In Archaeology we recognise that the stresses and strains of daily life can sometimes bring mental pressures. In 2020-21 Coronavirus has brought additional anxieties – worry about family and friends, bereavement, illness and lockdown, loneliness, home-caring and many other new challenges. Not being able to welcome Students and Staff into the Department in person has meant that creating a sense of community and connection has been so much harder.
In the last few years we have held in-person get togethers for Time to Talk Day with staff and students sharing their experiences of mental health issues and support and working together to remove some of the stigmas around these issues.
This year, the Staff in Archaeology wanted to do something supportive that demonstrates that we understand the pressures and challenges, thatwe feel them ourselves, and that we want to do as much as we can to help our students, if things are proving really difficult, whether that’s around coursework or assessments, managing work and caring, or just feeling low and unmotivated in these difficult times.
So to mark Time to Talk Day staff have produced a ‘Top Tips’ help sheet on ways of maintaining mental wellbeing. These are things we do ourselves to encourage wellbeing and positivity in a time of significant work and home pressures. We can’t guarantee these, but we think they help us manage our work/ life challenges a little better! From meditation to crosswords to growing plants, staff have listed 12 easy options for taking time out and time for self-care.
In addition, today on Time to Talk Day, our Mental Health First Aiders will be on hand on email and Teams/Zoom. They are there if students feel they need someone to talk to. Their contact details are below:please do reach out if you are feeling in crisis, or are over whelmed . We are here to help in whatever way we can.
We are committed to supporting our students and staff around mental health and mental well-being and in these winter months of lockdown we recognise this is more important than ever. This page offers a range of links to support tools as well.
Department Mental Health First-Aiders and times available for a meeting on Time to Talk Day
We are committed to supporting our students and staff around mental health and mental well-being and in these winter months of lockdown we recognise this is more important than ever. A range of links below offers access to a number of support tools, from guidance on meditation to a new free student App called Miindset.
Time to Talk Day Virtual Festival -https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/time-talk-day/get-involved/virtual-festival
The Mighty Mental Health pages - https://themighty.com/topic/mental-health/
Free mediation trial with Headspace -https://www.headspace.com/covid-19
Mental Health Advice- https://www.dur.ac.uk/counselling.service/mhadvice/
Mental Health Support at DU - https://www.dur.ac.uk/counselling.service/mhadvice/mhsupport/
Self refer to a GP for mental health - https://gateway.mayden.co.uk/referral-v2/c53195d6-f6db-4e81-bda3-63dcc7b81449
Support and Wellbeing at Durham- https://www.dur.ac.uk/experience/support/
Top Tips from our staff
