Societies are all about enjoyment and involvement, but what if you could make a difference at the same time? As exciting as joining Harry Potter Soc is, perhaps you feel that a society should work to reduce current social problems. Have no fear: there is a lot more to joining a campaigning society than pestering people to confront unrelenting issues or shaking buckets vehemently at passers-by.
Take Warwick Mind Aware, for instance. A relatively new society, it works to reduce social stigma of mental health problems and raise awareness of the psychological challenges faced by students on a daily basis. Alongside raising awareness, the society’s termly campaigns are created by the members to offer support for those suffering from often-taboo disorders.
The society works on a regular level: planning meetings for campaigns run weekly on Mondays, where exec members direct members into groups to pool ideas and create adverts, posters, or plan for events. Although Mental Health Awareness Week is where Mind Aware comes alive properly (with a week-long schedule of guest-speakers, film viewings, awareness and support events, and demonstrations), the society last year also made videos for the big screen, poster campaigns, de-stress days in the exam period. ‘Time to Talk’ events are hosted in the Arts Centre and student panels attract large audiences.
In my second year of being a member, I sat down with Mind Aware President Naomi Hyde to explore what the society means to her.
“I have experience with mental health issues so joining was an obvious choice” she explains, “there’s always been a lot of stigma and misunderstanding so I wanted to raise awareness of mental health problems themselves.”
Raising awareness has always been the aim of the society, but Naomi is confident that this is not purely going to be limited to campus.
“I want to run bigger and better campaigns that target the whole of campus, but as a society I’d like to go beyond what is expected of us. This year we are volunteering in schools alongside MedMinds [the Warwick Medical School organisation] and organising discussion groups so people can informally get their problems and stress out in the open.”
Recently, a study revealed that the University of Warwick has the fourth worst provisions for combatting mental illness out of all UK universities surveyed. It is the University’s responsibility to provide funded resources and professionals to support students, but clearly, this is not happening. Mind Aware, an audacious bunch of students daring to speak out about what others choose to ignore, are trying to fill the gaps left by student support services.
“With a greater membership, I believe we can change that figure. Our society offers a lot that others don’t – everyone is equal and has their own equal say in what campaigns eventually run and how we decide to run them. Other sports clubs or societies have a sense of hierarchy amongst the exec and the members, but we try to keep that at bay. You can get involved in as much or as little as you like: socials, campaign creation, campaign running, and volunteering.”
Naomi and her exec team are warm and welcoming, taking in new members whenever they feel like joining. Meetings are held usually in Humanities or Social Sciences on Mondays at 6-7pm, with announcements for rooms on the Warwick Mind Aware Facebook page and Twitter.