FAQ

An acute crisis is a stressful situation that is so severe and extraordinary that it is not possible to cope with it without help. It can be a strong reaction to internal or external conditions of the person in question. The person may experience loss, mental or physical problems, distressing social economic circumstances, difficult period of time or responds to a certain current social situation. 

The direct crisis intervention is not available at the UHK nonstop.  

It is a specialized psychosocial help for people in crisis. The service must have some boundaries though and it is provided by the crisis intervention specialist who had been trained in complex crisis intervention. That is why it is appropriate to be equipped with other crisis contacts that you can forward afterwards. However, two of our therapists and crisis intervention specialists provide emergency hours at the UHK every week. Nevertheless, the UHK does not guarantee nonstop services of crisis intervention 24/7. The UHK therapist Adam Lebeda has undergone a complex training in crisis intervention and SUR – a complex training in psychotherapy. He offers psychological counselling within family and partner relationships, problems with addictive behaviour, in emergency situations, coping with aggression, motivation problems, sense of life, self-esteem. The psychologist Damián Kastner has undergone a complex training in crisis intervention, and he is ready to help in crisis and extraordinary situations. He offers psychological counselling, support, and crisis intervention, for example with topics like stress, fear and anxiety, problems in partner and family relationships, demanding life situations, study problems etc. To get more information, click on the link of the reservation system and the chosen worker.  

Everybody reacts in a different way when in crisis. Somebody may cry or feel regret or anger, rage, frustration. Somebody may think about ending their life, another person may not be able to think at all. An acute crisis may be accompanied by shock and denial. You may stop feeling yourself and fully experience the world around you. You may perceive as if you were behind the glass and feel that things outside are happening without you or beyond you.  

In our first encounter with the crisis in the area of mental health, we can use procedures that proved as useful in the past or acquire new ones. Helping oneself is an important part of coping with an emergency because it is based on personal experience and thus is tailor made for us. What can be a good coping strategy for one person, may not work for another person and vice versa. (Opatruj-se, 2023) However, every person can experience this acute condition differently. Somebody avoids contact with other people, feels ashamed because of their condition and struggles with extreme feelings and insufficient ability to participate in everyday activities same as in the past. The differences of such acute states have different reasons not only individually but also across age categories.

Notice the frequency of the following symptoms in the usual daily routine. Among the basic symptoms (signs) of anxiety are: headache, muscular tension, sweating, unrest, discomfort, tremor, dyspnoea or excessive and accelerated breathing, heart beating and accelerated pulse, irritability, anger, necessity of going to the toilet more often, sickness, dizziness, confusion and feeling depersonalization of oneself or the world, feeling as if I was unreal "in a movie", avoidance behaviour, desire of escape from situations, excessive thinking about situations that have occurred or will occur. 

f you are a witness of an emergency, extraordinary situation, or risky behaviour, when the person´s life is endangered or the person endangers other people, always call for help through emergency services.  

It may be very difficult to respond, and every person may feel a different level of stress in such a situation. However, if you are aware that the behaviour you noticed was not alright and you want to help to prevent it in the future, you can choose one of the following possibilities: Direct confrontation - its objective is to end the situation, it is good to object assertively to the unpleasant behaviour by the originator. If it is a more severe situation, we can involve more people (for example people who are around, the receptionist, lecturer…). The best thing to do in the direct confrontation is to object as the first person and say that you do not like such behaviour. Indirect confrontation – within indirect confrontation we can take the victim out of the unpleasant situation (e.g., to make up that you need their help immediately). An effective way may also open conversation with the person who is being harassed and ignoring the person who is behaving inappropriately (e.g., a question about time, asking to pass something). Postponed intervention - we can show our support to the victim retroactively, say that we are sorry that we were not able to respond to the situation at that moment and offer support if the victim wanted to solve the situation. Similarly, it is possible to confront the originator retroactively and say that such behaviour was not appropriate.  

You may cry or feel regret or anger, rage, frustration. You may think about ending your life. You may not be able to think rationally. You have experienced something so extraordinarily negative that you can experience shock and denial. You may stop feeling yourself and fully experience the world around you. You may perceive as if you were behind the glass and feel that things outside are happening without you or beyond you. You may not know and not be able to describe how you are feeling, because you do not feel anything at all.

