Katie Hughes - Research Contact

I blogged the above paragraph after talking to Katie at the Virgin Media communication box exhibition at Heart, Headingley. I finally got round to contacting her after starting on my final major project. It has moved on slightly to the concept I originally explained to her but her answers to my questions will still be influential to the decisions that I make. I sent this message via Instagram as I didn't have her email address, in hindsight I should have asked for this from the beginning. 

Her reply...
  Hi Naomi,

Sorry completely forgot about this. It just popped into my mind! Hope it's not too late.

1. Please could you give a brief description of your job?
I am Deputy Advice and Wellbeing Manager at Leeds University Union. We provide advice and support to students on a wide range of issues. I also provide training and supervision to peer support groups such as Mind Matters and LGBT, and run proactive wellbeing courses, workshops and activities to encourage students to build the tools they need to take care of their mental health and wellbeing.

2. In your opinion do you think female student stresses and worries are predominantly related to their work/study or personal/social life?

I think it's a combination of all of those things. The pressure on young people at the moment is really intense, and for many students this is exacerbated by academic pressure and the demands of living independently for the first time. Some students arrive at uni with existing low level mental health issues, such as anxiety and low mood, which can be difficult to manage away from the support network at home, and with new challenges and without the academic structure of school.

There is also the expectation that uni will be 'the best time of your life' and if it doesn't meet these expectations, it can contribute to the sense that you are failing somehow. The fear of missing out, and the impact of filtered and instagrammed lives contribute to a feeling that everyone else is having an amazing time, which leads to false and unrealistic expectations.

We are increasingly finding that students' self worth is wrapped up in their academic achievements, and they are feeling under huge pressure to perform well, or they have 'wasted three years' and got themselves into debt pointlessly. Some students tell us that if they get a disappointing mark, they feel they are a failure. Pressure from home/ family/ peers is an issue, but the pressure and expectations they place upon themselves is very high. This, along with the sense that in addition to academic success they have to gain skills to take with them into the jobs market, such as work experience, volunteering etc, and the feeling that they might not get a good job at the end of it, is an extra concern for many students.

3. What would you recommend for female students to do to feel calmer? (This could be specific actions/activities or more general advice.)

Our approach is that individuals need to find what works for them. We try to offer a range of activities through our wellbeing programme, such as: Writing for Wellbeing creative writing workshops, Yoga, Broga (men's yoga), meditation and mindfulness, Pet Therapy, Colouring/ Craft for Wellbeing sessions, Get Out Get Active (trips out to the countryside and short walks for wellbeing). We work with the Edge gym to promote taster sessions to encourage students to keep physically active to improve their mental health. We work with student led peer support groups, who offer listening and support to students who are struggling. In terms of advice, I think the main ways we can all maintain good mental health is to connect with people in real life- away from social media- switch off, spend time with friends and family, talk, cook and eat together, find what helps them to relax, try to do physical activity regularly, get out into the countryside or fresh air often.

4. What would you recommend for female students to do to feel more in control of their lives? (This could be specific actions/activities or more general advice.)

As above really, I think female students benefit from all of the above activities to maintain good wellbeing. There is often a misconception that wellbeing is about drinking smoothies and clean eating etc, which can add an additional pressure and sense of guilt about eating/ drinking too much or 'bad' foods. We encourage students to find time to cook together regularly (once a week?) and find a healthy balance of enjoying food (eating food you like with friends is known to benefit mental health) and keeping active.

Talking about problems and sharing fears helps create a sense of connection, combats loneliness and also helps de-spell the myths about everyone else having the best time of their lives, which impacts on self esteem, disconnection and low mood.

Hope this helps Naomi! Let me know if you want me to clarify anything.

Katie

There is a lot of information here that will be really useful to my project. I am really glad I spoke to Katie and thought at the time about how she might be able to help me with this project. I am going to keep her updated with the progress I am making with this project as she has already made clear to me that she has a lot of other contacts at Leeds University who might be able to help me. 

This connection I have made with Katie has made me realise how important it is to build a network of contacts who are not all from creative backgrounds. When it comes to project research or getting our work noticed it is better to know a much broader range of people.