carnegieXchange: School of Sport

University Mental Health Day

With cases of students facing challenges with their mental health increasing, it is important that as a community and individually we do what we can to try and help. As a school, we have a number of initiatives in progress to try and address the issue.

Nicola Queenan

Mental Health First Aid for Higher Education training was offered to all Carnegie School of Sport colleagues and the sessions were really well received by those who attended. Colleagues felt that they got a lot from the training, especially in the manner they were delivered by Chris McLay from the POD team. Although the training does not cover every aspect of dealing with mental health concerns, it certainly gives you the tools and some confidence to be able to support students and colleagues who may be facing challenges with their mental health. (You can read about one attendees experience on the course here.)

As well as looking after our students, it is just as important to look after ourselves and our colleagues. As part of the national Time to Talk day in February, I arranged a session where colleagues could meet for an hour, eat some biscuits and cake and talk about anything except work. We played some games that got us talking about mental health and also about ourselves which was really good fun and very enlightening!

The monthly coffee and cake session run by the school are a great way to continue these conversations. They are a valuable opportunity to get away from the office and chat to colleagues you don’t see all the time and of course to sample some of the great baking that our resident Mary Berrys and Paul Hollywoods rustle up.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the daily grind of full diaries and ever increasing to do lists but we should never underestimate the power of a quick five-minute chat with a friend or colleague whether it be in the kitchen whilst you are making a coffee or taking the time to go over to Tiki for a catch up. And whether it be about last night’s football or Emmerdale or something completely different, it’s just important that we keep talking to each other.

So today, please step away from your PC or put down your marking pen for five minutes and make the time to go and connect with a friend or colleague.

If you are interested in attending the Mental Health First Aid for Higher Education training, please get in touch.