Monday 03-02-2020 - 14:00

Mental health is high on the agenda for further and higher education across the UK and with good reason. More than 2 in 5 students use alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism for stress, and 1 in 5 students admit they have a diagnosed mental illness, although three-quarters of these students conceal their symptoms wherever possible. These statistics are alarming, particularly when coupled with the increase of students suffering mentally in the last decade.

With this in mind, TSDSU has been successful in a joint bid with Swansea University, to gain access to funding that is to be spent on raising awareness of mental health conditions and focussing on positive mental health. This money came from a joint pot from the Welsh Government and HEFCW (the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) in which universities were to work together on a joint project.

UWTSD and Swansea University are working together on the CONNECT project (www.connect-wellbeing.wales / www.cyswllt-lles.cymru) around providing training for staff and students, and training students to become ‘CONNECTors’ – those in the student community that are trained to spot signs of poor mental health, and aid in getting the help that students need.

As a part of this bid, TSDSU was awarded £50,000, and now it is down to you! While we have used a little of the money on training over 80 students in suicide prevention and resilience already this year, we want to know what you think – where should this money go?

• Day trips for low-income students and their families?
• More in-depth mental health training?
• Sports?
• Mindfulness?

We want YOU to decide, and we will pledge to make it happen! If you have an idea or something you’d like us to work on, please use the form below to submit it! We can then collate the responses and look at a programme of action that has been driven by you, the students.

Fill In The Form

If you have any other questions or would like more information on CONNECT, please email me: becky.ricketts@uwtsd.ac.uk