Holocaust Survivor Read all about Tomi Reichental’s visit to NUI Galway. Page 7
As Gaeilge
Autumn Scenes
Read our exclusive interview with Seo Linn. Page 22
Check out some of PhotoSoc’s top Autumnal images. Page 27
NUI Galway Launches Sexual Health Campaign ‘Smart Consent’ initiative aims to provide support to victims of sexual assault By Mark Laherty
FREE STUDENT NEWSPAPER | VOL 17, ISSUE 05 | 10 NOV 2015
Students encouraged to talk about mental health with new video campaign Minster launches mental health initiative in NUI Galway By Neil Slevin Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Primary Care, Social Care and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch TD launched a series of video clips of NUI Galway students discussing mental health issues on Tuesday 3 November. Last year alone, over a thousand NUI Galway students attended the University’s Student Counselling Service, their most prevalent issue being anxiety which, since 2014, has overtaken depression as NUI Galway students’ number one mental health issue. By launching a series of short video clips in which NUI Galway students speak publically about mental health issues, NUI Galway’s Counselling Service hopes that each video’s willing participant will lead the way in de-stigmatising mental health issues amongst their fellow students, and motivate them to seek help as and when they need it to overcome any difficulties they may encounter. Organised by NUI Galway’s Student Counselling Service, with financial support from the University’s Students’ Project Fund, the five short video clips portray students speaking directly to the camera about their experiences of mental health difficulties and how they overcame their problems with help from the counselling service. “These videos convey a powerful message of hope for students, which is that whatever challenges they face, they can be overcome,” said Bea Gavin, Head of NUI Galway’s Counselling Service. “The students who took part demonstrated a deep commitment, not only to caring for their own mental health, but they have also used their experiences to help others. They are role models with whom students can both identify with and be inspired by.” Chloe Lappin, an NUI Galway student who has risen to what, for many, is a significant challenge by speaking openly about her own mental health issues, is an advocate of the
Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Primary Care, Social Care and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch T.D. today launched a series of video clips of NUI Galway students discussing mental health issues. Minister Lynch is pictured with NUI Galway student Chloe Lappin. Photo: Aengus McMahon. ‘Please Talk’ campaign on campus (subject of Sin’s recent article ‘Art is a wound turned into light’). Speaking about the campaign, and her own video clip on perfectionism, Chloe said; “Each time I am given the opportunity to speak openly about my mental health challenges, my confidence increases in terms of my ability to speak openly about an issue I once kept hidden for many years: I hope my video appearance highlights the fact that, if you choose to seek support, and make a commitment to addressing your challenges, change can occur, and that there are plenty of people around you to help make those changes possible.” This initiative sets out to encourage NUI
Galway’s students to discuss their difficulties relating to a range of mental health issues – including depression, anxiety, procrastination and perfectionism – openly in a concerted effort to reduce the stigma about these issues amongst students, and to increase their awareness of the help available to them on campus. Speaking at the launch, Minister Lynch said that “21st century technology has obviously enhanced many aspects of our daily lived, and this process will inevitable continue”. The minister continued; “However, we all must be conscious that societal change does not impact negatively on our core human needs, by contributing to isolation or increased mental health pressures generally. Continued on page 2
NUI Galway launched the ‘Smart Consent’ Sexual Health and Support initiative in the Aula Maxima on 3 November in response to growing concerns for student safety. The initiative aims to provide information on the support services available to students affected by sexual violence. ‘Smart Consent’ workshops are being held parallel to the initiative. NUI Galway is the first university to hold this training, and is working with other Higher Education Institutes to put them in place across the country. “There is support available to all students on campus. If anyone experiences any form of sexual assault or is affected in any way, NUIG is supporting students on this matter and taking it very seriously,” said Aine Gallagher, volunteer and MC of the launch. Charlotte McIvor, lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance, said that the campus isn’t safe yet; “Our statistics around sexual assault here are still one in five. We’re not safe yet, but it’s an aspiration.” A representative of the Galway Rape Crisis Centre pointed out that while universities claim to take sexual assault very seriously, the rate of reports of assault is very low: “Unbelievably low, because we know there is much more out there than what is being recorded.” Elaine Byrnes of the Psychology Department felt that the popular understanding of sexuality in terms of orientation is not the most useful perspective. She defined human sexuality as “an interplay of gender, gender roles, preferences, and orientation, and how all of that impacts on us physically, emotionally, and spiritually”. A community liaison guard explained some of the practical proceedings of a sexual assault report, specifically with regard to the victim knowing the assailant. She said that it could be assumed that “the person may know the person who has attacked them”. According to the panel, 93% of sexual assault victims know their assailant. They also made it clear that it is still sexual assault if the victim knows the perpetrator. Dr Padraig McNeela of the Psychology Department was involved in the organisation of the consent workshops. He defended the divide of the workshops into male and female groups on the grounds that different perspectives could be gained from different people. Further, different views could be expressed in groups with different dynamics. “What men might think to sometimes be acceptable and what they would talk about with other men could be different,” he said. “There’s a lot of gender coding that goes on. We saw this with the focus groups we did, where it was very obvious from the kind of talk that was going on. I just couldn’t picture that happening with a mixed audience.” Continued on page 2