University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day Wednesday 20th February 2013 Information Pack for Mental Wealth Groups
What is University Mental Health Day? University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day is an annual event to focus efforts aimed at promoting the mental health of people who live and work in Higher Education settings. The initiative was started by UMHAN (University Mental Health Advisers Network) in 2012. Mental Wealth UK are delighted to be working with UMHAN to help more students take part and make the day even bigger and better in 2013. The greater the number of people across the UK taking part, the greater the impact - so make sure you take part in this exciting national initiative! Why should I get involved? University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day is an excellent opportunity to work closely with your university to reach a huge number of students and others in the university community. By being part of a national initiative your impact will also be far reaching. Actively engaging in this day means you will be spreading the message to your peers, reducing stigma and supporting students with mental health difficulties. It s also a great chance to welcome more volunteers to your group and build up a larger membership. Of course being an allocated organiser for this national awareness day will also benefit your own personal development and we will happily provide references for students taking a lead at their university. Who should I work with? This day is all about collaboration, between mental health advisers across the country, student volunteers, university staff and students union officers. So make sure that early on you link in closely with the University s Student Services staff, Mental Health Coordinator and the Welfare Officer or equivalent in your SU. Your university and / or SU may have already started planning some activities which you will be able to run together to have a bigger impact! Don t forget other student groups too. If you have a psychology society, yoga society or Nightline see if they want to run joint events - the bigger the better! Building all of these relationships now will also help your group to get more support in the future. How can I get involved? This year the theme for Mental Health Day is Voices - from the experience of hearing voices, to making your voice heard by talking about personal experience of mental health and wellbeing. We want to help reduce stigma by making the University community more aware that mental health difficulties are common - and that there are things that everyone can all do to improve their mental health, whether they have a mental health diagnosis or not. In this information pack are a few suggestions along this theme for how you can get involved, from running an event, to collecting student voices, to joining the national conversation on Twitter
Running Events We want the 20th February to be a national day of action and a buzz of activity. All of these events have been tried and tested and most can run on a small budget and tight timescale. Check out our Events Checklist at the end of this pack for further guidance. Wellbeing Stall: Last year many institutions hosted a stand in their Students Union or another prominent location where students and staff had the opportunity to collect free materials and information about mental wellbeing. This also acted as a great opportunity to talk to Mental Health Advisers, Student counsellors, Disability Office staff, and other relevant colleagues about mental wellbeing generally or the services provided. We know that many students will feel more comfortable speaking to other students, so having a friendly student face on the stall makes a big difference and it also means you can tell more people about how they can get involved with your group too! Wellbeing MOT/check ups: In addition to hosting a stand, there are a number of Universities who intend to run mental health and wellbeing MOTs, where students and staff can go to check out what tune-ups could be made to their own wellbeing for example, ensuring that everyone is doing something to get their five a day for mental wellbeing. Mindapples Tree: Last year several institutions had a Mindapples tree to encourage people to think about five things that they regularly do to look after their mental wellbeing. It s a good ice-breaker to start a conversation about mental health. You might see if your university can purchase a tree or pack from Mindapples, which your volunteers could put into action. See: http://mindapples.org/ (They offer discounts to universities) If you are on a tight budget you could set up a Share the Wealth board: http://www.mentalwealthuk.com/files/u1/welfare_officer_pack.pdf Collecting Mindapples at Loughborough University last year
Tea and Talk: Several groups run tea and talk events throughout the year to get students talking about mental health and to provide an alternative, non-alcoholic social space. It s also a great excuse to buy lots of cakes! You might make the event more structured by following it up with a film screening or inviting a local speaker. Laughter/ Sleep / Mindfulness Workshops: Several groups have hosted professional workshops on mindfulness, laughter or sleep! They are not only fun, but brilliant for combatting stress too! Free Massage: Last year Dundee University organised free massages. This is always popular with students! If you have a massage society they might be interested in providing free massages to help students relax. Free Massages in Dundee Mental Wealth Promotion / Launch Day: Just being a presence on campus and getting your committee / volunteers to encourage students to sign up to the group is a great way to get people talking and set your group up for further activity throughout the year. Unions without Mental Wealth Groups could also use the day as a great springboard to sign up volunteers and launch a new group where you are. Last Year Nottingham Mental Wealth group launched on University Mental Health Day, signing up 80 students to their mailing list in just a couple of hours! Launching a group is a great way to ensure you leave a lasting legacy for mental health promotion and campaigning at your university. Contact us for more info: home@mentalwealthuk.com
