Reflecting on Mentality
The author, historian, and schoolmaster, Sir Anthony Seldon, spoke to Imperial on the subject of mental health
After a successful campaign last academic year, Mentality has succeeded once again in capturing the interests of the staff and student body alike. On the 19th January 2016, Sir Anthony Seldon ‘headlined’ at Mentality’s most recent event, giving an honest and humbling talk about his personal experience of mental health both in and outside the world of education. He spoke about the pressures of university and how looking after oneself often becomes sidelined by students at world class and high pressured institutions such as Imperial College, giving some simple tips for how to achieve better mental health whilst studying.
As a testament to Mentality’s hard work and their impact on campus, approximately 90 people, both students and staff, attended Sir Anthony Seldon’s talk and gave overwhelmingly positive feedback. Additionally, Sir Anthony himself praised Mentality, stating that he was ‘inspired by Mentality’s work and felt honoured to take part in their campaign.’
Mentality has been a highly active and eminent student campaign at Imperial over the past two years and has enabled the completion of the largest student mental health survey ever held at a UK university, receiving over 1000 responses. Armed with this data, Mentality have started to elicit change on campus, with college pledging to prioritise student welfare and mental health for the foreseeable future.
Small, but powerful changes, can already be seen: the counselling service has expanded, signposting of available help has become clearer and personal tutors are being given additional training in mental health.
Nonetheless, there is more work to be done, and continued action is required to ensure that Imperial remains dedicated to changing its attitude to mental health and becoming a happier, more supportive and accepting community. With the upcoming graduation of Mentality’s core over the next couple of years, it is vital that current students (and staff) of all ages, departments and level of study get involved to ensure the continuation of Mentality into the future, so that the movement toward mental health equality on campus does not lose momentum. Mentality aims to leave a lasting legacy at Imperial embodied by a happier and more empowered student (and staff) body.
For more information or to get involved search ‘IC Mentality’ on Facebook.
