I wrote a letter highlighting some areas the University could improve Mental Health and Well-being support. I've had very little effort in return. So now I am turning to you. I spent 4 months writing this letter. It is important to me, and you as well.

Here's some of the start of my letter:

I strongly believe that mental health support given by the university over the last year has been severely lacking. Due to, physical isolation and the isolating online lessons, we have all found this year incredibly difficult, to the point that it has been labelled by many as a “mental health epidemic”, however, lots of us remain unaware of the services that are available to support us. Unfortunately, whilst the services are there, they are difficult to find, and when they are found on the app, it is often wordy, and in some places unclear. 

As I’m sure you are fully aware, there is also a huge stigma around accessing mental health support, resulting in things like:

·       people not stepping forward to ask for help because it’s a terrifying prospect. 

·       people staying silent because they tell themselves they don’t need any support, when really, they do. 

I really believe that there have been many situations where the university have inadvertently contributed to this stigma, and discouraged students from coming forward. One such example has been my own issues (explained more below) regarding not being able to access certain support without a GP diagnosis. This created an environment that I’m “not ill enough” and created even more stigma towards talking how I was feeling. 

Making sure that you are creating environments that are actively breaking down this stigma should be a key part of the universities mental health strategy and is just one sign that reflects the urgent need for this strategy to be overhauled.

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We have the power to implement change that could transform University experiences here. Help me get there!

Some of my suggestions:

-       Putting together a support pack for someone needing to get a diagnosis from a GP, including things such as getting a GP, calling, filling in appropriate forms etc.

-       Sharing stories of mental health and how people coped, to not only open up the conversation and importantly reduce stigma, but to inspire others with helpful coping mechanisms.

-       Put together a student forum, where students can make their voices heard as to what is working with regards to support, and if things aren’t working, what would they want instead?

This is just a small list of things that I can think of that would have a huge impact – imagine the progress that we could make if students were inspired to talk! It is also important to make sure that as many people as possible are included in this dialogue, so that we can get the widest, most diverse range of support possible.

THANK YOU!