5 reasons I am Using My Voice

Rosie shares 5 reasons why she is using her voice this University Mental Health Day.

- Rosie Steele

1. To highlight what is great at my university.

My university offers great Wellbeing services from drop-in counselling to mindfulness sessions, presentation anxiety courses and the always loved therapy dogs. However, so many students are not aware of what is on offer or do not know where to look for the help they may need. My aim for this University Mental Health Day is to Use My Voice to highlight the help on offer, how it can be accessed and why it is important that as a university community we celebrate what is offered. With a third of students reporting psychological distress (Berwick, 2008) greater visibility of the services will help to cement LJMU as a university that centres wellbeing providing students with the potential to take agency over their own wellbeing whilst at the university. 

2. But also, what needs to be improved on.

Real change comes when we collectively use our voices to create change. From listening to other students in my role as a student campaigns group leader, certain things crop up time and time again including more accessible services across the whole campus and more personal contact with university staff. So, when the bad times do come they feel confident to reach out. Unfortunately, I cannot achieve this alone but through using my voice I can attend university-wide wellbeing meetings and take the student voice with me, re-telling the stories I am told at society meetings to ensure I am using my voice for good, involving the whole student community.

3. To show that I am always willing to listen.

For me, using my own voice to speak up about student mental health is only one part of a double-sided coin. This past year I have really come to learn that because I am now comfortable in talking about my mental health does not mean everybody is or that they feel they have somebody to open up to. This University Mental Health Day I want to Use My Voice to show I am always willing to listen and the importance of listening when individuals find the confidence to open up.

When I opened up to a new housemate in my third year about my mental health after a particularly bad panic attack, she made the effort to ask me how I was every single day, and we would talk in our tiny kitchen whilst we ate. I don’t think she realised how much those three little words, how are you, helped me tackle the murky waters of the third year or how her voice helped me. Due to how the voices of others have helped me, I want to make sure I am that person to other students and continue to provide a safe space for open conversation in our campaign group meetings.


4. To show other students that it is okay to need help.

Throughout my undergraduate degree I had the opinion that it was not okay to be struggling mentally, especially with the workload, or with anxiety around achieving certain grades as I did not see these problems that would be taken seriously and I had chosen to be there. The student stereotype is so focused on a particular version of student life which usually involves going out and having the best three years of your life. This is not the case for everybody, but can often look this way. When I started talking I started to hear stories similar to my own, of going home at weekends and intense loneliness when I was so certain nobody else was feeling like I was.

I will Use My Voice on the 7th of March and beyond to show that there is not one cookie cutter student, we are all different and all react differently to the pressures that come with being a student, and that is okay. No problem is too trivial and it is always okay to ask for help when it is needed, and that help should always be received.

5. To encourage others to use their voice

It can be very easy for someone like me who runs a campaigns group and both blogs and speaks about my own mental health very openly to talk about how easy it is to use your voice or even to start the conversation to ask for help at the university.

However, I understand that is not always the case, as I too was once extremely scared of the reaction I would receive and would it affect how I was treated? Asking for help at university is the hardest thing I have ever done, as I was extreme distress when I finally asked for help.

Now I will always encourage people to use their voice in small ways. To ask for help when it is needed, to have the courage to tell a lecturer you are struggling or to open up with a friend for the first time.

Through using my voice, I hope to share with my fellow students that conversations do not need to be big, or at a university-wide level, or even happening every single day but they do need to be happening, for ourselves and to inspire change. Find out how you can use your voice.

Hi, I am Rosie is a MA Mass Communications student from Liverpool John Moores and am president of LJMU Student Minds campaign group. 

We are using our voices to make student mental health less of a taboo

Aneeska shares the power of using your voice and the activities happening at University of York Student Minds.

- Aneeska Sohal 

University of York Student Minds are using our voices with the hope of making student mental health less of a taboo, and mobilising the various university forces to do so.

This term we have undertaken a variety of campaigns and events to achieve this. In January, we teamed up with the University of York Students Union (YUSU) for ‘Keep your Cool’ week. The week takes place during the exam and deadline spell, and our mission was to use our voices to help the students around us get through this stressful time. The York Student Minds committee and our volunteer group worked together and wrote out personal, positive post-it note messages. These included tips on taking a break during the busyness of working, including relaxing places on campus to go to, as well self-care advice – such as taking out time for yourself and going for a walk or catching up with friends. We then scattered these notelets around the library, and it was great to see the reaction to these! Students tagged us on social media thanking us for the notes they had received, and it was great to be able to brighten up a fellow student’s day! We were able to use our voices to relax and support the university community around us.

