The Mental Health and Student Well-being Working Group has been working together to look at the current provisions within the University based on mental health support. We’ve had a massive win for this, and I will be working with Student and Academic Services on creating a Well-being Policy for over the next year which will mandate the University to take a stance on mental health. This is a massive win for the Union and I’m so proud of everyone who helped us lobby for mental health to be prioritised.

Consultation has almost finished, and the preliminary report has been completed and submitted to the University. The final deadline for the report is in April and I’m really happy to see so many students feed in to this. We have now consulted with over 450 students to develop a better understanding of what you want improved about your Halls of Residence!

We are now looking at making a bid for some funding which will be invested in to the local community and how we can make local areas around the University safer. This is a priority I want to take over in to my second term in office, but for now, we have been focusing on making our own outlets safer. Through the Safe Spaces Policy, and the Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment, along with the Yellow Card Scheme, we have seen a reduction in incidents occurring in our outlets. Now, this doesn’t mean it’s not happening by all means, but we’re one step closer to making our outlets safer!

With the last liberation month almost over, I’m incredibly happy that the four liberation officers have been empowered to run inspiring months. At the beginning of my Sabb year, I wanted to give more responsibility to the liberation officers, which I have done, and now that the four of them each have a priority campaign as well as the month I’m incredibly happy to have seen progress for this priority and lay the foundations for many years and officers to come!

I have worked with the CEO, and Office Manager, on how we can make our Union more equal, diverse, and inclusive. This is part of a bigger project that I will carry forward in to next year but for now, we are working on a strategic plan that the Union can work towards to make our Union more representative of the student body which includes more training for full time Union staff!

I’m incredibly proud of the Welfare Committee and their passion and dedication to all things Welfare! They have held me to account, scrutinised my work, and worked with me to develop two strategies around mental health and equality, diversity, and inclusion. I’m excited that the introduction of the Welfare Committee was a huge success, and I’m excited to develop the committee even further next year!