Thursday 3 March is University Mental Health Day, just one of the times throughout the year where we are reminded to put mental health at the top of the agenda. Read Co-President, Welfare and Diversity, Jack Kilker's blog now.
Thursday 3 March is University Mental Health Day, just one of the times throughout the year where we are reminded to put mental health at the top of the agenda. Days like this are not enough, however. We need to prioritise mental health each and every day of the year, because people are struggling each and every day.
This year, we had a very successful Mental Health Awareness Week, with more student groups than ever getting involved in the campaign, and some even going as far as to run their own. I’m incredibly grateful to every student who engaged with an event or ran something themselves, as it shows that mental health is coming to the forefront of the student consciousness, and becoming something more and more students will be talking about.
As a welfare sabbatical officer, I spend a lot of time talking to students about mental health. It’s fantastic, and absolutely so rewarding to have students starting conversations themselves, or coming to me with events that they want to see run on campus. It’s thanks to this kind of change in students that we now have a dedicated mental health chair and vice-chair, who will head up a mental health campaign within one of our councils, but also across the entire Students’ Union. Thank you to Molly and Shumin who made this possible!
Days like today are incredibly important. They give us a focal point to shape and centre our work around; a day to truly prioritise dialogues around mental health. Thank you to the Support and Advisory Services at the College for putting together a bake sale, bringing a lovely four-legged friend to campus, and being there to talk to our students about mental health. We need more days like today.
The point of the mental health campaign is to do more, and to do it bigger and better than we have so far. I’m really proud of what I managed this year, but that was for just a week. Imagine what a dedicated team of students, working within other student groups, and with the support of the Co-President, Welfare and Diversity can do!
So please come along to the bake sale, between 12 and 2pm, in the Students’ Union, and give generously to a charity that passionately supports young people struggling with their mental health. Please engage in the work that the Students’ Union tries to do around mental health, whenever we might do it. And lastly, please talk about mental health, and keep talking about it, until everyone feels like they can.