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A student-led initiative
Our Mind Your Mood campaign is now in its fifth year and thanks to the generosity of efforts and donations from staff, students and alumni it continues to develop year on year, as each MYM Coordinator placement student makes it their own. This is truly a student-led initiative and one we hope we can maintain for years to come thanks to our Ulster University community.
At Ulster University, we recognise the pressures faced by students in higher education and aim to help students to better manage their mental health and wellbeing.
Staff, students and graduates come together to raise funds for our Mind Your Mood programme, a dedicated initiative – coordinated by Ulster students for Ulster students.
Our students, staff, alumni and friends participate in a number of regular fundraising initiatives including races and marathons, cycles, coffee mornings, abseils and much more.
Mind Your Mood, managed by Student Wellbeing, is an innovative student-led initiative which aims to raise awareness and encourage our students to talk about their mental health by facilitating a range of fun themed events, training courses and wellbeing activities.
Mind Your Mood also gives our students the ability to earn credits toward an Edge Award by volunteering their time to the campaign and receiving training as Mind Your Mood Ambassadors.
What we deliver
- Interactive workshops
- Student engagement activities on campus
- Ambassador programme
- Resilience sessions
- Online Yoga sessions
- Student Minds’ ‘Look after your mate’ training
- Safetalk suicide alertness training
Programme outcomes
- Encourage students to normalize talking about their mental health
- Reduce the stigma around mental health for our students, letting them know it’s ok not to feel okay and it’s definitely ok to ask for help
- Help students learn tools and strategies to improve their mental wellbeing and resilience
- Recruit and train student Mind your Mood Ambassadors to support campaign initiatives and get Edge Accreditation through the Mind Your Mood Awards
- Empower students to support each other through wellbeing challenges
- Mindfulness for all – an integrated approach
Mindfulness for all – an integrated approach
It is widely known that men are more susceptible to stigma when it comes to accessing support for mental health.
The Mind Your Mood team recognised this and ran a trial programme with the Ulster University men’s GAA team, with money raised from fundraising events.
Working in partnership with Ulster’s Gaelic Games Development Co-Ordinator, we embedded the initiative as part of the team’s regular training sessions. The programme was tailored to deliver key tools for maintaining positive mental health for life.
This trial demonstrates how the Mind Your Mood message can be delivered flexibly to students outside of just an academic setting.
“It was a very beneficial programme that the students valued greatly. It was delivered in an interactive and a unique way to students who may otherwise have been apprehensive about discussing the subject of mental health.”
Paul Rouse, Gaelic Games Development Co-Ordinator