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Health and wellbeing
Your safety and wellbeing is our highest priority. We’re committed to doing all we can to make sure you have the support you need while at uni.
- Wellbeing support
- University Health Service
- Counselling
- Inclusion and disability
- Safer communities
Wellbeing support
When we are mentally and physically healthy we can fully enjoy and appreciate our day-to-day life, environment and relationships, as well as deal with life’s challenges.
Here you can find a range of information and resources to help you keep yourself healthy while at university. From common mental health issues and support contacts, to mindfulness and general health tips, these pages are designed to help you support yourself and others.
Student wellbeing
Student wellbeing offers a range of confidential and free health, wellbeing, and personal supports.
If you are experiencing wellbeing concerns and would like to connect with somebody, the first step is to complete our registration form. Once your form is received, a clinician from Student wellbeing will call you to discuss your support needs. We will respond to you within 24-48 business hours of your enquiry.
- While our registration form is the quickest way to connect with a team member, if you need to speak with somebody, you can also call us on +61 2 8627 8433.
- We offer group programs and workshops if you would like to connect alongside your fellow students.
After hours mental wellbeing support line
If you’re in Australia, you can contact the support line by calling 1300 474 065 or by texting 0488 884 429 outside of office hours (5 pm to 9 am weekdays, 24/7 weekends and public holidays).
The service provides free and confidential access to wellbeing support and advice to help you find relief from current emotional distress, explore coping strategies, and advice pathways for longer term solutions.
Community resources
24-hour support is also available from the following community resources:
- Lifeline via text, online chat, or by calling 13 11 14
- 13YARN by calling 13 92 76
- QLife via online chat or by calling 1800 184 527
- Mental Health Line (NSW) by calling 1800 011 511
- Suicide callback service via online chat, video or by calling 1300 659 467
- Full Stop Australia by calling 1800 385 578
Sonder offers:
- multilingual support, available 24/7 via Sonder’s in-app chat or by phone when you need someone to talk to
- specialised and practical COVID-19 support if you are quarantined or self-isolating, including delivery of essential supplies and daily welfare checks
- reliable, accurate information and up-to-date safety tips.
To activate, download the app and create a new account using your University of Sydney email address from your OSHC policy.
Access free and instant support for your wellbeing. You can access the Clinical Helpline, 24/7. In multiple languages and from anywhere in the world.
Head Set by the Student Counselling Service is an online resource that offers a variety of evidence-based information and practices. These are aimed at helping you manage psychological wellbeing to achieve your individual goals at university. Access the Head Set site in Canvas.
Mindfulness and relaxation don’t come naturally to most of us, but can be achieved over time with patience and practice.
Spend as little as 10 minutes a day with our guided breathing and muscle relaxation exercises to help yourself get grounded and reduce feelings of anxiety or stress, or download the smiling mind app and practice daily meditation and mindfulness on any device.
Mindfulness exercises
- 10 minute mindfulness meditation guided practice (mp3, 9.3MB)
- 20 minute body scan guided practice (mp3, 30MB)
- 30 minute mindfulness meditation guided practice (mp3, 37.5MB)
Relaxation exercises
Breathing exercises
How we breathe can have a direct effect on our stress or anxiety levels.
Our bodies naturally maintain a balance between carbon dioxide and oxygen but when we are stressed we often begin to breathe very quickly (hyperventilate) and take in more oxygen than we need. This triggers chemical changes that are harmless but can produce symptoms such as dizziness, light-headedness and confusion. These are then often misinterpreted as frightening or dangerous and so feed feelings of anxiety or even panic.
You can practise breathing exercises (mp3, 5.9MB) to help you slow down your breathing and so reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
Progressive muscle relaxation
Stress can often lead to muscle tension. Progressive muscle relaxation teaches you how to recognise the difference between tension and relaxation in the body, helping you reduce the tension from your muscles. The general method is to tense and then relax all of the main muscle groups in your body.
The Centre for Clinical Interventions has a useful information sheet on progressive muscle relaxation (pdf, 68KB) which outlines the procedure for practising this exercise. A guided progressive muscle relaxation exercise (mp3, 17.4MB) is also available in MP3 format.
Other relaxation exercises available:
Maintaining our general health and wellbeing is important. Being healthy and keeping well is about making sure we eat well, move more, sleep better and be aware of our limits when it comes to alcohol.
Being healthy and keeping well is about making sure we eat well, move more, sleep better and be aware of our limits when it comes to alcohol.
Eat well
A healthy diet is essential if you want to feel good and stay well. Eating well can have positive benefits on your energy levels, concentration, memory and mood.
Tips for eating well:
- Check out the Australian guide to healthy eating – a visual food selection guide representing the five recommended food groups.
