College News

QE staff & students do Brew Monday

The Wellbeing Group, part of the Student Association at QE have taken part in the ‘Brew Monday’ initiative introduced by the Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA). Every year, the ZSA attempts to turn ‘Blue Monday’ into ‘Brew Monday’ by encouraging individuals to share selfies of themselves with a hot drink, known as a ‘brewfie’, and call a friend to have a chat. The concept is to help somebody feel valued and the Wellbeing Group wanted as many students and members of staff as possible to participate with the response being incredibly positive and several ‘brewfies’ being uploaded to social media to show the College’s support. In addition to this, the group have also completed the suicide awareness training offered by the ZSA which is an informative, short course providing the tools required to strike up a conversation with vulnerable individuals.

Nancy Wall, Student Services Co-ordinator at QE, comments: ‘I’m really proud of these young people who want to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide. It is also important that we keep in touch with people all year round, as a simple phone call or message can go a long way in making somebody feel valued. We all have mental health and must never neglect it as without mental health, there is no health at all.’