Mind Your Head!
On Monday 8th October, the elected officers launched ‘Mind Your Head’ week a campaign based around mental health. It became clear over the summer, that mental health is an issue that is important to us all and that awareness of our services needed to be improved.
The week centred around ‘World Mental Health Day’ on Wednesday 10th October, a perfect opportunity to raise the profile of services available to students from the beginning of term. The Union and University provides help and services to all students who need advice on any aspect of their University life. “Mind Your Head” was initiated to push the message that taking care of your mental wellbeing is equally as important as taking care of your physical health.
Coming to University is a very dramatic change in lifestyle for the majority of students and therefore settling in takes time. It can be a challenge to focus your attention back on your course after the madness of freshers or a big summer break at home. Don’t be perturbed if you are feeling out of your depth at the start of term, you are not alone, and we are here to help.
We are very lucky at Cardiff University to have the Student Support Centre (50 Park Place) which conducts weekly workshops on topics such as how to deal with anxiety and how to relax during exam time amongst others. Within the Support Centre there is also a counselling service and a mental health advisor for students who need advice and support concerning their wellbeing. The Chaplaincy (61 Park Place) holds a “drop in” for students a few times a week (whatever their beliefs) for those who need a chat over a cup of tea and cake!
Within the Student’s Union we also have a brilliant Advice and Representation Centre (ARC) which is here to help students with any worries they may have in areas such as finance, academic, housing, consumer issues and many more. There are also a variety of student led services (which you can read about here) which have developed out of societies to support you. Mental Wealth Society and Student Run Self Help (SRSH) are made up of students who have experienced mental health issues and are there to share their experiences and support others.
Offering support for those going through challenging times our LGBT+ society are there for students who might be contemplating coming out at University.
We are also very proud to have “Nightline Cardiff” run by student for students. You can call from 8pm-8am (02920 870 555) every night and there will be someone there to listen to all kinds of concerns.
The National Student Survey results revealed that only 24% of Cardiff University students knew about the counselling service at the University, with this in mind the aim of “Mind Your Head” Week has been to raise awareness about these great services that are available. Figures suggest that the trend of individuals suffering with mental health issues is constantly increasing however we are hopeful that with the increased knowledge about the services we can help students to make the most out of their university life.
Arguably however there may now be more demand on the current support facilities and as a result the campaign will need to grow to ensure that the Student Union constantly works with the University to ensure that we improve the welfare of our students.