Due to the success of the work carried out we were approached with a podcast opportunity by a fellow student, Danny Bowman - the Head of Campaigns at the think tank Parliament Street. As the President of University of York Student Minds, I chatted to Danny about the challenges of university life, and the work we are undertaking to help students work through these difficulties. The podcast was included on the Parliament Street website, and it was great to have an opportunity to use my voice to talk about the work we are doing to a wide group of listeners. The link for the podcast can be found here.

Later in the term, the committee ran a ‘Here to Listen’ event. Students from across the university community studying different subjects came along, as well students who are involved in other mental health groups on campus, including University of York Mental Health Awareness Society. The aim of the event was to use the voices of students from different pockets of university life to gain feedback on the mental health support at the University of York. Some of the points of discussion included; the strengths and weaknesses of the support offered from different subject departments, as well as the GP services. We are now taking this feedback, and using our voices to talk to the necessary departments and support services, in the hope of making changes at a grassroots level.

Recently, the University of York Student Minds branch collaborated with the university’s Literature Society. At the event ‘The Power of Words’, we invited students to come along and use their voices to discuss works which have helped with their mental health. The committee scribed the titles of these works as we went along– which ranged from poetry anthologies, self-help books to novels – and soon we will be publishing this extensive list on our social media platforms. We hope these works will be able to help other students too!

It has been great to use our voices in various ways this term, and we look forward to continuing with this momentum in the summer term! Find out how you can campaign and use your voice today!

Hello, I am Aneeska and I am President of the University of York Student Minds. You can find out more about our work here. 

5 Reasons Why You Should Write for the Student Minds Blog

In this blog, Carys, one of our sub-editors, shares the reasons why she writes for this blog and reassures those considering blogging for us…

1. Blogging is powerful:

A lot of people who are struggling with their mental health find comfort on the internet, where they can research symptoms and read stories of personal experiences without anyone knowing. The Student Minds blog is an enormous hub of information about pretty much everything to do with student well-being (if there’s something you feel is missing… write about it for us!). We know a lot of students and recent graduates find comfort and reassurance in the work we publish, in addition to the relevant signposting to other charities or services that they might find beneficial. 

2. Blogging is rewarding:

Furthermore, blogging for us is so rewarding. By sharing your personal story and experience on the “biggest blog dedicated to student mental health and well-being”, you are certainly helping at least one other person to get the help they need or to manage challenging situations. We all know how it feels when university isn’t really the time of our lives like everyone said it would be. The Student Minds blog gives us a platform to help someone else in their recovery. It is so fulfilling. 

3. Blogging does not require you to have a diagnosed mental illness:

Mental health and mental illness are two separate things: everyone has a mental health but only some people have a mental illness. Here at Student Minds we talk about mental health as a continuum, which means we recognise our mental health as fluctuating constantly and as incredibly personal to an individual. Needing to have a mental illness to write for us is a complete myth! Student mental well-being is such a broad subject area that affects all students and we welcome posts from all perspectives. Check out the blog for ideas and examples of titles. 

4. Blogging is for everyone:

Honestly, if you’re interested in contributing to our blog, we want to hear from you! Even if you’ve never blogged before or are not sure about your topic being relevant – I bet if past-you would have found it useful, it will be for someone else too! 

In addition to our blogging guidelines which contain loads of blogging tips and rules, there is the blog editorial team. There are 9 of us in total and we are just ordinary student volunteers from across the UK - not professional writers or famous bloggers – so the pressure’s off! After you’ve sent us your draft blog via the Write for the Blog web-page, one of us will be assigned to work with you to make sure that it is trigger-free and typo-free before uploading it. We will always make sure you’re happy with the edited version before we publish. Lots of you may be worried about “writing the wrong thing” – a concern we hear a lot. The role of the editorial team is to make sure things are appropriate to publish and we are trained to spot these “wrong things” and change them. 

Finally, an average blog post is 600-800 words – not a lot at all! It’s not as time consuming or difficult as you might think. We also are not just all about blogging: this year we are wanting to expand the blog to include vlogs! If writing isn’t your thing but the camera is, why not give it a go? 

5. Blogging is awesome:

The blogging community (you guys) is really the heart of the blog. So many contributors from many different walks of life all come together to make this blog a reality – it could be you too! I personally love the mini biography and photo at the end of each post, as it really helps give some personality to the blog and show that we are all just students helping other students. In this section we are more than happy to link your personal blog or website too if you’d like! 

However, we understand writing about mental health can be a sensitive area and sometimes you’re not quite fully ready to share. Of course, you can publish your blog anonymously – we just won’t put this part at the end, nor your name in the blurb – either giving you a pseudonym of your choice or simply being called anon.

