Tuesday 15-01-2019 - 16:09

I am thrilled to say that the university accepted our proposal to fund Big White Wall, and UWTSD students can now access the free 24/7 online support...Big White Wall is an online, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a -week, anonymous mental health service with its origins in NHS.

- Josh Whales, Lampeter Campus President

Hi everyone! I hope everyone has had a relaxing Christmas/New Year and is ready to go for semester two!

So back when I was elected to be one of your student officers in 2017, part of my manifesto was a commitment to look at the mental health services provided by the university and seek to re-establish ‘Nightline’ in Lampeter (and eventually other sites) in order to provide round the clock mental health services for students. During my time in office you’ve constantly told me that managing your mental health is one of the foremost concerns you have during your studies - in fact we are running our big, annual, SU research project on this topic this year – and you can feed your thoughts via our online form.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past two years, along with members of staff in the SU, looking at nightline as a service, what it provides, and how it benefits students. We looked at implications and the issues that other SU’s have had with implementing Nightline and subsequent benefits and issues with running a professional and safe service for 7 days a week between 8pm – 4am, as a regular Nightline would run. As part of this project we decided to take a look at potential alternatives or measures that would complement Nightline in order to provide the best possible mental health support services for our students. In doing so, we found Big White Wall.

Big White Wall is an online, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, anonymous mental health service with its origins in NHS. It is regulated by mental health professionals from Canada, the UK and Australia, and provides a space in which you can talk anonymously to peers from your University, the UK or around the world about any mental health issues you are facing. The service contains resources aimed at promoting good mental health and wellbeing, as well as supportive material to help individuals come to terms with issues and difficulties. As it is staffed by mental health experts it also means that users are able to access support when they need it – day or night. We were so impressed by the services provided by Big White Wall that we elected to lobby the university to fund this service, seeking to provide year-round support to all UWTSD students, in term or out, night or day, no matter what campus location.

I am thrilled to say that the university accepted our proposal to fund Big White Wall, and UWTSD students can now access the free 24/7 online support via the Big White Wall website.

I am delighted to be able to follow through on my manifesto promise to provide a round-the-clock mental health service for all students of UWTSD, and I hope that in the future should you ever need mental health support; you will find this service helpful! Check the site out, create your free account using your University e-mail, and access your own comprehensive online mental health support network.

All the best,
Josh Whale, Lampeter Campus President