“What do you need? Feel free to take a card for yourself or for a colleague.” In the hall of Atlas, I was approached by staff members who wanted to draw attention to the OpenUp platform.

It’s an online platform where TU/e staff can seek help to improve their mental health. For example, by having a conversation with a psychologist or lifestyle coach, joining mindfulness sessions, or following online modules about wellbeing.

It’s an accessible service, but to me it also feels somewhat impersonal. Many—young—people, however, prefer to “discuss” their problems with anonymous chatbots like ChatGPT. Perhaps OpenUp can be a good first step in seeking help for themselves.

I cheerfully called out to the colleague with the cards that I didn’t need anything and was about to move on. After all, I enjoy my work and I’m not feeling down or overworked. My eye fell on a card that read: “You’re allowed to pause for a moment.” There were several cards with similar messages. Apparently, TU/e staff don’t always allow themselves a moment to catch their breath.

To be honest, I don’t always give myself the time for a proper lunch break either, or to step outside for a moment when the sun is shining. And during busy periods, by the end of the day I regularly feel tension in my neck and shoulders from sitting behind a screen for so long. Meanwhile, the folder with emails that still need to be handled never seems to get any smaller.

So I ended up lingering a bit longer at the OpenUp stand after all. There were more cards that applied to me. Because when it sometimes feels like the mountain of work just keeps growing, I tend to see that mainly as a problem I need to solve myself. That’s why I now have the card “You don’t have to do everything alone” pinned to my bulletin board. That’s step one. Now I just have to dare to ask for help.

Annemarie van Malsen is a communications officer at TU/e’s Department of Industrial Design. The views expressed in this column are her own.

OpenUp can be found here.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.