All Things Mental Health
We're a mental health podcast, focusing on young minds and students. We bridge the gap between research and lived experience, creating space for new dialogue to emerge. With a recent feature in the Guardian, this podcast is in the top 15% of podcasts shared globally. Partners inc. University of Oxford, King's College London, Student Minds, SMaRteN and U-Belong.
Meet the team! Aneeska Sohal, our Founder and Project Manager. Aneeska is a Trustee for Student Minds and the Head of Strategy for Student Mental Health and Wellbeing at King's College London. Anna Bailie is our Researcher in Residence, with a specialism in mental health and politics. She works with WHO (World Health Organisation) as a Youth Participation Consultant for and Supporter of the Pan-European Mental Health Coalition Working Package on Child, Adolescent and Young People's Mental Health. Our Editor is Saul Devlin, with expertise in radio, music and sound recording.
Head over to our Instagram for more @allthings.mentalhealth, our Twitter @atmhpodcast or contact us at allthingsmentalhealth20@gmail.com
All Things Mental Health
Belonging and Black Students’ Mental Health
(CW: death, mentions of self-harm and suicide)
To kick off series 2 with SMaRteN this week’s episode, Elia Chitwa, a recent graduate from the University of Cambridge and current student union sabbatical officer, is joined by Dr Dionne Taylor, an Associate Professor at Birmingham City University. They talk about Dionne’s SMaRteN-funded research which is centred on the creation of student-led wellbeing programmes to improve Black students' mental health, with a particular focus on the implications of transitions.
At university, Elia found they were often the only Black student in an entire lecture theatre. Navigating this stark difference to their previous schooling experiences made Elia interested in the transitions of Black students, how this can affect their mental health and how Black students can be better supported.
The episode starts with Elia and Dionne exploring the reasons behind the initiation of Dionne’s research. They then move on to talking about the impact of transitions on Black students’ sense of belonging, how this relates to stereotypes of Black people and the interaction between stereotypes, identity and mental health.
Dionne and Elia then discuss the specifics of the wellbeing programmes created and the importance of co-production and facilitation. Finally, they talk about the next steps for Dionne’s research and the wellbeing programmes created.
Thanks for listening!