Help Screens Aid Students With Back to School Stresses

TAMPA (July 15, 2005) - Back to school for students often means back to tests, homework, social anxiety, and stress. Dr. Carlos P. Zalaquett, Assistant Professor (Counselor Education Program) and Coordinator of Community/Mental Health Counseling in the College of Education at the University of South Florida, has developed online “help screens” that address such issues. The Help Screens were primarily designed for students at various levels in the middle and high school grades (help screens have also been created for college and graduate students as well as counselors). Each Help Screen, available in English and Spanish, contains skills and techniques for academic and mental improvement. “We believe these techniques are effective in helping students in their learning process,” says Zalaquett.

The Help Screens are tools that were created and reviewed by guidance and mental health counselors; they provide students with easy online access to ways of dealing with matters such as study skills, test anxiety, stress, headaches, and even tips for relaxation and breathing. The Help Screens are meant to aid and enhance the academic process for students. Many of the techniques are truly innovative and were designed by the Help Screen team. Several of the methods are older, more familiar techniques that have been redesigned and adapted for use in these screens. These older methods are still viable in today’s learning environment and their adaptation was critical because of their longstanding record of being successful.

Since the inception of the Help Screens, countless people from around the world have visited the website and gained knowledge. The Screens were originally developed and housed at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX before Zalaquett and his career moved to USF and brought them here. While housed at SHSU, the Help Screens were among the most visited web pages at the university, reaching 100,000 hits in the year 2000. The Help Screens for College Students, based on USF-Lakeland campus, receive an average of 500 visitors per month. Please visit our Help Screen website at:

http://www.coedu.usf.edu/zalaquett/Help_Screens/HelpScreens.htm

For more information contact the College of Education's Communications Director.