Behind this blog are 9 amazing volunteers who give up our time to make this a reality and be a huge source of information for students and recent graduates across the UK. We all really hope to see your work in our inbox and online very soon! If you have any questions you can tweet or DM us @StudentMindsOrg and we’ll get back to you! 

I'm Carys, a 4th year Modern Languages student at Durham University. As well as my passion for languages and travel, I love talking about mental health and I am one of the Student Minds editors this year. Please get in touch if you have any questions or comments about my work - I love hearing from you!

Campaign: Stop university students falling through the net when receiving care between home and university

Angela shares her experience receiving support between home and university and why she is campaigning for change.

-Angela Hulbert

Student mental health is hot in the press. In 2015, 15,000 students disclosed a mental health condition, but despite the fact that students are encouraged to talk about their mental health, accessing help whilst a student can be incredibly difficult. With waiting lists incredibly long and only living on campus for 7 months of the year, accessing help can be almost impossible.

Here is my story: 

Throughout 2018, on my year abroad, my mental health took a nose dive to the point where I was having to fly back home from Italy during my stay. The GP saw me and explained to come back to see her once I was permanently back home in order to get some help. Once I moved back to the UK I approached my GP back home asking for help. I was often suicidal, self-harming & my mental health was taking a toll on my physical health. The GP said she wanted to refer me to the mental health unit so I could see a psychiatrist & access more in depth help but due to the fact that I was registered at the university GP (100 miles from home) I couldn’t be referred. I was told I couldn’t re-register when I asked to. So at 21, still not taken seriously, my mum had to get involved which eventually resulted in me being able to re-register at my Home GP. I was referred for Therapy For You an IAPT service where I was then told I could access a text service (not what I needed when I was rapidly loosing hope), once I declined this & pushed for the fact that I wanted to see a human being I eventually got put on a waiting list. I would be seen that summer.

Except I wasn’t. September rolled around & 1 week before moving to university, I received the phone call that a spot had opened up. I explained I was going back to university & could I do fortnightly sessions so that I would be able to commute? Once again I was refused because it had to be weekly sessions, something my timetable & my bank balance couldn’t allow for. Still to this day I have not received any help, just on another waiting list, 4 months after asking initially for help.

I have fallen through the gap. Being a university student, spending 7 months at university & the rest at home but only registered to one GP makes accessing help for your mental health incredibly difficult. Had I gone to the GP that very first time with a lump in my breast that they too were worried about I would have been referred to a specialist then & there to have it checked out even though I was a guest in that practice.

When I took to social media to share my story, my inboxes flooded with stories of students who too have been refused help for both their mental and physical health, some ending tragically with a loss in life. A change needs to happen. Our generation is constantly told to be open about our mental health but when we are the support isn't always available.

Students shouldn't be falling through the net. I have decided that I want to ignite a change and I have created a government petition to allow students to register to 2 GP's. Since creating the petition I have been made aware that dual registration for students may not be the right solution for this problem. Nevertheless a solution needs to be found so that students can receive full ongoing care.

A change starts off small but could help the generations to come. I urge students, parents and everyone and anyone who wants a better system for our young people to please sign this petition as we search for the right solution to this complex problem.

I’m Angela, a French and Italian student with a huge passion for mental health which comes from my own battle with mental illness. Little by little I am hoping that the conversations I have with those around me and on my blog will make a change to someone, somewhere.

10 lessons I have learnt running a Student Minds' campaigns group

Rosie shares how the process of volunteering as a campaigner has been beneficial to her university experience.

- Rosie Steele

When I started my Student Minds group at Liverpool John Moores I had mixed emotions. I was excited about the year ahead and what I would gain out of it, and how many people I could reach with the message. I was also nervous and apprehensive as I was starting this in my third year, the year with the biggest workload and it was going to inevitably divide my attention.

Divide my attention it has but in the best possible way. Here are ten lessons I’ve learnt/ things I have gained through running my campaigns group this last year:

1.    How to put my degree into practice – Transferable skills
I study Media, Culture and Communication and throughout the three years, we have learnt a lot about social media campaigning, marketing and event planning. Running the group has given me the opportunity to put these skills into practice allowing me to solidify my knowledge and understand what truly works and what does not. It has been a real learning curve and taught me more about campaigning than a traditional sit-down lecture ever could. Even if you do not study a communications-focused course the transferable skills gained including leadership, planning and time-management will be invaluable to any CV come graduation.