- Better Health – information on healthy eating, recipe ideas and lunchbox tips
- Download an evidence-based app to help you be informed about the food choices you’re making:
- the FoodSwitch app can help you when buying products in the supermarket.
Move more
Regular activity and exercise are essential for good health. Anything counts as exercise – as long as it gets you moving and your heart racing!
One of the easiest ways to move more is by cycling or walking to campus – it’s good for your wallet and for the health of the planet.
You can also explore the sport and fitness facilities available on campus. Joining a University club or society can also be a great way to exercise your brain and body, learn new things, practise your leadership skills and make friends who share your interests.
Sleep better
Sleep can play an important role in our daily functioning and physical and mental health. Good sleep can improve mental performance, lead to less anxiety and improved mood and energy levels.
Read our sleep tips (pdf, 72KB) for strategies to help improve your sleep.
Alcohol and drugs
If you are feeling that your drinking or drug use is starting to affect your health, study, or relationships, or that you increasingly need a substance in order to function, cope, or have a good time, it might be time to act.
Tips
- Think about the things that are important to you, such as your family, partner, studies, or health. How does your use affect those things?
- Talk it over with someone you trust. Ask the person how he or she feels about your alcohol or drug use.
- Ask yourself if there’s anything preventing you from changing. What are some things that could help you make the change?
- Think about your past attempts at change, if any. What worked? What didn’t?
Get help
Alcohol Drug Information Service (ADIS) NSW: 02 9361 8000 – 24-hour referrals and counselling.
Family Drug Support (FDS): 1300 368 186 – 24-hour support to families in crisis due to drug and alcohol issues.
Relationships
As humans we use our relationships with other people to create a life that is rich, meaningful and rewarding.
There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. We do much better when we can accept that there will be challenges in our relationships, handle the stress of these the best we can and take action to make our relationships healthier.
You can find out more about healthy relationships (pdf, 214KB) or how to deal with arguments and conflict in your relationships (pdf, 89KB);
Effective communication (pdf, 126KB) can also help us build positive relationships.
It is also important to understand consent, and how to be sexually healthy and safe in your relationships. Find out more about sexual health and consent.
Additional resources:
- Relationships Australia – a community-based, not-for-profit Australian organisation providing support services to support all people in Australia to achieve positive and respectful relationships.
LGBTQIA+
For many people, at some point in their lives, there will be times when they question their sexual orientation.
See the Pride Network page for support and resources available on campus as well as externally.
Listed below are a number of self-help resources you can access if you or someone you may know is currently experiencing difficulties.
- Time management self-help resource (PDF, 220.5 KB)
- Healthy relationships self-help resource (PDF, 543.3 KB)
- Grounding techniques self-help resource (PDF, 348.3 KB)
- Exam preparation self-help resource (PDF, 254.2 KB)
- Thoughts and their impacts self-help resource (PDF, 261.3 KB)
- Suicidal thoughts self-help resource (PDF, 222.2 KB)
- Sleep tips self-help resource (PDF, 198 KB)
- Semester planner self-help resource (PDF, 197.6 KB)
- What is self-harm self-help resource (PDF, 265.8 KB)
- The importance of self-care self-help resource (PDF, 377.4 KB)
- Self compassion self-help resource (PDF, 292.3 KB)
- Relationship difficulties self-help resource (PDF, 272.7 KB)
- Problem solving self-help resource (PDF, 263.8 KB)
- Perfectionism self-help resource (PDF, 288.2 KB)
- Mindfulness practice self-help resource (PDF, 995.1 KB)
- Managing stress self-help resource (PDF, 229.4 KB)
- Managing emotions self-help resource (PDF, 269.8 KB)
- Managing distress self-help resource (PDF, 286.9 KB)
- Managing anger self-help resource (PDF, 290.4 KB)
- Effective communication self-help resource (PDF, 354.5 KB)
- Understanding depression self-help resource (PDF, 325.5 KB)
- Dealing with grief self-help resource (PDF, 256 KB)
- Cognitive defusion self-help resource (PDF, 243.1 KB)
- Beating procrastination self-help resource (PDF, 234.9 KB)
Contacts in China
With the assistance of Lifeline colleagues in Shanghai, China, we have verified the following services in-country:
Guangzhou Crisis Research and Intervention Center
Mandarin and Cantonese speaking
24 hour service
(020) 8189 9120, please add +86 if calling from outside China
Chinese Mental Health Line in Shanghai only
Mandarin speaking
24 hour service
(021) 6303 6588, please add +86 if calling from outside China
HopeLine
Mandarin speaking
24 hour service
400 161 9995
Chinese Crisis Line, Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center
Mandarin speaking
24 hour service
(010) 8295 1332 if calling from a mobile or 800 810 1117 if calling from a landline
Lifeline Shanghai
English speaking only
24 hour service
(021) 6279 8990, please add +86 if calling from outside China
Last updated: 29 May 2025
