Community Officer Blog

CW: drink spiking, domestic abuse, mental health

Hi everyone! I can't believe we're at the end of Semester 1 - the time has flown by but I've loved it!

I thought I'd give you some updates of just some of the exciting stuff I've been up to since my last blog update in mid-November!

Mental Health:

• Male Mental Health Group: Earlier in the semester, we organised a discussion group around male mental health with Student Minds, which generated some amazing ideas I wanted to ensure were taken forward to the university. So, last week, myself and the fantastic students involved in the discussion, had a meeting with representation from Student Services and university comms team. It was amazing to see these students' voices being heard and I look forward to progressing some of the ideas in the new year.
• Student Minds Mental Health Charter: I'm continuing to act as the Student Lead on the charter, and am looking to coordinate student input to ensure student opinion is embedded into every strand of the work.
• Student Services Team Leader Meeting: I attended the team leader meeting earlier this semester, raising issues of the need for a harm reduction approach to recreational drug use, preventative mental health provision, and the results of the Be Well Survey.

Equality & Diversity:

• Inclusivity Award: 28 groups of student leaders have signed up to the award which I'm so pleased about! We've been creating training resources and drop-ins to support the student leaders with projects to make their activity more inclusive.
• Accessibility Survey: We recently launched our Accessibility Survey which will highlight inclusivity concerns for disabled students across all areas of the university. I'm looking forward to working on the issues raised in the new year.
• Liberation Network: We've held our first ever meetings of Liberation Network! This network has been a fantastic way to get student opinion on emerging equality & diversity issues, such as inclusive spaces, toilet provisions, and implementation of DAPs.

Local Community:

• Student Engagement: Last week I went to the bus stop with a little clipboard (picture attached). If you saw me, you might have thought I was a primary school teacher on playground duty who had got lost, but no! I was gathering student feedback on how welcome you feel living in the local community and any issues you've faced. Issues in the local community are often heard from the perspective of local residents, so it was brilliant to be able to feed back regarding student issues.
• Chairing Student Community Partnership Board: This semester I have chaired two SCP board meetings and I've really loved this! It's been a great way to ensure student opportunity to ensure all the amazing stuff students do is heard and pass on any concerns.

Student Safety:

• Safe Taxi Scheme: At the start of the semester, we launched The SU Safe Taxi Scheme. I've been so so pleased to see the great uptake the scheme has had, and I've recently created a feedback form so we can make sure the scheme is the best it can be!
• Drink Spiking: We are continuing to work on the issue of drink spiking, raising the issue at meetings such as CSSU, SCP board, and Harassment Prevention Working Group, to gather input on possible next steps and what else can be done. Remember we are continually updating our drink spiking provisions article with the anti-spiking measures venues have shared with us that they have in place.

Other Exciting Stuff:

• Summit: We held our first ever Summit and I LOVED seeing so many student leaders engaged with the issues raised.
• Hall Forums: This is quite rogue but I absolutely love chairing Hall Forums! It's an opportunity for our amazing Hall Reps to come together and feed back on issues students are experiencing in halls and I just love seeing everyone so engaged!
• Christmas Fun: It was so lovely to see students having fun at Snowball and Masquerade Ball towards the end of this semester!
• Graduations: We were so lucky to be a part of the Masters graduation processions and I loved seeing students graduate and celebrate with their loved ones.

Upcoming Things I'm Looking Forward To:

• Unhealthy Relationships: I'm working with Bath Time on an article around unhealthy relationships and domestic abuse, which I'm hoping will be impactful in raising awareness.
• Upcoming Project: One of the main projects I've been on this semester is going to go ahead from next semester and I'm so excited to share it with students!

I hope you all have a wonderful and well-deserved break over the festive season. Looking forward to seeing you in the new year!

Meg x

SU Community Officer