2. Networking
Through the group, I have found so many people who make the university run and who help make the university experience inclusive for all, that I simply did not know existed beforehand. Although I had used the Student Advice and Wellbeing service personally in my second year, through meeting with them I learnt what they really do, and began to signpost others to their services who possibly were not aware of what they do. I also met with Student Engagement who run out of each school to help all students who may not want to trek their way across to the Student Advice building. I have also learnt about Disability Officers, the role of tutors in wellbeing and even about what student accommodation staff do. It really has made me question the “9 grand for power-points” narrative that often circulates among students.

3. How I’m not alone in the way I’m feeling
Every single person who has attended the group across the year has told me they too are feeling lonely, scared, stressed, having housemate troubles and like they do not fit in. It has helped me to normalise my own experience and realise I am not the odd one out in feeling this way. One in four adults experience mental health difficulties so you definitely are not the only one who is not having the time of their life at university. That is mainly the reason I started the group after all.

4. How to take breaks
Before this year, breaks within my studying were few and far in-between and I would often spend eight hours straight in the library and then extra when I got home. Starting the group meant that once a month, during the socials, I would have an hour where I could not focus on work, but the topic of the evening. Now I find letting myself have breaks so much easier.  If someone came to the group stressed, taking breaks, and not feeling guilty for it would always be my first piece of advice.

5. Sense of belonging
For my first two years, I always felt like I did not belong and like I did not fit in with everyone else. Through meeting people outside of my course, and other societies I felt myself merging in with the wider university community. My only regret at university is not getting involved in a society sooner as it has been such a good way to meet new people and explore my university city through making use of student offers with the group.

6. Importance of peer support
The campaign we really focused on this year has been the Look After Your Mate campaign which focuses on how we can care for our friends who may be struggling with university pressures whilst also caring for our own wellbeing. I always knew that friendship was important but being there for others and them being there for me has taught me to look out for small signs in others and how to be a good support network.

7. Confidence in my abilities
The reaction to the group from members of university staff has been so much more positive than I could have ever believed. Instead of playing down my hard work and dedication to the group I have learnt to accept the compliments and be proud of all the effort I have put in. I have always had really low self-esteem, especially academically, so for me, this has been a breakthrough.

8. Professionalism
I have learnt how to write emails in a professional way and how to hold myself in meetings. As with transferable skills, I feel like I will be able to head into job interviews with a clearer sense of how to hold myself professionally.

9. How to celebrate the tiny victories
When I first started the group, I was obsessed with the numbers. How many people came, how many people joined as members on the SU website, how many people wanted to come back. I then realised that it was about so much more than that. It was about helping people, making their university experience a little bit better, about campaigning, whether that be to one person or one hundred people. When I started looking at the small details, of how this was our first year and we were doing well did I really start enjoying running the group. I can now relate this to other areas of my life, look at the smaller details and see just how much you have achieved.

10. Friendships
I started the group alone over the summer between second and third year when I knew I needed to make a change. I then roped in two of my best friends to help me. Although I possibly would not recommend this as sometimes committee meetings and socials would veer slightly off course with personal dramas it gave us a space to nurture our friendship away from alcohol-centric environments. I feel like even though in a few weeks we will be split across the country we will remain friends for life due to how we have allowed ourselves to be vulnerable and open in front of each other in ways we may not have been if we had not started the group.

Tonight, we had our last social with our current committee. I am beyond proud what we have achieved in a single year. When I started the group I never thought we would get as far as we have. The highlight for me has to be talking on a panel at a Let’s Talk Disability and Mental Health event with Rosie the CEO of Student Minds about peer support and the role of student volunteers. As I sat on the stage I thought of my younger self who could barely manage five lessons a day, now sat in a room full of people talking about the importance of student mental health.

If your university already has a Student Minds group or similar campaigns group I would definitely recommend looking at how you can get involved. I have learnt so much but also had so much fun. It truly has been a year I will never forget, and I have got to help others along the way making it all the more valuable.

Rosie is a soon to be Media, Culture, Communication graduate from Liverpool John Moores and has run their Student Minds campaign group for the last year. 

Male Mental Health Month with Loughborough HeadsUp

Our student group Loughborough HeadsUp discuss their events for Male Mental Health Month.

-Hannah Timson

This November is National Men's Health Awareness Month and HeadsUp are focusing on communicating the importance and necessity of encouraging all men to be more open about their mental health. We want to fight the idea that men feel as though they must carry their mental health alone in silence and deconstruct the ideas of masculinity and the tough guy image of how we believe we should be acting.

