In light of the last week of the University’s “Mind your Head Month” which was organised by the Students’ Union to advocate a platform for mental health awareness, we talked to the Political Campaigns Officer of “Peace of Mind” society Ben Marshall about how the University is approaching mental health issues on campus, and why perhaps we should show more consideration for the male voices within this endemic.
What has your role been in campaigning for greater mental health awareness at the University?
I’m the Political Campaigns Officer for “Peace of Mind,” which is a Mental Health society at the University that was created at the start of the year to create a safe space (see our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeaceOfMindUoB/?fref=ts) for students to discuss, and seek support with any issues they are struggling with regarding their mental health, as well as weekly meet-ups in order to instil a positive message of interacting with others and vocalising these experiences. My role this year involved the bureaucratic side to the society; liasoning with the University and the University health service, writing to MPs etc. An example of my which was going to the student council and getting a motion passed that mandates the Students’ Union to lobby the University to always be increasing the funding available for students support services – this includes: student counselling, studnt health, disability services, the lot. It also mandates that they block any attempts by the University to decrease their funding as well.
Who organised the ‘Mind your Head Month’, and what was its significance?
Sarah Redrup, the current elected Student Living Officer for Bristol’s Students’ Union organised the “Mind your Head Month” that ran this May, running on from a similar week-long event that was started last year by her predcessor. In Sarah’s manifesto that preceded her election, she had strong intentions to raise more awareness for mental health problems across the University. She extended the mental health campaign that occured last year by an additional 3 weeks, holding around 3 events each week. This featured entertainment events, discussions and even panel events (one of which I was on) such as ‘Should we still label mental illness?’ which allowed a discussion for the socio-cultural behaviours attached to the symptons of mental health. It’s been significantly positive in bringing people together and creating environments to talk about mental health in a safe and considered environment.
(Photo credits: Bristol SU)
Can you tell us more about the content of the discussions held, and how these are beneficial in raising awareness?
I was a panel member of the discussion evening held earlier this month, alongside other voices such as Natalie Jester-Carter (Bristol Phd researcher into masculinity) entitle ‘Save the Male Debate.’ This discussion looked at the issues of masculinity surrounding male mental health. I offered my opinion that this is a fault of the patriarchy – that it teaches men to fill certain roles that are not conducive to expressive, emotional traits. For instance, men are taught from a young age that it is generally unacceptable for a males to be emotionally vulnerable, that they should instead “suck it up.” If you are lucky enough to confront these anxieties and seek support then that’s great, but even then, there’s still an extra bit of stigma regarding a male that identifies with their emotional vulnerabilities due to this patriarchal way of thought. It was also discussed how a real problem is that men blame feminism – or worse – women for this. Feminism recognizes that women have suffered more at the hands of the patriarchy then men have, but there is not paradox in saying we should be completely egalitarian about how we move forward. The issue with men raising issues regarding their gender could be responsed to by the feminist argument that it is not as difficult as the structural problems faced by women everwhere, and that it is therefore in some way invalid. It is not egalitarian (which feminism should be by principle) to invalidate somebody else’s ‘problem’ (i.e. mental health) because of their gender. It fundementally oppresses the male voice, which correlates to the statistics of male suicide rates against those of women. The point of raising this in discussion was not to say that men are oppressed or need empowerment as a gender, but to suggest there should be an ability to empathise and express one’s feelings without the fear of repercussions. That in talking about the issues surrounding gender and mental health we can come to resolve them and move forward together.
Aside from the SU’s campaign this month, what other approaches have been put in place to prioritise the mental health of students on campus?
Redrup has most significantly ensured some continuity for the issues of mental health. People tend to forget that all mental health issues at the University have a four year life span; everything has to be talked about cyclically in order to maintain the well being of our student body. The mental health societies and the elected officers at the SU have put into motion a tentative relationship between the University and its students. In the context of mental health, we do feel that we have improved the University’s awareness of the problem; they have, in return, responded in fixing it. For instance, Redrup has additionally been working with the University’s student halls to get consent and mental health training for the members of staff; the University has begun paying for mental health first-aid training for staff members, as well as increasing the training of management level stuff. More significantly, the University are starting to listen to the questions we have raised about resources for the Student’s Health Service.
Is the University fully responding to the mental health demands of its students?
Well, the University has identified in their Strategic Review (monitoring the progress of the University) their plans for their colassal budget surplus. This so far involves plans for renovating our Arts and Social Sciences Library (ASS), and to pedestrianize Tyndall’s Avenue. Bigger library facilities are obviously much needed, however I would argue that some of the other surplus budget that they are spending on other projects around the University would be better invested in creating an improved student experience in terms of the support services available. These are vital in maintaining the general well being of our students, and furthermore will better reflect our National Students Survey as a result. The relationship of our slow and steady decline as a reputational institution is going to continue if we do not amend these issues. I think the University needs to respond further to the need of an increase in funding to our support services.
Moving forward – how can we be more aware of the male crisis regarding mental health issues?
The beautiful thing about mental health is that, to make a big difference to a person, you only need to act as an individual – it only starts with saying “How are you?” – or – “You look a bit down lately, how have you been feeling?” The point is not to be surprised if a male dismisses your questioning, he may have not been asked these questions before, but stick at it and encourage men to let loose a bit with their emotions; normalize sharing and dispel stigmatization by being open and communicative. In hope, the more events and the more discussions we hold that confront the issues of mental health and its implications with gender that have resulted in such discomfort, the more resolve and clarity we will find in coming to understand, together, a widely misunderstood endemic.