Collecting Voices Blogging: We want to collect blogs from all members of the university community. In the weeks leading up to 20th February, and on the day itself, ask if your members and the wider student body want to contribute a short blog either about their personal experiences or what they like to do for their wellbeing. Encourage your university to invite submissions from staff too and send them over! Recording Students: Why not go a step further and use a voice recorder or phone to collect short stories from students. It s great to hear it from the person themselves and can be shared over social media to reach even more students. If your SU has a radio or TV station this might be something they can help with. Music: Part of a band or a choir? Why not put on a performance on the day? Speak to relevant societies where you are, and if you can film it, even better! Pledging: Getting students to think about what they could change is also a great way to measure how many people you reach throughout the day. Students can pledge to join your campaign, to learn more about mental health, or to do more for their own. It s easy to do- just print out some simple I pledge to cards and get students to pin them onto an information board. Pledging at Warwick University last year Top Tip! Some of the following channels are open to your Students Union and University, so if you work with them to run your Mental Wealth event they will be able to help reach even more students! Setting up of a dedicated webpage/ hosted through either the university or SU Email distribution lists and e-noticeboards Television screens Staff and student desktop screens Social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter feeds Student portals / virtual learning environments
Social Media We ll be using social media to get more students than ever talking about mental health. By sharing what you re doing you ll be part of a national conversation on mental health at university. Tweet @MentalWealthUK and @UHMANUK Use the hashtag: #unimentalhealthday Tag Mental Wealth UK in Facebook posts Upload your photos to Facebook and Twitter and tag us or email your images to home@mentalwealthuk.com What do we want to know? Tell us about the events you are running and how they are going as the day unfolds Let us know What do you do for your Mental Health? and spread this question through your social media channels Anything you want to say about student mental health and wellbeing get your voice heard! Share photos of your activities and photos of things that are good for your wellbeing, the more creative the better! We ll be sharing facts and figures about student mental health, what students say they do for theirs, as well as your news, photos and blogs - so get sharing! Sign up for our Thunderclap! Thunderclap is a tool that allows lots of people to tweet their support for a particular cause at the same time, for maximum impact. During the weeks leading up the 20th February, we ll be inviting you to be a part of a national message about student mental health and wellbeing. Keep an eye on our Twitter page and website to find out how you can get involved. We want as many people as possible to sign up - so spread it through all your channels and encourage as many students and university staff to get on board!
The National Student Wellbeing Photography Competition All of the photos that you send to us will be entered into our national photography competition, so be sure to send us plenty of images in response to the following brief: What do you do for your Mental Health? You might find it useful to think of this in terms of your five-a-day, the five things you can do every day to stay mentally healthy, as identified by the New Economics Foundation. The five Way s to Wellbeing are: Connect with the people around you Do something active Take notice of the world, catch sight of the beautiful, remark on the unusual Learn something new Do something nice for a friend, stranger or yourself! Whether you ve snapped your event on your phone or taken a high definition photograph of a beautiful spot to relax on campus, we want all of your entries! Upload your photos to Facebook and Twitter and tag us, or email your images to home@mentalwealthuk.com The prizes will be revealed before the 20th February via our Twitter and Facebook pages. Entering gives Mental Wealth UK and UHMAN a royalty-free license to use the entry. You will still own the copyright to anything you contribute. You must obtain permission from people appearing in the photograph. For more information on nef s five Way s to Wellbeing visit: http://www.neweconomics.org/ projects/five-ways-well-being
Your Event Checklist: Things to remember! Find Partners: MWUK, your University Mental Health Coordinator, Student Counselling Service, Student services, your SU officers, other wellbeing organisations for guidance and freebies! Plan carefully: Book your location as far in advance as possible. Is it accessible? Try not to clash with other events and complete a risk assessment if required. Know your Purpose and Audience: Test out the purpose on other people. Think through the plan as an attendee: what do they want to get out of this event? Teamwork makes the dream work! Hold effective planning meetings with a clear agenda and tangible outcomes. Have defined responsibilities & find out who s good at what on your team. Stick to your Budget and Research into funding: SU s and Universities can often find funders for high profile events. Advertise it early and widely: Your immediate channels: SU mailing list, website, social media, boards etc. University pages and specific places e.g. Student Support, International Office etc. Contact relevant societies (e.g. Yoga, Nightline) and keep your partners informed so they can help promote your activities further. Finally, don t forget to congratulate yourselves and review your event so you can see the impact you are having where you are. Share the short review form in this pack with us so we can continue to provide you with the support you need. Next Steps Once you ve read this pack get in touch with our Development Officer, Rosie, to discuss any of your ideas or ask further questions: r.tressler@mentalwealthuk.com Make sure you keep us up to date with your progress and get tweeting! Good Luck and Happy Planning from Mental Wealth UK!
Measuring the impact: Review Form After #unimentalhealthday don t forget to review how things went. Please return completed forms to us. Group: Form submitted by: Overview: What did you do in relation to University Mental Health Day? (Outline all the activities) Engagement level / Exposure: How many people attended? How many views did you get of your website, video, Facebook posts etc.? What do you think went well? What do you think could have been improved? Did you collaborate with anyone / other groups or organisations? What methods did you use to promote the event? Would you do any promotion differently with future events / campaigns? How many people were involved in organising the activities? Was this sufficient? Comments and Additional Information:
Other Resources More info about UMHAN and University Mental Health Day can be found here: http://www.umhan.com/uni-mental-health-day.html Students Against Depression Website - a blog by students, for students: http://www.studentsagainstdepression.org/ Action for Happiness' Ten Keys To Happier Living: http://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys-to-happier-living Start2 creative resources that help mental wellbeing: http://www.start2.co.uk/ Mindapples - 'Five a day for your mind' http://www.mindapples.org Notes
Mental Wealth Foundation 2013 www.mentalwealthuk.com