Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great day so far.
My name is Maan. But wait, something doesn't feel right.
That's more like it! It's Movember right now
And I'm in my second year studying
architectural environment engineering.
I am here today to talk about mental well-being with you.
As men, we almost never talk about our
mental health and that needs to change. As a part of BeU Week
I'm here to highlight the wide range of
ways you can get support with the Uni.
With some examples of how I got support
It was about around three weeks into the first term
after freshers week. On a Wednesday
I just stormed out of one of my lectures
and started making my way towards student services.
All the way to the journey towards student services
I was pumped and ready to ask to change course.
But as soon as I got there, there was this feeling,
this fear that I can't describe. I was scared that I was going to lose
my place on my current course and there
would be no spaces on any other courses.
Eventually one of my friends caught up to me and
found the outside Student Services. - Take small steps
don't just rush into it, don't just go
We're going to Student Services to swap the course...
Why don't we just go inside fresh and we went inside and
then I was: why don't we join the queue because it's quite long.
You kind of, calmed down a little bit
and stressed out a bit less. - After some talking
I worked up the courage to go
inside and see if I could possibly change
course. - We were talking about reasons why you want to leave
reasons why he wants to stay.
I was scared that I'm going to withdraw from my current course
not be able to change course and just be stuck
not knowing what to do with my life
But luckily, that didn't happen.
Then a month goes by. Around November last year I took
part in The Great Escape Challenge
that premise of the challenge is basically you
want to get as far away from your starting location
Nottingham in this case, as possible within 36 hours
So I was taking part in this challenge
and my partner was a last minute arrangement
My friend who I was going to do it with
dropped out last minute so I had to do it someone else
This challenge started
we got to London and we had coach tickets to Paris
and it was around nine PM, but I panicked!
I didn't know the person I was going with that well
and I didn't want to go to Paris with them
So I found myself in the middle of
London alone at night not knowing what to do
I wound up going to Victoria Coach Station alone that night
I'm just staying up till two AM to get the first coach back to
Nottingham. I made my way to Nottingham on a two AM coach that
made me arrive at Nottingham at five AM
and straight when I was back around five thirty
without even dropping off my bag
I went straight to one of my friends flats and off
that the next week was probably the worst week of my Uni life
We just kind of saw each other as and when we were in
the flat. Obviously we hadn't spoken to you in a little bit
...we thought you were still maybe away
Because if you knock of your door
you wouldn't answer [Oh I didn't do anything]
It wouldn't even be like "ah he's in"
So we were just like OK he's not in. The entire next week
I spent within my room
I didn't go to any lectures
didn't go to any societies
and pretty much didn't even speak to anyone.
I'd wake up, I look at my phone for
a couple hours and then just fall back asleep.
That's what I did for
a whole week and then I realised it was time to change.
So I got some help from 'The Orchards' on campus
The Orchards are a student counselling service that's
free and accessible to all students
even right now online
A couple of months go by and it's January
I want to make an interactive poster
for one of my coursework assignments.
So I wanted to make a poster.
We're spinning wheel as compared to just poster that
everyone else made by just by printing it out from their design
But making spinning poster is
exponentially harder than just printing out a poster
So I needed help from one of my lecturers
In anything you do actually
you need to remember that there is a chance of
of things not going the way you plan
But what is interesting is that in, in learning
in this sort of collaborative learning
the chance of having to do it again or
or having to think about an improvement
This is precisely the core of learning
I felt out of place being the only one in the room with
a poster that isn't just a big piece of
paper printed out with my design on it
But the day before my poster was supposed to be presented
the spinner broke and I needed help
The episode of this trial and error example
the honest reaction that everybody felt in terms of, wow
this is, this is good
but it didn't work as planned
but it's still very good
I think that is super important in
our life the answers are no longer written in books
I mean, there is no recipe for things we do
so we need to construct our own definitions
Especially now with this uncertainty and the way
things are turning around so quickly
The certainty for us is that we need to make
a proper response from ourselves to our context
I had to go find glue to fix my poster thirty minutes
before it's due to be presented
I got some help from my lecturer
and it all worked out in the end. My lecturer
even asked to keep my poster
but he couldn't find space for it in the department
so I got to keep it
So to summarise this video
you can get help from your friends
from student services, from student counselling services
your lecturers, your personal
tutors, whatever you're struggling with
There's always help available in a multitude of ways
There's a range of ways you can get help
And you should, especially now
that it's hard to see people in person
it's hard to make friends
You should be seeking help if you need it.