{"id":553,"date":"2025-11-08T20:18:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T19:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/?p=553"},"modified":"2025-11-08T20:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T19:18:14","slug":"first-session-of-the-peer-led-mental-well-being-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/en\/2025\/11\/08\/first-session-of-the-peer-led-mental-well-being-group\/","title":{"rendered":"First session of the Peer-Led Mental Well-Being Group"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Peer-Led Mental Well-Being Group officially marked its beginning with its first session in October, held under the guidance of group leader Everett Mintsoulis and psychologist Gabriella Pinter. Covering topics such as work-life balance and stress management, students shared their experiences and reflected on the importance of finding ways to decompress after a long day of classes.<\/div>\n

\nTime seemed to fly by as participants shared their favorite hobbies for destressing and their little ways of unwinding. Smiles and looks of surprise followed as everyone discovered each other\u2019s unique interests and got to know one another. Everett fostered a welcoming, judgement-free atmosphere, allowing everyone to feel relaxed enough to open up about their challenges.
\nThe project was initiated as a collaboration between ISSA and IMP. Anushka Rawa<\/strong>t, President of ISSA and founder of the project, explained the motive behind it.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen I arrived in Budapest at 18, fresh out of high school, I had no guidebook on how to survive medical school. No one to tell me how to handle failure and the first semester finals hit hard. I didn\u2019t know then that failure is a normal part of being a medical student. Being away from family made it even more difficult; loneliness at that age can feel overwhelming. As I navigated those challenges, I realized how vital mental wellbeing and support are in an environment like ours. I reached out to psychologists but often felt a gap. Understandably, they couldn\u2019t fully relate to what it\u2019s like to be an international student or to grow up in an Indian household where talking about failure is still uncommon out of fear of disappointing your family.<\/em> Being a member of the International Semmelweis Student Association (ISSA), I also felt a deep responsibility to try to make a real change \u2014 to care holistically for our students\u2019 wellbeing. The essence of our organization has always been to ensure that every student under our care feels supported in every aspect, both academically and personally. That\u2019s when I realized that Semmelweis needed a safe space \u2014 a place where like-minded students with shared experiences could come together, support each other, and remind one another that they\u2019re not alone. That others have been through this too, and have come out stronger.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nKey players to the actualization of the motive, the group leaders were selected by the IMP. Already helping the university community as senior mentors, three students \u2013 Everett Mintsoulis, Adesola Esther Odunowo, <\/strong>and Sungwoon (Peter) Kim<\/strong> – volunteered to extend that support to those struggling.
\n\u201cI want to help create that sense of camaraderie, where everyone feels seen, supported, and reminded that they belong\u201d<\/em> shared one of the leaders. \u201cI\u2019ve always been passionate about mental health issues,\u201d<\/em> another adds. \u201cI\u2019ve had my own challenges too, but I\u2019m deeply grateful to have overcome them with the support of others\u201d<\/em>. \u201cI truly believe that shared experiences and mutual support can transform how we learn, cope, and eventually how we succeed.\u201d<\/em>
\nRegarding their goal with the peer-led counselling, they hope to \u201cfacilitate an exchange in a manner that is more organic and social than what might be offered in more formal settings. After all, \u2018students helping students\u2019 is a concept already deeply ingrained in this community.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Peer-Led Mental Well-Being Group<\/strong> plans to hold sessions on a weekly basis throughout the semester and exam period for students to come in and discuss their concerns whenever they need.<\/p>\n

Applications for attendees are open indefinitely and can be submitted via the following link.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Peer-Led Mental Well-Being Group officially marked its beginning with its first session in October, held under the guidance of group leader Everett Mintsoulis and psychologist Gabriella Pinter. Covering topics such as work-life balance and stress management, students shared their experiences and reflected on the importance of finding ways to decompress after a long day …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102269,"featured_media":561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/mentorprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}