[Photo Credit: Victoria Fox]
The much-celebrated Wellbeing and Inclusion Fair was back this year, boasting around an impressive 40 stalls representing the diverse sector in Cornwall.
Walking through the doors to the Upper Stannary at Falmouth’s Penryn Campus, I was met by the exciting energy of the event. Staff and students chatted in small groups, and newcomers were offered free food and drink upon entering.
To begin with, I did a quick circuit around the stalls, taking in the room with over 40 different organisations.
One of the stalls I spoke with was with Dyslexia Cornwall, and Laura explained to me how the charity supports people in the community with advice and helping others ‘to reach their full potential’. They aim to ‘campaign for change’ due to the stigma of dyslexia and literacy skills and someone’s intelligence often being tied together when it’s not the case. ‘You can be very intelligent but have difficulty spelling. So, it’s educating people what dyslexia is and how amazing dyslexic brains are.’
Part of their teachings help to understand and learn about some of the well-known dyslexics, such as famous examples or entrepreneurs.
[Photo Credit: Victoria Fox]
Some of the other stalls I spoke to were Mind Cornwall, Disability Cornwall, the Diversion and Inclusivity team, The Students Union and the LGBTQ+ stall.
Everyone who I spoke to was very helpful and wanted to chat to me about why they needed to be here at the event.
Ray Preston (from the equality, diversion and inclusion team), commented: ‘It’s really important to have local community organisations that come to campus and get to know more about us and it’s really important for students to know what support is available all locally’.
There were other internal and external organisations here, such as, Youth Art Connect, Queer Kernow CIC, 99p Films, Fish Factory, and Falmouth Employability.
[Photo Credit: Victoria Fox]
Student mental health is important due to retention rates and to reduce the number of drop-outs due to mental health.
In a recent study, 59% of students have thought about dropping out due to wellbeing and mental health reasons. Therefore, it’s important for universities to have the right support in place to help prevent students from feeling isolated and that dropping out is the only answer.
These institutions need to have a positive, inclusive environment that breaks down barriers or stigmas to mental health. Over a long-term period, it’s important that universities support both academically and offer personal support to maintain reputation and student satisfaction.
After contacting Jadelle Luckman, Falmouth University’s Student Union president and representative, I asked her a few questions about student well-being at the University.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that students’ mental health is declining; rather, it’s becoming more visible in today’s society. With greater awareness and openness around mental health, we’re perhaps more attuned to the challenges students face.”
I then asked Jadelle her opinion on why students’ mental health is important
“Mental health can be a deciding factor between thriving at university and simply surviving. Although there’s no simple solution, there’s a lot more that universities can do to support students… the loss of familiar support network, and the major life changes that come with university can leave students in a vulnerable position, impacting mental health both positively and negatively.”
So what could be done to improve students’ experience at university and mental health support?
There is a Make A Change page available on the Students Union page where you can submit your ideas to the website where the proposal will then need ten likes and ten more than dislikes within the six weeks of posting it. If you have received the certain amount of likes needed, then the Executive Committee of SU presidents and co-chairs of the forum will take these to discuss, which could take them to be presented and assign the best course of action for that idea.
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