Student Health and Wellbeing Community of Practice Workshop Series: Term 1

We aim to foster an inclusive community that is supportive, caring and respectful for all at UCL, and we would love you to join us if you have involvement with, or interest in student health and wellbeing. Find out more and join our Teams Space here.

Join us this term on a wide range of staff take on topics, investigating different aspects of health and wellbeing, equipping us with the knowledge and tools to support our students, our colleagues, and ourselves. Presentations run fortnightly, on alternating Wednesdays and Thursdays, at 12:30-1:15pm, in the form of a 30-minute virtual workshop followed by a 15-minute Q&A.

Read more below to find out about this term’s workshops and to book your place.

3 November: Sanya Saleem – Supporting Male Students

Working with male students can sometimes be tricky, especially if you don't identify as male yourself. Even if you do, perhaps you may find it hard to break free of the traditional toxic masculine cultures that you may/may not have experienced yourself. In this session we look at the challenges our men face in today's world, before narrowing and really focusing on the individual and dynamic needs of our male student population, and how we can best support them. They are an unintentionally often missed demographic, but this must change. 

Sign up here.

16 November: Dr Alexandra Pitman – How to have conversations about suicide

This talk will explore mental wellbeing in the university setting, including common challenges in higher education settings, and how to recognise distress in colleagues, students, relatives and friends. It will cover how to broach the issue of suicide in these settings, and how to respond to someone in crisis. It will also mention resources for people bereaved by suicide, including the new guidance for higher education institutions launched nationally on 5/10/22 (Supporting Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention in FE and HE: A Practical Guide for FE and HE Settings).

Sign up here.

1 December: Lucy Smith – Mental health and neurodivergence – do they always come as a package?

Short answer – mostly!

Expected topics:

• A personal view of living with mental health problems as a neurodivergent person
• A professional view of working with many neurodivergent students who experience mental health problems, diagnosed or not
• Masking and not living authentically – are these reasons for mental ill health?
• Time for questions 

Sign up here.

14 December: Karthik Sundaram – Maintaining your mental health in a high-performance environment  

For students to have a fulfilling experience at UCL, it can feel like a high-performance environment. Performing well at UCL is not just about achieving the highest grades. It is being able to meet their goals and ambitions throughout their university experience, may it be in extra-curriculum or social activities. Looking after their wellbeing throughout their time here is important. It can help them excel in your time at UCL and after. This session will showcase the issues affecting student’s wellbeing and how it may show. We will then look at ways to help and guide students to support at UCL and arounds. To really create and sustain a high-performance environment, supporting wellbeing is key.

Sign up here.