University and First Year Struggles

Meg talks about the struggles that students can face and how to look positively to the future. 

The year was 2011. The season was summer and, boy, was I loving life. A young, fresh-faced 18 year old who had passed their exams and bagged a spot into uni. I’d ticked off a summer holiday with the girls, my 18th birthday and school prom. What a time to be alive! Little did I know how my life would change in the coming months.

Hey, the name’s Meg. Nice to meet you! I’m 25 from South Wales and here’s my story of how my first year of university changed my life.

My amazing summer had come to an end and soon enough I would be moving far away from the South Wales valleys. 3.5hrs on the train to Derby was my new home and as most budding students feel when they leave home, I felt a mix of excitement and fear. I’d been chatting to my future flat mates on a Facebook group and we were all so excited to meet each other! I remember my first day like it was yesterday. I was so nervous. We hugged our families goodbye and there we were, a bunch of awkward girls from different parts of the country about to live together for the next year. Next thing, we are socialising with a building full of people and alcohol was flowing. And here started the student life!

The student life can be a very overwhelming experience for some with so much change happening at a quick pace and that’s certainly how it felt for me. My social life was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I was partying every week, sometimes every other night and all food and sleep patterns went flying out the window! It was exciting to meet lots of new people but also having to navigate around an unknown city and start a new course was very daunting. For a good few months I was building what I saw at the time as solid bonds with flat mates and constantly socialising but it wasn’t until a few months in did I realise how much it was all catching up to me.

After such a whirlwind couple of weeks, things started to go downhill very rapidly for me which felt like it came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, my emotions became very apparent and feelings of anger and upset constantly ripped through me (mainly whenever alcohol was involved). I was really disliking my uni course and I think I was probably very homesick and didn’t even know it. Nights out started to become very messy and dark and I soon found myself spiralling into a depression and started to self harm. I’d never known anything like this in my world. I’d always been the happy go lucky, positive bunny throughout my life and all of a sudden things were feeling very different. My feelings were constantly masked with partying and socialising and trying to nose dive deep into other people’s problems whilst I was also battling a tormenting habit myself. I was very much in denial and it took a very tragic moment of a thankfully- failed - attempted suicide whilst very intoxicated to snap me out of it.

Looking back now, it all feels like such a blur and I am thankfully not in that frame of mind anymore. It’s been a very long and continuing journey of recovery since those dark days but I am happy to be progressing and feeling stronger and happier. Although times were tough, I managed to push through it and I actually took the right steps to make things better for me by transferring to a university in my hometown and got to complete my degree, eventually earning a 2:1 and winning a student of the year award for my course. Woo go me!

And that’s really what this story is about is to just say, it’s okay and it can get better even at the lowest of points. I never thought I could get through what happened but here I am 7/8 years later, a homeowner and a fully fledged adult!!

First year can be fantastic and exciting and I certainly did have positives during some parts and lots of fun but it is also an overwhelming time and a lot to take on. I think it’s just important to keep an open mind in that good and bad days can happen whilst you’re embarking on your uni journey and if it’s truly not for you then that’s fine but sometimes with a little faith and willpower, you’d be amazed at what you can go on to achieve!

My name is Meg. I am 25 and live in the beautiful Cardiff Bay. I work in events/venue management for a University and am a part time secret singer and music lover. Concerts and musical theatre are my thing and I also enjoy blogging about my life and mental health advocacy. You can check out more of my music stuff on my youtube (www.youtube.com/mwigleysongs) or my blog at https://meganwigley.wordpress.com/.

For more information or support visit: Starting Uni 

I use my voice to promote change around student mental health

Michael shares the three main reasons why he uses his voice and why you should too.

- Michael Priestly

Over the last couple of years I have used my voice to promote change around student mental health. In particular, I have been involved with various mental health campaigns and written blog posts for Student Minds Blog. This University Mental Health Day I am using my voice loudly and proudly, even speaking at two mental health events at my University. 

There are three main reasons why I choose to use my voice, and, I believe, you should too:

First, to help others. I aim to use my voice as a positive and empowering step to helping and supporting others. I hope that, by using my voice, I can help students that might be struggling to feel less alone, raise awareness of the support available, and encourage help-seeking behaviours so that everyone feels able and comfortable to speak up and ask for help when they need to. I fundamentally believe that we can all help each other out by sharing experiences, strategies and advice for managing certain challenges and staying mentally healthy at university. Reading the Student Minds' Blog and hearing others’ tips for managing some of the stress of university life has really helped me and my wellbeing, and I hope that by using my voice I might offer the same to other students.

Second, to help me. As someone who for a long time found it very difficult to talk about my own mental health or recognise and accept when I needed support, the journey to using my voice has helped me to make sense of and learn from my experiences. By using my voice, I have developed my own self-understanding and self-confidence, helping me on my journey to self-acceptance and better mental wellbeing. Not only this, but it has helped me to become more self-aware of the signs that I might be struggling, and more comfortable to speak up and ask for help when I need it. For me, it can feel both empowering and rewarding to tell your own story in your own voice!

Third, to promote change. By using our collective voices, I believe that together we can change the state of student mental health. For me this is change both at an individual level, in terms of raising awareness and understanding, and improving mental health literacy so that everyone feels able to use their voice to ask for help and support when they need it. Speaking up can also help to challenge the stigma and address some of the misunderstandings around mental health difficulties. In addition, I believe that by listening to the voices and experiences of everyone, this can help to identify and promote positive structural changes for student mental health and wellbeing. This could be changes to mentally unhealthy social and education policies, practices and structures, and/or improvements to the support available to students.

It took me a long time to feel comfortable using my voice. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it, and I was scared of saying the ‘wrong thing’ and what other people would think of me if I did. Since using my voice though, I have received nothing but love and support - even when I really did not expect to!

We all have mental health, we all have a voice and we all have stories to share. So how will you use your voice and what will using your voice mean for you this University Mental Health Day? Find our how you can get involved.

Hi, I'm Michael. I'm a postgraduate student at Durham. I want to write for Student Minds to share my own experiences of depression and anxiety and tackle the stigma around mental health.

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.