Mental Health Week - help is out there
As you may be aware, this week is Mental Health Awareness week. One in four of us are affected by mental health, many people suffer silently and this needs to change. Back in November, I ran a Movember campaign which saw us collectively raise £1376.00 through a sold-out FIFA Tournament, free nail painting (which even saw me get mine painted!), and our sports and societies got involved with fundraising too. As I said then, our work will not and should not end in the month of November.
This year, I want to continue placing particular emphasis on male mental health. As men, ‘social norms’ convince us that it is not manly to talk about our feelings and we avoid opening up because through fear that we may be judged for our vulnerabilities, but that is not and should never be the case.
I understand that it can be hard to talk about things to your friends and family. I myself in the past have felt like I couldn’t speak to my friends or family about how low I was feeling about things that were getting me down. This lead me down a path where I ended up being in a bad place with my mental health for years. In the end, I confided in my best friends. I won’t lie at first it felt uncomfortable, not because I couldn’t trust them but because I was scared of what they may have thought. But in turn they were very supportive of what I was going through and they had told me they had wished I would have told them earlier.
Pursuing a hobby or new hobby can also really help to support your mental health, so why not take a look at the Societies and Sports teams we have at JMSU and explore your interests further - never know, you may develop a passion for it and get really good at it. I started boxing when I was sixteen and it really helped me channel my emotions. However, please don’t fall into the trap of using a hobby such as the as ‘therapy’, hobbies are good to help you cope with things going on, but if you are struggling with your mental health then please go speak to someone. Here’s some of the ways you can do this:
- Confide in a close friend or loved one
- Reach out to JMSU – we can help signpost you to the most suitable support
- Notify the University’s Student Advice and Wellbeing Team
- Make use of external support such as charities and organisations
Above all, please don’t suffer in silence – help is out there for you.
Ped - Vice President for Activities
