Think Positive

“Morning! Would you like a free breakfast?” we chimed to resigned students filing into the library on the first morning of the December exam period. With trays of warm croissants, fat pain au chocolats, muffins and countless jugs of hot coffee, the stall quickly became the focal point of the library foyer. Initially, we were met with a polite but disengaged “no thank you” and a couple of surprised stares, but soon enough students clocked on to the free food and the queue began to form. Students were shocked, “This is all free?” “We don’t have to pay?” “Why are you doing this?” Students genuinely couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact they were getting a free breakfast with no catch. From a first glance you could agree it maybe seemed a bit strange. The Sports Union putting on a wellbeing stall in the library during exams isn’t exactly our usual scene but when we first heard about the Think Positive Small Grant fund it got our minds whirring around what we could do. The idea came together fairly organically; there are no sports fixtures during exams to allow students to focus on their studies so that in turn, provides us in the Sports Union with a fair amount of free time so we thought why not uses that to put on some student support? We’re no experts on stress management over here but we do know a good day starts off with your breakfast. A simple and easy way to get your day off on the right foot. We also know that this is usually the most neglected meal of the day, let alone during the stressful exam period. Therefore, the solution came to us, give students their breakfast in the library when they come in; no fuss, no going out of their way, just a simple, “Hello how you doing? Here’s a coffee and a croissant.” We soon realised that our quick check-ins were some of the first conversations students had had that week and it was more often than not the first thing they’d eaten that day. Tears welled up when we told nervous students that we had faith in them, we got fist bumps for good luck and even the odd hug. In truth we had no idea the impact this little project would have. We just thought we’d do a helpful thing with our small grant fund and hopefully it would help out a few students. Instead, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback; face-to-face, on our feedback whiteboard, on social media and in the wellbeing services message book. Exams are brutal and students need all the help they can get but what we’ve learned from this is that it doesn’t need to be anything complicated and you don’t need to be an expert in mental health to help out. Taking a simple means of support directly to the students where they need it, when they need it is key in effective delivery on limited resources. We’re now looking forward to coffee and croissants 2.0!

We spoke to Jess, one of our Student Mental Health Project Coordinators, who's leading on the development of Scotland's Student Mental Health Conference, to get her thoughts on our exciting flagship conference! Check it out: What distinguishes Scotland’s Student Mental Health Conference from other conferences covering the topic of student mental health?   This conference is absolutely aimed at improving the support for student mental health support in Scotland, looking with a key focus at what is already happening on a national level, on a local level and on an institutional level; and then considering how we link those all up to offer students in Scotland the very best support possible. (How do we all work together to achieve this common goal?) The agenda will be voted on by a student panel, so it will represent the views and wants of the students it is aiming to support.     What is the level of student involvement in the planning process? We are keen that students’ voices are represented throughout planning process of our conference. We have invited all students in Scotland to sit on a voting panel, which will give feedback on and decide which showreel and workshop submissions are taken forward to our agenda, ultimately shaping the conversation on the day. We have split these panels into Workshops and Showreels, so that if a student would like to, they could submit a session for a workshop and sit on the showreels panel without a conflict of interest.   What is the difference between a workshop and a showreel?  A showreel is a 20-minute presentation with a short Q&A session at the end. This could be a great opportunity to present research, a new initiative, a new working group.   A workshop is a 50-minute activity-based session. Delegates should leave feeling inspired with something tangible, be that a new idea, a new plan, or something they just want to research further.   What networking opportunities will there be? So, so many. Whilst we envisage plenty of networking opportunities for delegates on the day through engagement in the sessions and our interactive exhibition space (have I mentioned that yet? We are eschewing stalls this year, and inviting “stallholders” to bring posters, videos and demonstrations of their work to showcase and discuss) we also want to offer space through our website, our delegate pack (there’s going to be posters of projects/initiatives with contact details) and through our live feeds. We want to build your networks!   What aspect of the conference are you most looking forward to? I think one of the most exciting things about this Conference is the amount of possibilities it will platform. How often do we get to discuss (loudly) the fantastic student mental health initiatives going on in Scotland to the point where we could nationally be aware of it? How often do we get to discuss the ways we’re all cogs in our shared goal to reduce student mental ill health? I got too excited in a meeting the other day and used the word “phenomenal”, but actually, I do think this Conference could feed into (as its own cog) something “phenomenal”.      *   Head to thinkpositive.scot/2020-conference for more information!