Delivered as part of the induction programme for 1st year Dental and Dental Hygiene Therapy students at the University of Plymouth Peninsula Dental School.

Inner strength and resilience is all about developing attitudes and strategies which support personal and professional growth. To help illustrate this point we gave each student a Well Connected stress ball to remind them about the importance of bouncing back!

We have developed the Inner Strength workshop as an opportunity for students to explore and discuss approaches which help them to consider their inner strength and the different ways they can further develop and improve this key skill and attribute.

This is the third year that the workshop has been delivered and we are proud that the session has been continually developed and improved. Working closely with the Programme Lead, we ensure that the content and materials reflect the needs of students as they begin their journey to become dental care professionals.  

We used a roundtable discussion approach which saw the students working together in small groups, completing tasks and activities which they presented back to each other.

Students also benefited from the inclusion of a guest speaker. We invited Doaa Shayea, a competitor at the European and World Para Powerlifting Championships to talk to them about her experiences and her journey to represent Great Britian. This was a unique opportunity for students to hear directly about the benefit of a positive attitude, the desire to succeed and how to overcome adversity to achieve success.

To provide additional support for students, we also created a recipe book which helps students to eat well and study well; containing easy, affordable and nutritious recipe ideas alongside advice about the basics of cooking and shopping on a budget the recipe book provides lots of hints and tips to help students as they move away from home and live independently.

We also designed an Inner Strength Toolkit containing resilience themed information sheets, guidance relating to eating and sleeping well as well as advice relating to emotional health and wellbeing.

The Recipe Book and Toolkit is available for students via the Digital Learning Environment.

As always we appreciate and value the support from our colleagues and partners: we would like to thank Dr Salih for his kind help and support throughout the year and to Doaa Shayea who continues to inspire us.