University of Bristol students have come together to host a free wellbeing conference open to students, staff and members of the public.
The conference, which is themed ‘Looking to the Future’, is being held on University Mental Health Day and will feature a mix of discussions, workshops and creative exhibitions.
The organisers hope that the event will encourage an open dialogue between attendees about wellbeing in the university and wider community.
The Bristol Wellbeing Conference is a collaborative event which is being hosted by the Bristol SU Wellbeing and Education Networks, and the Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching.
The keynote speaker will be Dr Dominique Thompson, an award winning GP, young people’s mental health expert, TEDx speaker, author and educator. Having previously been the Director of Service at the University of Bristol Students’ Health Service, Dominique has now launched her own student health and wellbeing consultancy to assist organisations in improving their student support offer.
Ellie Leopold, Chair of the Wellbeing Network and one of the event organisers, said:
“We wanted to set up the conference as a way of celebrating the progress that has been made with wellbeing at the university, but also recognise the changes that still need to happen.
It’s really exciting that this is a completely student-led conference and we hope that lots of people come and engage with this important issue.
I’m particularly looking forward to the morning panel discussion on the student mental health and wellbeing survey. Bristol is one of the few UK universities to assess and report on student mental health and I think that’s something to be celebrated. To realise the potential of the survey though, we need much greater student engagement and the Bristol Wellbeing Conference is the perfect platform from which to kickstart the future of wellbeing at our university!”
The conference will also feature a panel to look at the Future of Wellbeing in the Curriculum, reflection on the University of Bristol Mental Health and Wellbeing Student Survey results and a series of workshops and panels.
The conference will take place on Thursday 5 March and tickets can be booked online.