Helping oneself is an important part of coping with an emergency situation, because it is based on personal experience and thus is tailor made for us. What can be a good coping strategy for one person, may not work for another person and vice versa. (Patraj-se, 2023) However, every person can experience this acute condition differently. Somebody avoids contact with other people, feels ashamed because of their condition and struggles with extreme feelings and insufficient ability to participate in everyday activities same as in the past. The differences of such acute states have different reasons not only individually but also across age categories. Self-harm and suicide rates are extreme examples of such a crisis. We all can learn to recognize the signs of worsening mental health and basic gestures, that can help ourselves, our family, or friends, to better cope with the situation, if necessary. (Opatruj-se, 2023) 

First, when filling in the application form for studies, it is necessary to mark the field “applicant with special needs.” After that you will be contacted by a professional worker from the Augustin centre and she will arrange a face-to-face or online meeting with you. 

Absolutely. The Augustin centre provides counselling about the appropriate selection of study programmes offered at the UHK in relation to the special needs of the applicant. The sooner you contact the Augustin centre the better. Of course you can contact us during your studies.  

First, we will verify if you are entitled to get the required service and evaluate impacts of the functional limitation and ability related to the admission process and studies. Furthermore, we will inform you about our services and terms of service. Do not forget to take with you your ID card and an eligible document that proves your disability or other disadvantage (e.g., document about your disability or invalidity, disability card, document about a specific learning disorder based on the results of generally valid psychometric tests, and eventually a medical report. 

The direct crisis intervention is not available at the UHK nonstop.  

It is a specialized psychosocial help for people in crisis. The service must have some boundaries though and it is provided by the crisis intervention specialist who had been trained in complex crisis intervention. That is why it is appropriate to be equipped with other crisis contacts that you can forward afterwards. However, two of our therapists and crisis intervention specialists provide emergency hours at the UHK every week. Nevertheless, the UHK does not guarantee nonstop services of crisis intervention 24/7. The UHK therapist Adam Lebeda has undergone a complex training in crisis intervention and SUR – a complex training in psychotherapy. He offers psychological counselling within family and partner relationships, problems with addictive behaviour, in emergency situations, coping with aggression, motivation problems, sense of life, self-esteem. The psychologist Damián Kastner has undergone a complex training in crisis intervention, and he is ready to help in crisis and extraordinary situations. He offers psychological counselling, support, and crisis intervention, for example with topics like stress, fear and anxiety, problems in partner and family relationships, demanding life situations, study problems etc. To get more information, click on the link of the reservation system and the chosen worker.  

The first step is to know how to recognize a crisis and how to face it (opatruj.se, 2024). You may cry or feel regret or anger, rage, frustration. You may think about ending your life. You may not be able to think rationally. You have experienced something so extraordinarily negative that you can experience shock and denial. You may stop feeling yourself and fully experience the world around you. You may perceive as if you were behind the glass and feel that things outside are happening without you or beyond you. You may not know and not be able to describe how you are feeling, because you do not feel anything at all. If you feel that you cannot control the situation by yourself, it is OK to ask for help. It can be somebody who is close to you or a passer-by. You can call or write to the emergency help line.  

Focus on the following signs and their frequency in your usual daily routine.  

Among the basic symptoms (signs) of anxiety are: headache, muscular tension, sweating, unrest, discomfort, tremor, dyspnoea or excessive and accelerated breathing, heart beating and accelerated pulse, irritability, anger, necessity of going to the toilet more often, sickness, dizziness, confusion and feeling depersonalization of oneself or the world, feeling as if I was unreal "in a movie", avoidance behaviour, desire of escape from situations, excessive thinking about situations that have occurred or will occur.   

It is possible to use free consultations with the therapist within the Psychological and therapeutic support centre at the UHK.  

You will arrange a face-to-face or online meeting with a counsellor in accordance with your preference and information in the profile. If you need to get the counsellors´ response within a week, contact us please at poradna@uhk.cz. If you do not agree otherwise with the counsellor all consultations take place in the consultation room on the fourth floor of the S building – Faculty of Science.  

