College News

QE Students Break the Stigma Around Mental Health

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and students from QE have taken part in a number of thought-provoking activities to mark the occasion. At the beginning of the month, members of the wellbeing and volunteering groups completed suicide awareness training offered by Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA). The 20-minute online course aims to break the stigma which surrounds suicide and its contributing factors allowing individuals to take meaningful action and help prevent suicide in the United Kingdom and beyond. The training programme equips students with the skills and confidence to have a potentially life-saving conversation with someone they are worried about. Student Lewis Davis, who completed the course, comments: ’20 minutes of my time could change someone’s life forever. I hope I never have to use what I have learnt, but I definitely feel more confident now. Everybody should do the course; it’s quick, easy and you never know when you may have to use the skills you’re taught’.

A focus of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month is loneliness. Many people have suffered from loneliness and it can have a huge impact on someone’s mental health. The pandemic especially has triggered feelings of loneliness in most of the population and QE’s volunteering group wanted to tackle this with their continued efforts to build and maintain meaningful connections with the community. Students have sent cards and letters to local care homes, people living alone and children with life limiting illnesses showing that there are people who are thinking about them. Student Eve Goddard, says: ‘A simple phone call or letter through the post can make people feel wanted and brighten up their day. It’s so easy to do, just five minutes of our time can make someone feel less lonely and it is something that we can all do’.