SU’s “Are You Ok?” campaign launched on Tuesday

The SU’s “Are You Ok?” mental health campaign launched on Tuesday, which aims to promote open discussion about mental health.

Similar to the “It’s OK not to be OK” campaign last year, it encourages students to check up on each other, and to ask how they are doing.

October’s theme was “transition”, and Tuesday addressed the changes both new and returning students face in the first few weeks of university.

Events included transitioning into a veggie lifestyle, mindfulness and meditation.

Naomi Hyde, President of Warwick Mind Aware, said: “Personally, I thought the day went really well. It was wonderful to see so many societies and sports clubs getting involved in the campaign, and I can’t wait to see what the other campaign days have in store.”

Welfare and Campaigns Officer, Chloe Wynne, put the idea of “Are You OK?” in her SU election manifesto, and she is thrilled with the success so far. She said: “I’m so happy with the day on the whole, as I feel like many students are now familiar with the campaign name at least, and now going forward we can really start to build on that and deliver some top events to go alongside.

“I think there is room for improvement, but in a positive way – we can only go one way with this: getting increased engagement with mental health.

“I’ve been grateful to various stakeholders at the university who have offered opportunities to collaborate, so for the next day on 24th November there are some film screenings, mindfulness events, and potentially some outreach work in the pipeline.”

Ultimately, the aim was not to confine Mental Health discussion to the one specific period of Mental Health Awareness Week. She added: “I wanted to make it a regular feature of the university calendar.

“I’m hoping to start a conversation on campus, and inspire an environment that is concerned with mental well-being and able to express that.”

The next day of the campaign is scheduled for Thursday 28th November, Week 8. The theme will be “Housing”, and is a week before the SU’s Housing Day.