This month's way to wellbeing spotlight is on Connect

Each week in September, the focus will be on a different element of Connect and we'll be producing material to support and promote this. Please visit the other items in this menu for more details.

Don't forget, if you want to plan your own activity and need inspiration, examples of previous events can be found here. As face to face activities aren't possible during the current situation, we'd love to hear from you with alternative suggestions. Please send these to studentsupport@manchester.ac.uk.

Resources

You can find ready-made resources here or, if you want to create your own, visit the University's brandsite for the assets you'll need (you'll need to scroll down a little to get to them!).

If creating your own, you’ll need to buy InDesign (in Adobe Creative Cloud) from the University's Electronic Software Delivery system.

You should also ask IT to install the University fonts, they can do this simply for you here.

Social media

Don't forget to follow us on instagram: @uomwellbeing.

Every Wednesday the Wellbeing Team will be promoting positive wellbeing to encourage students to take care of themselves during these uncertain times. 

We'll be handpicking different events and activites students can take part in throughout the day at home - from mindfulness sessions to live gigs.

This will be promoted through our instagram page @uomwellbeing and on our student support website. You can find a clickable PDF schedule for the day here, this will be updated every Tuesday. Further assets for social media can be found below.

If you'd like to run your own activities to promote positive wellbeing and need some inspiration, take a look at this event ideas page. Due to the current situation, we know that face to face activities won't be possible so if you have any suggestions for alternative events, we'd love to hear from you: studentsupport@manchester.ac.uk

Remember to use the hashtag #uomwellbeingwednesdays in any social media posts!

Suggested copy for newsletters etc:

Looking for a wellbeing boost? Every Wednesday your Wellbeing Team will be running ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays!'. These Wednesdays will include wellbeing events and activities that you can take part in from home throughout the day - from mindfulness sessions to live gigs. Follow @uomwellbeing to get involved!

Assets:

(Right-click to save images- social media and instagram story assets will be updated every Tuesday)

We know that this is a very unusual Start of Year for all. It’s natural for our students to be nervous and some may have concerns about staying safe. It’s always good to be cautious, but sometimes these concerns can become overwhelming and start to interfere with everyday life. With this in mind, we have put together some resources that can help relieve worries around health and safety.

We have produced a pack of new and existing resources which can be used to alleviate nerves and worry that you can circulate with new and returning students.

We have also updated our Be Healthy page with some new information around health related anxieties and further support.

It’s key that in these uncertain times students follow the latest University and Government guidance.

University is an exciting time for many students – a new city, new friends and new responsibilities. It’s a huge change in a short space of time and for a lot of students it’s the first time living away from home. This means it can often feel difficult for some students to settle into their new surroundings. Nerves about getting to grips with University life is something a lot of students go through. Our returners may also experience similar feelings, as this year looks very different to what they might be used to.

With this in mind we have created a pack of resources to help students with settling in, covering everything from personalising your room to looking after yourself.

We also have a dedicated settling in page on our website which you can share with students.

Continuing with the theme of settling in, with the added caveat that students may be finding getting used to the ‘new normal’ quite difficult, and could be experiencing homesickness as a result.

Once teaching begins, some students may find the new ways of learning hard to adjust to, and this could serve as a reminder that their University experience is very different to what they might have expected. We would encourage students to look after their wellbeing during this time, and you may like to direct students the wellbeing page on the welcome site, that is a one stop shop for wellbeing resources and support for settling in during this period.

One particularly useful resource on the page, that we also shared last week, is our settling in pack that you may like to share if you haven’t already.  

We have created a short infographic which can be shared with your students to address some of the ways to alleviate homesickness.

Due to the current situation, we've asked the student Wellbeing Champions for feedback and suggestions of activities they'd like to run. We'll add content here as soon as we know more.