It is a complex therapeutic service that is free of charge for UHK students and staff. If the problems that you are facing require more time to be dealt with or stabilization, the UHK can offer you support by letting you choose a therapist on the UHK webpage who will deal with your problems and help you to move to follow-up care in case your needs exceed 8 hours of care.  

• Adaptation to university studies, 

• Excessive stage freight, anxiety, worries and other mental health challenges, 

• Repeated misunderstandings and conflicts with other people around, 

• Uncertainty related to selection of the study field and further employability,   

• Therapy as an opportunity for deeper changes, 

• Working on oneself and one´s professional and personal development, 

• Solution of life dilemmas, 

• Long term stress and excessive burden, traumatic events, and experience. 

Anybody can be in crisis. A crisis is even a natural part of our life. You are probably wondering what to do if you are experiencing an acute crisis.

Face-to-face visits and online meetings are possible only upon prior arrangement. The MS Teams application is used for online meetings. You do not have to download the MS Teams desktop application; you can also use the web application.

If you do not agree otherwise with the counsellor, all consultations will be held in the consultation room on the fourth floor of the S building – Faculty of Science. 

"We all can learn to recognize the signs of worsening mental health and basic gestures that we can use to help ourselves, our family or friends to better handle the situation if necessary. However, if you feel that you cannot help yourselves or your loved ones by yourselves, you can contact professional help." (opatruj.se, 2024)  

You can contact our UHK therapists or the Augustin centre for support directly during the studies. For help signpost go here. 

In the Augustin centre we ensure equal conditions in education for applicants and students with visual, hearing impairment or motor disability, learning disorders, autism spectrum disorder, impaired communication ability, with mental or chronic somatic disease. We provide service measures; we offer counselling for lecturers and other UHK staff. Together, we work on removing barriers that might prevent the full use of the potential. Besides that, we organize awareness-raising events and cooperate with other organizations. 

The contact does not end after the support has been set, we will keep asking you and evaluating how well you are doing in your studies. Continuous evaluation of the provided support is very important for a quality functional diagnostics and balancing of the study conditions.

The communication is done either in Czech or English. 

The first step is contact by email or phone, it is important to provide us with information about your special needs, where you study and in which year you are. After this first phase we will arrange a meeting either online (through MS Teams) or face-to-face according to your preference, where we can discuss your special needs in more detail.  

The Augustin Centre is situated on the fourth floor of building S, room number 74460. 

During the academic year, the centre is open every working day from 9am to 1pm except for Friday, which is reserved for individual meetings and other activities.  

At the meeting you will identify with a valid ID card, and you will present the necessary documents proving that you are entitled to get the support measures to balance your study conditions. It can be documents proving disability, health problems or other disadvantage (e.g., a document about disability, a certificate about specific learning disorder based on results of generally recognized psychometric tests or a medical report). If you agree, you send these documents scanned in advance by email. You can also make use of the official post services.

We provide support on the basis of the functional diagnostics results. The functional diagnostics is done during the meeting and the category based on the functional impact of your disability, invalidity or disadvantage is considered.  

Yes, it always takes place during the Open Day of the whole university. 

No, the Augustin centre provides its service free of charge.

Do not hesitate to contact us, we will gladly help you.

In the enclosed document you can find examples of inappropriate and risky behaviour that will help you with orientation. Upload the file with extended categories of inappropriate/risky behaviour or insert a link. You can also consult it with the ombudswoman.

If you cannot tell the person that they are behaving inappropriately (direct confrontation may be very difficult, so it is OK if you are looking for other solutions), you can contact the ombudswoman or make a complaint to the UHK Ethics committee (in writing or electronically). You can find the contacts for the ombudswoman here and details about the Committee activities can be found at the website of the UHK Ethics Committee . 

It may be very difficult to respond, and every person may feel a different level of stress in such a situation. However, if you are aware that the behaviour you noticed was not all right and you want to help to prevent it in the future, you can choose one of the following possibilities: 

It is such behaviour that is characterized by unequal, unfair and restrictive treatment that does not reflect mutual respect. The mentioned examples serve for orientation, and it is not an exhaustive list. Some other types of inappropriate behaviour that are contrary to the UHK Code of Ethics may occur in the university environment.