He also mentioned that the more we learn about mental health, the better equipped we will be to take care of our colleagues, our family members and ourselves.

Ms. Ayesha Islam, the Socio Counselor of UAP facilitated the interactive and lively session, which started an icebreaking segment. She then briefly discussed the concept of appreciation and highlighted the necessity of practicing well-being strategies in in our daily lives. Her session also focused on the signs and symptoms of mental health problems, strategies to manage stress, different types of mental health treatment, and how to build professional and healthy relationships. She engaged the participants in different activities such as sharing their own experiences, and received feedback on their perceptions and barriers about practicing well-being strategies. She also emphasized on the importance of practicing self-appreciation and appreciation of others during the session. An exercise of appreciating self and others was practiced in the session to let them know about applying it regularly.

A total 40 participants attended the workshop and shared their positive feedback and satisfaction. They found it very impactful and at the end of the session they were appreciating each other and as well as the facilitators. They also expressed their interest to attend more such workshops in future. UAP DSW and Social Counseling Unit are immensely thankful to the authority of the UAP for providing with all necessary support to make it a success.