Mental health

Mental health is about taking care of your mental well-being. People who feel mentally healthy are able to take an active part in life and manage stressful situations. TU Dresden offers a wide range of services to promote and maintain the mental health of its employees. For example, stress management training can help people cope better with stress, achieve more balance in their daily lives and prevent psychological complaints. Additional support is available to help identify and treat mental health problems at an early stage, which is an essential means of preventing the development of serious symptoms.

Advising and prevention

Psychological Counseling

High demands in work and private life often lead to stresses that people feel unable to cope with on their own. We counsel employees on issues such as inability to cope with stress and recovery, symptoms of exhaustion and depression, overwork and mental underload, self-doubt, anxiety, and other professional and personal issues that can lead to stress. Are you looking for support right now? To better identify and understand your problem, psychological counseling may be helpful.
Are you part of the Faculty of Medicine? Then you can contact University Hospital Dresden’s Occupational Health Services.

How to support mentally stressed or ill colleagues

Managers have a particular duty of care when it comes to employees with mental health problems or illnesses. Feeling insecure about how to treat affected employees is natural. If a manager is concerned that an employee may be suffering from mental stress or illness, they should not look the other way. Occupational Health Services provide a TU Dresden-specific guideline on how to act in these cases, which is based on the H-I-L-F-E concept developed jointly by the BKK Dachverband and the Familien-Selbsthilfe Psychiatrie. You can download a presentation on this here (log-in needed). An English version is also available. In addition, there is the continuing education course “Recognizing and handling psychological stress among employees,” which you can register for through the Center for Continuing Education.

You can find additional prevention and counseling services for mental health problems on the “Mental health” page under “Life & health.”

Mindfulness and stress reduction

We need a lot of energy and mental strength to overcome everyday challenges at work and in our private lives and stay healthy. So that we don't become overwhelmed by these challenges, it is important to consciously take breaks and look after ourselves. That's why we also offer many mindfulness programs to help you cope with and reduce stress and strengthen your own resilience.

Finding a psychotherapist

If you find yourself in a difficult psychological situation that you are suffering from, cannot cope with on your own, or has been going on for a long time, it is worth seeking psychotherapeutic help. For information on where you can find help and how to access it, please visit the “Mental health” page under “Life & health.”

Addiction

Addiction is a serious illness which, if left untreated, can have far-reaching consequences for the affected person, both in their private and professional lives.

Maybe you are confronted with one of the following questions:

• I'm worried that my colleague is sliding into addiction. What can I do?
• As a manager, I see some potential signs of addiction in my team. What can I do?
• I am concerned about my own substance abuse or my potentially addictive behavior. What can I do?

The counselor for matters of addiction at TU Dresden can advise you on all these points.

Smoking Cessation Center

If you want to stop smoking, the Rauchfreizentrum (Smoking Cessation Center) at Dresden University Hospital offers group programs to help you quit. These are based on the Smoke-Free Program, a smoking cessation approach based on scientific findings in addiction medicine. For exact dates of the monthly courses, which consist of 7 sessions, as well as the registration form, please visit the Rauchfreizentrum website.

Continuing education opportunities

You can find more programs for promoting mental health in the “Health and balance” section of the personnel development and training pages.

Occupational Integration Management

People with mental health conditions or chronic mental illness often face unique challenges in the workplace. The Integration Team offers support and can answer questions about returning to work after a prolonged period of illness and optimizing your workplace. For more information, please visit the Occupational Integration Management websites.