#1in4 (You’re Not Alone) is RUSU’s campaign to tackle the mental health crisis many students suffer from whilst at university.
It can be a very difficult and confusing time when you’re struggling with your mental health, particularly with the portrayal of mental health in the media, and we want all students at Reading to know that you’re alone.
What does 'Mental Health' actually mean?
Often, people associate the term ‘mental health’ with having a mental illness. A mental health charity, Mind, offer a really good explanation of what mental health means:
In many ways, mental health is just like physical health: everybody has it and we need to take care of it.
Good mental health means being generally able to think, feel and react in the ways that you need and want to live your life. But if you go through a period of poor mental health you might find the ways you're frequently thinking, feeling or reacting become difficult, or even impossible, to cope with. This can feel just as bad as a physical illness, or even worse.
Mental health problems affect around one in four people in any given year. They range from common problems, such as depression and anxiety, to rarer problems such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Tell us your experience
We are collecting feedback from students about their mental health and support services available.
If you have 5 minutes please fill in our survery.
Your feedback is valuable regardless of whether you have struggled with your mental health. Please share with your friends too.
Top tips
As part of the campaign we wanted to give you tools to have positive coping mechanisms for your mental health alongside lobbying for improved mental health provisions at the university. We know that it can be hard to find things that work for you when you’re trying to improve your mental health so we asked you for your top tips, here are some ideas!