By James Carter, Campaigns and External Communications Officer, Peace of Mind Society
The Croft Magazine // Peace of Mind is a society set up to promote wellbeing and community. James Carter tells us how they help and reveals their plans for the year ahead.
Like a seat in the ASS Library after 12:00pm, maintaining good mental health at UoB is not accessible enough by conventional means. Still haunted by so many student tragedies, it is necessary that we look out for one another. Thankfully, our student community has lit the beacon for change. Thanks to their tireless work, Bristol now has several societies which aim to improve the wellbeing of our student population.
![](https://epigram.org.uk/content/images/2019/09/peaceofmind2-1.png)
One of these is Peace of Mind – on whose committee I now sit! I became increasingly involved with the society in the 2018-19 academic year after attending the society’s weekly drop-in event, ‘Positivitea’, on a whim one day.
Positivitea, the society’s core weekly event, invites students to come along to the SU living room (fourth floor, Senate House) and join in as much as they want with that week’s creative activity. Be it brownie-making, board games, origami or just having a chat, Positivitea gave me a community and structure I never realised I needed, which maintained and improved my mental health.
I now find myself looking forward to going along every week! And I’m not the only one: a second year Chemistry student told me attending Positivitea made her feel 'a lot calmer'.
But PoM’s activities don’t stop there. Last year saw some incredible events, including a Stoke Bishop wellbeing series in North Village, making hedgehogs from recycled books in the Wills Memorial Library, and a huge Wellbeing Fete.
This year the society is even more ambitious: we’re currently in the process of planning several joint events with other societies including RAG and Healthy Planet Bristol.
Finding help with your wellbeing at universityContent warning: discussion of suicide If you are struggling with your mental health or wellbeing at university, you are not alone. Hannah from our Peace of Mind: UoB Mental Health Society highlights Positivitea!, which runs in the SU Living Room every Wednesday in term-time, 12 - 2pm. Thank you so much Hannah for sharing your story. You can also: - Visit www.bristol.ac.uk/students/wellbeing - Contact the Student Wellbeing Service === Next month we are running our Mind Your Head wellbeing campaign in partnership with Bristol SU Wellbeing Network. Check out the event listings at www.bristolsu.org.uk/mindyourhead. === The SU Living Room - where much of this was filmed - opened in December 2018 and since then has had 700 visitors per day! Find out more about how Bristol SU represents you >> www.bristolsu.org.uk/impact
Posted by Bristol SU on Monday, 15 April 2019
On top of this, PoM has new events ‘Creativitea’ and ‘Activitea’, pub quizzes, morning dances with free breakfasts, a return to North Village, help with academic advice and a collaboration with Beets 'n' Roots restaurant.
But perhaps our most ambitious project for the new year is our buddy system. How many times have you wanted to go to an event but felt nervous about it and had no one to go with? Our new PoM buddy system aims to put a stop to this by offering a volunteer to go along with anyone to any society to try it out! Anyone interested need only ask the society.
The student community is at the heart of what we do.
Alongside Student Body in Mind, Beat This Together and the Wellbeing Network, Peace of Mind is a wellbeing society run by and for students. There’s nothing like a strong network of people looking out for each other to protect our mental health.
To quote one final year Cellular and Molecular Medicine student, PoM offers 'a friendly and safe community'; isn’t this exactly what our University needs?
I hope to meet you soon at a Peace of Mind event!
*If you don’t know the ASS Library yet, you will before long!
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