RGU Peer Support – Promoting student wellbeing and fighting stigma

Have you heard of RGU Peer Support Group? They are RGU students here to support you and your wellbeing during your time at university. Find out more about them in this blog.

What is Peer Support?

We are a student-led signposting group that promotes mental wellbeing for students and fights the stigma around mental health by holding events such as University Mental Health Day, Time to Talk, and many more. Our services provide an opportunity for you to come to chat with one of our volunteers during our bi-weekly drop-in sessions, or events, about any concerns or dilemmas you may be facing whether that be regarding your personal life or your studies. We can either advise you of internal or external services that are more qualified to help or simply just be there to listen. Let me tell you a little bit more about how we do this…

We, for example, hold an annual event on University Mental Health Day (UMHD), where we invite external speakers from mental health organisations like SAMH, charities like Mamacita and all the clubs and societies at our university. Our UMHD takes place on one of the days during the national university-wide mental health week. This week is dedicated to breaking the stigma around student mental health by acknowledging the problems that students experience and by bringing awareness to the help available.

What are the bi-weekly drop-in sessions?

These are opportunities for you to come along if you would like some company. Our volunteers are there to flow with your needs. If you want, we can just play some games together. If you need more, then we are happy to be there and listen non-judgementally. We can also offer you our best advice or signpost you to the right place if we are unable to help.

These chats can be about anything that concerns you in or outside of the University. We believe that sometimes it is just easier to talk to another student about anything because we have similar experiences in general. So, if there is a time when you feel a bit down, why not come and see what we can do for you to help?

Can you tell us more about some of the events you organise?

Well, there is our ‘Time to Talk Day’ which is an annual awareness day that also aims to reduce the stigma around mental health and encourage open conversations. It’s for people to share their experiences and offer support and learn more about resources that can help. This year, we decided to organise a fun quiz night with self-care topics. We aim to connect students, bring some fun and provide some extra self-care routines/tips on these nights.

Then, there is the ‘Pizza and Paint’ event, too. As the name suggests, this is a night for painting and enjoying some free pizza! This is a great mood booster, and it is super helpful when you just need to relax. All the painting materials are on us; you just book your free ticket on the Union website. I still remember how much this helped me in my first year when I was still settling into uni life! The pizza was really good, we laughed a lot with my friends and talked to a few guys from other courses.

We also organise events together with other societies. Our ‘Plant and Paint’ events are run together with the Go Green Society. These events are great for getting to know all the societies involved, relaxing, and creating something memorable! Working with plants is indeed therapeutic and does feel amazing! You can find the dates for our upcoming events on the RGU:Union website or on our social media sites (Facebook/Instagram).

How does Peer Support work?

We are all student volunteers here, and our committee works closely with the RGU:Union. We have a President who does all the main organisations of our events, the recruitment of volunteers and attending meetings with the union. The Co-president has similar responsibilities and steps in if the President is missing.

Then, we have a Communication Officer managing our social media sites, and most of the posts. This is the volunteer who will reply to you if you contact Peer Support.

Finally, we have a Treasurer, managing all the finances of Peer Support and keeping our budget happy…

Plus, we have volunteers without a specific role who help run the events, provide support with ideas and provide listening ears to students during the bi-weekly sessions/events. We always look for more volunteers since the more we are, the more we can help!

How do you think Peer Support benefits others?

We strongly believe that reducing the stigma around mental health has a great and positive outcome on our student’s lives and experiences. By providing a space where anybody can turn to, we have an opportunity to help with anything that otherwise would be brushed under the rug. We also believe that we bring some fun and meaningful events while bringing some possibly underestimated self-help tools and tips. In addition, we give students the chance to talk to other students first in case they feel that asking for professional help would be scary or uncomfortable.

Lastly, we also provide volunteering opportunities, and a variety of skills related to mental health that everybody can benefit from in their life and careers in the future.

To volunteer with Peer Support, contact the team via email: peersupport@rguunion.co.uk

Follow them on Facebook and Instagram for more information.