JADE Issue 13 - November 2021 | Page 54

from peers , tutors , support services and other professionals . Engaging the students in awareness of their own wellbeing needs was an important part of this process .
Our Mentimeter poll had six questions :
1 . Since you started at Keele , has your mental health : Stayed the same ? Got better ? Got worse ?
2 . What are the top 3 things affecting your mental health since coming to Keele ?
3 . How do you feel when things go wrong ? Try to sum it up in one word .
4 . How do you know when you ’ re not OK ? Give up to 3 examples .
5 . How do you look after yourself when you ’ re not OK ?
6 . What one thing will you take away from this session ?
Questions 2-6 were designed to generate word clouds .
Out of a cohort of approximately 180 , around 55 students attended the session ( 30 %). We did not keep a register so as to preserve anonymity , but we received a maximum of 55 individual responses to the Mentimeter poll , so we assumed that this corresponded roughly to the number of attendees . The responses are discussed below .
Responses
Students ’ responses to the first question confirmed what the research had suggested : 55 % of our audience ( 30 out of 55 responses ) had already experienced a decline in their mental health during their first six weeks at Keele Law School . This gave the panel an opportunity to talk about our own past experiences as Law students , as part of the process of normalisation and de-stigmatisation . It was important to begin this process early in the session , to foster a supportive and inclusive atmosphere . We illustrated this part of the discussion with a PowerPoint slide showing a range of public figures who have suffered mental health problems ; we made sure to include a plurality of ethnicities , genders , and
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