Throughout the month we have been hosting a number of events and activities for everyone to come along and get involved in. These have ranged from a Meet and Greet with our committee where people were encouraged to come down to a sociable evening of pizza and games and discuss their ideas surrounding our work and future events; two Mindfulness Sessions in which an external speaker came into the Union to deliver short workshops on how to stay in control of your thoughts when stress becomes difficult to deal with, and a taster Kickboxing Session.

We also hosted a discussion panel surrounding this issue in which we put a series of hard hitting questions to a panel of strong and successful men who have themselves suffered with their mental health either in the past or the present. It was a highly interesting and informative event which incredible insightful and moving at points were shared.

Hi, my name is Hannah and I am currently in my final year studying English Literature at Loughborough University. I have suffered with panic attacks from a young age and was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression shortly after starting university. I set up my own blog as an outlet and started writing about my experiences in order to ensure that people knew that this wasn't a diagnosis to be ashamed of and to help others to come out and talk about their own struggles with someone they could trust. This year, I am working as Communications Officer for Loughborough Heads Up, the university's student led mental health awareness group who run campaigns around campus to raise awareness and work towards breaking the stigma surrounding Mental Health once and for all.

What does it mean to be a man?

Our student group Loughborough HeadsUp discuss the importance and necessity of encouraging all men to be more open about their mental health.

-Hannah Timson

"To be a man is to be honest and to be human" 

What does it mean to be a man? This is a question that I've always been puzzled by. Sweeping gendered stereotypes aside, is there really any difference between the answer to this and what it means to be a woman? Surely the real question here should be; What does it mean to be human? And the answers to that question could not possibly be condensed into this blog post. So instead I'll just give you a few:

Strength. Humility. Integrity. Love. Pain. Truth. Honesty.

Sounds fair? But the issue comes when you split these terms down into Gender. Society has conditioned both men and women to believe that they should act and behave in a certain way. This is why when the majority of men are questioned about the qualities of a man, they will reply with words associated with power, strength and action as opposed to emotion. Why is it considered "unmanly" by society to hide your true feelings behind this facade we have constructed surrounding men?

We have also be releasing material surrounding the campaign on a daily basis. This has included a leaflet about Male Mental Health which has been circulated around campus; the daily release of a photo of a famous figure who has suffered with their own mental health, a list of their successes and a famous quote, and finally a campaign video featuring some of the most reputable names at Loughborough talking about the stigma behind Male Mental Health. We have been overwhelmed by the incredible reaction we have had to the video and you can find it here to see for yourself:
https://www.facebook.com/lboroheadsup/videos/1672258392841995/

One of the men we interviewed as part of the video was Loughborough Students Union President 17/18, George Etherington. We have been speaking to George throughout our campaign as it is something he feels incredibly strong about and is very close to his heart. This is what he had to say in another interview earlier in the campaign:

"We need to teach people to redefine their definition of masculinity. We need young boys to grow up knowing that it is ok to be exactly how they are and to feel how they feel, not needing to "man up"and not needing to "be a man about it" ... To me, putting on a brave front isn't bravery. To me, bravery is being open and honest. Be vulnerable, let people see your emotions. I can't think of anything braver than allowing someone to see you for you."

Mental Health affects everyone, regardless of race, religion, nationality, colour or gender. So why do men feel so ashamed, why have they developed this unconscious belief that it is manly to hide what is hurting you?

Suicide is now reported as being the biggest cause of death for men under 35, with 1 in 8 men in the UK are experiencing a common mental health disorder, yet it is a significantly lower number whom actually declare this to anyone.

We have been raised surrounded by this masculinised social construct that men should not cry; that they not meant to feel insecure or vulnerable; that emotion and worry are wrong and that the strong minded and unempathetic archetype of men portrayed in films and the media will lead to success. That it makes them weak. They are not ashamed or affected because of it because the majority sought the help that they needed.

You are not going to make it through life untouched by moments of misery or sadness or fear. But these unwanted emotions are what make us unequivocally human. It is ok to be vulnerable. It is ok to feel. And it is ok to reach out for a helping hand. It makes you brave, not weak to do so. We should never be ashamed to be human.

Hi, my name is Hannah and I am currently in my final year studying English Literature at Loughborough University. I have suffered with panic attacks from a young age and was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression shortly after starting university. I set up my own blog as an outlet and started writing about my experiences in order to ensure that people knew that this wasn't a diagnosis to be ashamed of and to help others to come out and talk about their own struggles with someone they could trust. This year, I am working as Communications Officer for Loughborough Heads Up, the university's student led mental health awareness group who run campaigns around campus to raise awareness and work towards breaking the stigma surrounding Mental Health once and for all.