Vuong Nhat Thanh Ngo is a Student Wellbeing Adviser at Queen Mary. In this short piece, he explains his role and how students can access and benefit from wellbeing support.
Student Wellbeing Advisers (SWA) work remotely and within the Advice and Counselling Service, located in the Geography Building on Mile End campus. This means appointments can be online (MS Teams) or in-person. They provide individual support and strategies to implement on issues impacting university life such as stress, anxiety, time management, relaxation, organisation, low mood, meeting new people and transitioning to university.
Student Wellbeing Advisers can make appropriate suggestions to help create a plan to improve students well-being. These include (but are not limited to): building a daily routine, a sleep hygiene plan, healthy nutrition, practicing mindfulness and social engagement. One of my favourite aspects of being a SWA is seeing students make positive lifestyle changes and seeing how this allows them to flourish in other areas of their university lives!
Here is an example situation in which a SWA can assist a student:
After receiving lower marks than you had hoped for, you might struggle with motivation to do your next piece of academic work and find yourself in a negative cycle of leaving it to the last minute. This perpetuates some anxiety that results in further delaying the tasks and feelings of dread and failure.
A Student Wellbeing Adviser can support to:
To book an appointment, students can complete a referral form through their MySIS account. A session can last up to 60 minutes and are booked in based on the availability you provide.
Students can also access Drop-In slots, that run from 2-3pm every weekday. These are bookable in person at the Advice and Counselling Service reception desk, or for an online appointment they can e-mail welfare@qmul.ac.uk to make a request.
Any student can work together with a Student Wellbeing Adviser for up to six appointments. Longer-term support may be available if needed!
Besides the 1-1 work we do, Student Wellbeing Advisers also work on university wide projects to promote student wellbeing in line with the NHS 5 Ways to Wellbeing. For example, I enjoy teaching regular mindfulness meditation programmes throughout the year. You might also see us at Welcome Events or Wellbeing Fairs organised by your school!
As distance learning becomes more prevalent, I feel that the university has been successful in transitioning many of the services online. I would love to see more online spaces that allow student to meet and get to know each other online. Living away from campus can be isolating, and I think many distant learner students could benefit from talking to each other and sharing their university experience. I believe Togetheral is a great example of a forum which encourages students to share about how they are feeling, and I believe more virtual social spaces would be a great way to bring everyone together!