Changes Here4U Wellbeing Group
Finally after organising for nearly 4 months the Changes Wellbeing group is up and running. This is a support group ran by the local charity Changes here4U which uses a 12-step programme in order to try and help its attendees identify and improve upon any mental health issues they have. Its currently being held on zoom Fridays at 1PM. We also have students undertaking a training course to learn to become a group facilitator so Keele Students can lead Keele Students and we can gain more control over when and where we do the sessions, plus students understand student issues better than an external supervisor could.
Yoga
The weekly yoga is still up and running every Thursday at 5PM on the Student Life Page and now Instagram as well. While not many students show up to the live viewing many choose to re-watch it at a later date on the student life page.
B.A.M.E. Role model system
I’ve finally received word back from the B.A.M.E. staff network that they are happy for the role model system to go ahead and all we need now are staff willing to put themselves forward. This system will try to highlight B.A.M.E. members of staff exploring their achievements and the difficulties they may have faced to get to that position. I will be discussing the logistics further with the university and this should be something we can see implemented just after easter hopefully continuing for years to come.
Get Keele Talking
You may have seen over the last week the GetKeeleTalking campaign has launched with the aim to get Keele students talking to each other about mental health and checking up on friends. Over the week there was a bunch of online activities and promotional materials that were released. I personally held an interview with student services and got a speaker from Mind to agree to an upcoming interview. Unfortunately, half way through the week my stomach decided it no longer wished to contain food and I was ill from Wednesday onwards meaning I had to postpone a interview with ASK, various social media posts and a video talking about the differences in BAME and LGBT+ mental health. These are still in the works and should be released within the next couple of weeks.
Student Minds
I have had meetings with Student Minds which gave various ideas for mental health activities. Not to mention a wider industry wide perspective on the current situation (I’m glad its not only Keele which is lacking engagement at the moment) I have also been taking a deeper dive into the mentally healthy framework which they have created and hope to be implementing some deeper internal changes within the SU to foster better mental health for its members
Counsel Culture
This is a campaign that I have wished to run since before I ran for this position. The campaign newly titled “Counsel Culture” (thank you Leroy) will focus on the nitty gritty of counselling that is often unknown to those who consider going. In particular:
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How to get the most out of counselling
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What are the different types of counselling and how do they work?
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What types of counselling is available at Keele or nearby?
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Reinforcing that no two counsellors are the same and its ok to say that you don’t get along with one
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Setting expectations (You’re not going to feel better immediately)
It's clear from conversations I have had in the past that this kind of knowledge is not widely available and going in blind to counselling can be an incredibly anxious experience. My hope with this campaign is that more students feel comfortable to try (or perhaps re-try) counselling and that students know how to get the best out of their time with a counsellor.
Be Better Do Better
The Be Better Do Better campaign has been maintained throughout this time with fortnightly MythBusters and our latest monthly update which addressed the criticism and comments that you left in our initial opening form. You can read about this here
Meeting with DDS
As per the previous UGM I have been meeting with Christine Carter (Our disabled students' officer) and Michelle James (Head of DDS) to try and improve the provisions for disabled students. Unfortunately, a lot of the problems that were initially addressed are now restricted due to Covid Lockdowns however we have resources available for when campus opens back up.
Mindful Healthcare Posts
As a side note the monthly Mindful Healthcare posts have still being going ahead advertising various talks to do with mental health.