UoM Wellbeing Week arrives to help students destress

The University of Manchester’s Wellbeing Week, taking place this week in the Students’ Union (SU), will feature a series of free events that have been chosen to ease the stress of academic and other pressures.

Manchester Dogs’ Home will be bringing its rescues to the SU as students will be able to spend time engaging with the therapy dogs in Room 2.5 on the building’s second floor between 11am and 3pm on both Monday and Friday.

Also in Room 2.5 will be a workshop from the PGR Well Bee-ing Project. The Project aims to improve the provision of mental health support and resources for the University of Manchester’s postgraduate community with hopes of easing the feelings of isolation, financial stress and academic pressures that come with pursuing doctoral research. The workshop will take place on Wednesday at 12pm.

There are also events that will be taking place on the ground floor of the SU building. A plant sale will be held all day on Tuesday, whilst a pop-up beautician will be available to cater to students’ pampering needs on Wednesday from 11am.

Wellbeing Week will also consist of a range of physical activities for students who prefer to destress this way. On Thursday at 1:30pm, a one-off yoga class will take place in Room LG.1.

The final day of the event, Monday, 26th November, sees guest speaker Lola Olufemi lead an emotional labour workshop, with the goal to actively help students to deal with overwhelming emotions related to sensitive topics. She will talk about recognising emotional labour, in particular within the context of the day-to-day life of marginalised people and liberation activism.

Whilst working as the women’s officer at Cambridge University, Olufemi gained prominence last year when she sent the English department, at which she was a student, an open letter criticising the lack of black and ethnic minority authors on her reading list.

Olufemi will present her views to attendees in Room 2.5 at 2pm.

Wellbeing Week arrives in the wake of the news that a third of freshers are experiencing a mental health disorder and financial struggles are affecting the mental health of the wider student population to an equally worrying level.

To find out more about Wellbeing Week, visit the Students’ Union’s website.