Mental Health Awareness Week 2023

For the majority of the population, it is still hard to process their emotions and label them the exact way, putting a name to a feeling and describing it is not an easy task to do. We often talk about physical symptoms like anger, frustration, love, and tiredness that show on the outer surface. Still, when it comes to invisible symptoms like mental illnesses it becomes hard to explain.

Mental Health Awareness Week is from 15 to 21 May. Mental health needs more conversations, inclusivity, acceptance and less shame and discrimination. It is important that we talk about our feelings and seek timely help. We prefer to suffer silently because we don’t want to be judged. We don’t open up and speak in support forums because we feel ashamed of our situation. You need to remember that your present mental or emotional state is just a part of you and not YOU and you are allowed to feel various random feelings.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a constant feeling of worrying and sensing danger. It can make you feel tensed and nervous, you might face disturbed sleep patterns, and difficulty in concentrating and focusing on things around you. 

Anxiety also shows physical symptoms like rapid heart palpitations, shortness of breath, headache, sudden anger and constant irritability, which starts to affect your daily routine with your family and friends.

Any mental health disorder needs immediate intervention just like any physical health issue. If left unaddressed it might start causing a lot of internal damage. We need to come out of our zone and think about the bigger picture, if we are able to work on ourselves today and get the needed help in time, we can save ourselves a lot of energy and channelise it on the right path for our future.

How can we help you cope with anxiety?

We encourage our students and staff members to have open and honest conversations about anxiety and to learn about the differences between some of the most common anxiety disorders. We are committed to empowering you by providing you with as much support to help you stay on your course and live a happy life.

Here are a few ways we can support you:

1) Speak Easy:

A student and staff volunteer lead support group that provides community members (both students and staff) with a safe, confidential and informal space that encourages but does not pressure members to speak about their mental health. 

Also read: Filling The Gap With Speak-easy

2) Well-being Wednesday: Every Wednesday our DUSA Advice and Support team and your elected Vice President of Student Wellbeing come up with various stress busters to help you detox.

You can come and enjoy activities like art therapy, dog therapy, DIYs, Dance and Yoga.

3) Advice and Support: Our trained DUSA Advice and Support team is always happy to hear you out and provide you with the best possible solution, you can feel free to reach out and share anything without hesitation.

Events happening at Global room to check out from 15 May to 21 May: