The Tab sits down with Student Minds blog editor

In the wake of Week 8, the burnout is probably hitting, if it didn’t hit you in week two. So it seems all the more important that the Tab sat down with Preksha Jain, a first-year PBS student at Lucy Cav about her role with Student Minds!

(Image Credits: Preksha Jain)

Preksha is part of the student editorial team for the Student Mind Blog and described her role as editor of the “largest UK mental health blog.” She said that they get “loads of submissions every day” and her main role is “to edit them and work with the writer to come up with constructing a god piece that they’re happy with.”

These blog posts can be on different subjects to do with mental health, from managing stress and burnout to discussions of specific mental illnesses. She said that the blog can be a really useful source of information for students to reassure them that there are other people who may be going through similar experiences and where people can access help.

(Image Credits: Author’s own screenshot)

We spoke about why charities like Student Minds are so important at university, especially when “Cambridge can be so stressful”, particularly in terms of “intensity and duration” which is especially “daunting just coming out of high school.”

We spoke about academic burnout and Preksha expressed her hope in a reading week to help elevate the pressures of Week Five “but until then I think that really compounds the feelings of academic burnout and there’s this constant need to keep performing academically.”

She stressed the importance of taking a step back after recently writing an article about academic burn out and we agreed that we “don’t know a single person not going through that right now” or at least something similar.

She shared how breaking “big tasks into smaller tasks” has helped her manage pressure and stress giving the example of “if you have a book to read, I would break it down into reading a chapter” and “make notes on chapter two.

“it’s not a big thing but it kind of makes you feel like you can break things down and deal with and approach it more, it makes me feel more put together.” Which is a real top tip!

She also shared this piece of advice you “don’t have this expectation of yourselves to reach the maximum for every single essay like it’s OK to be just OK. I think that’s a major thing that a lot of students need to go right now that you don’t always have to have it put together and have the most perfect submissions.”

Preksha said that what helps her cope is “just being with friends like being with my comfort zone being with people who talk about things apart from work so like for a couple of hours every day just put like the work behind you and think about other things that make you happy.”

Preksha also shared with me her own struggles that led her to get “involved in mental health-related charities even back home.” She explained that as an international student it can “feel very difficult to feel like you’re at home and settled in when you are thousands and thousands of miles away from your comfort zone.

“It’s the smaller things like adjusting to a new lifestyle that can be so daunting, but when you go on to things like student minds and read the blogs and articles with people who are going through the exact same thing it’s really comforting.”

We spoke about the Cambridge branch of student minds and the events that they run throughout the term which “always includes dog therapy.” There are also often panel events such as the most recent Panel discussion for Eating Disorder awareness week with mental health campaigner Hope Virgo.

She also informed me that the charity has specific Camfess responders who reply to Camfess submissions, with help advice and direction of how and where people can access help.

Preksha also added that Student Minds and Student Minds Cambridge will always welcome people who are looking to get involved, if you are interested in writing for or editing the blog, you can look at the student Minds website here, as well as the Student Minds Cambridge website here. 

Feature Image Credits: Matilda Head

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