About:
PROJECT:TALK QMUL offers students at Queen Mary and Barts the opportunity to facilitate, develop and improve their mental fitness through; gaining skills, and changing the view of mental fitness, through workshops, information talk and socials!
We also will host fundraising events for the project:talk initiative, supporting the volunteers in the peer support scheme.
We want everyone to feel very welcome to learn and have fun in this society! Feel free to join to discuss ways of improving your mental fitness, helping others with theirs, and/or just having a nice chat in a safe space!
This society is affiliated with the PROJECT:TALK Community Interest Company, so we will provide events through WALK TO:TALK (actively increasing mental fitness) and TOOLS TO:TALK (workshops, speakers, events).
Society aims:
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To help raise awareness and change the attitude towards mental health and pioneering mental fitness through; engaging with Mental Fitness training, events, campaigns and fundraisers
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To empower its members with the tools, language and confidence to have more supportive and effective conversations with others about mental health and mental fitness
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To hold regular social events and activities designed to support the mental fitness of its members and act as a networking opportunity for those involved in supporting the mental health and mental fitness of students at QMUL.
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Allowing members to have a safe space to discuss mental fitness, facilitating supportive conversation to learn from each other and move forwards positively
How to get involved/memberships:
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Like and join the Facebook page and get in contact with the committee members.
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Follow us on Instagram @projecttalkqmul
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Purchase your membership online (varying levels)
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Attend your first session! (Feel free to email/message the society or any committee members before joining a session so we can introduce you!)
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Enjoy! Take part in the sessions, fundraising activities and events!
Project:TALK committee:
- President: Wiktoria Jazwinska
- Treasurer: Deepsee Dwivedi
- Welfare officer: Beatrix Andrews
WANT TO:TALK?
FOR STUDENTS, BY STUDENTS
Request to chat to a volunteer
PROJECT:TALK is a non-profit organisation with a mission to change the way we view mental health by pioneering fitness. The scheme works by pairing trained student volunteers with students in need of support for a friendly, supportive chat, with the aim of helping to look out after the mental health of our student community. Starting in response to the Covid-19 restrictions, PROJECT:TALK Bristol created a remote peer support scheme to connect students to talk about mental health which is now available at QMUL.
Being a student can always be challenging, but the past two years have been particularly difficult for a lot in the student community who have not only experienced the effects of a global pandemic but have faced personal difficulties too. Unfortunately, loneliness seems to be at an all-time high based on the feedback collected by the SU, and we hope that this initiative will be useful to those who need it to combat loneliness and prioritise mental wellbeing.
It is always important to take care of your mental health and sometimes just talking to someone about your life can be a great way to process your feelings or feel listened to. WANT: TO TALK is not a substitute for professional support or counselling, but is for those seeking an informal space to be listened to.
If you have any questions about the scheme, you can contact us at qmul-pss@projecttalk.org.uk
Access mental health support/help in a crisis
WANT: TO TALK is not a professional service and we are not equipped to deal with emergencies or crisis situations. This scheme is for non-urgent, informal support only. If you're worried about your safety or that of someone else or need urgent support you can visit the University's page on accessing help in a crisis here.
If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, call 999.
For non-urgent professional support, you can contact the University's Advice and Counselling Service by filling out the contact form, or you can find more information about support services here.
You can get involved in WANT: TO TALK either by signing up as a volunteer or by requesting to chat with one of our volunteers. If you would like to arrange a one-to-one chat with one of our volunteers, you can do so by filling out a simple form and someone will be in touch to arrange a call.
Each one-to-one chat will last around 30 minutes and will be a friendly and relaxed outlet for any student to discuss what they are dealing with. Both the student and volunteer will have the opportunity to submit feedback to our team after each conversation to ensure everybody is comfortable and getting the experience they deserve and to let us know if you’d like to talk again.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, we anticipate most calls will be via telephone or online, however, if both parties decide they want to meet up in a public space for the meeting, you can also do this in places such as coffee shops.
Request to chat with someone
If you are feeling lonely or isolated due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, or just fancy a chat with another student, fill in the form below and one of our trained volunteers will be in contact to have a one-to-one call via video call, at a time that suits you. These calls will be friendly and relaxed, and we hope they will provide you with an opportunity to discuss what you might be going through. We at PROJECT:TALK QMSU know that by openly engaging with our peers about what is going on in our lives, we can find the comfort and support we need.
Please note, PROJECT:TALK QMSU is not a professional service and we are not equipped to deal with emergencies. If you need to access help urgently, please see the section below. If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, call 999.
Request to chat to a volunteer
Volunteer with us
The PROJECT:TALK Peer Support Scheme is able to run because of the student volunteers who are interested in supporting their fellow students through conversational peer support. If you have thirty minutes or more to spare each week and enjoy listening to others, why not sign up to take part?
Volunteers will be provided with comprehensive training from the PROJECT:TALK team in order to ensure they are equipped to offer appropriate peer support to fellow students. The training sessions will be mandatory and following each session, there will be a short quiz.
Volunteers can decide how many 30-minute sessions they would like to take part in each week, and this can be reviewed depending on your availability. There will be a small amount of additional work involved in arranging sessions and filling out feedback forms.
We are not currently recruiting volunteers for PROJECT:TALK QMSU.
Contact details:
If you have any questions feel free to drop us a message via email at: projecttalk.qmulpss@gmail.com