Making connections with others

With One World Week events this week ranging from mochi making to Maslenista, dance classes to Holi; this week shows the best of our diverse campus community spirit and provide opportunities for students to share their own passions and experiences while learning new skills and connecting with new people.

Being ‘connected’ is about building and maintaining relationships with other people. Connecting with other people is really important for everyone because it helps us:

• Build self-esteem.
• Feel like we belong.
• Share positive experiences.
• Get emotional support when needed.

Feeling connected to others can be difficult though, especially when coming to university for the first time. Student Minds also have some great tips for anybody who’s worrying about not fitting in at university.

University Mental Health Day

On Thursday 14^th March the university will be celebrating University Mental Health Day. This is an annual day to get the nation talking about student mental health and working together to make mental health a university-wide priority. You can take part in this day in person at Sussex - there will be ‘Wellbeing Stalls’ across the campus in:

• the Student Centre
• the library wellbeing collection
• schools including MAH, Psychology, Business, Engineering & Informatics and IDS

Students can come to ask questions, get some information and freebies, and meet other people to talk about mental health. We will also be asking students for their anonymous feedback on the wellbeing services on offer at Sussex, with the hope of exploring some exciting student-focussed developments based on these suggestions in the future – so please come and find a stall for your chance to speak with us about that too.

University support for your wellbeing

You can find more advice and tips on looking after your mental wellbeing on the Student Hub where you’ll also find more information about accessing support from the University. That might mean reaching out to the Student Centre or another support service, or it might be joining the Tea and Talk Peer Support Network for free tea and biscuits and mindful activities (Wednesdays 1-3pm in the Student Centre).

Finally, there are some great resources provided by the University such as our excellent mental wellbeing reading list, available through the library, and the Togetherall virtual community, which uses the positive effects of healthy social networks in its community where people share with, and support one another anonymously.