Key takeaways from the iQ Feel Good Roundtable

Championing wellbeing is a huge part of the student living experience at iQ. On May 16th, we shone a light on all things anxiety at our iQ Feel Good Roundtable to kickstart conversations with our residents and provide practical tips on dealing with stress.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the day.

Our site teams know the pressures students face – you’re not alone

“We're all human. We all have our own pressures. Students can sometimes feel really alone, and when they come to a new environment, especially accommodation, they feel like they’re moving to a new place where no one knows you. It's your fresh start. It’s the pressure of a first impression, it's a new place, a new room, making new friends, having a new social life, exams and everything.

The thing we can do is just talk to them, make them know that we're here.” – Shamera Jokhoo, iQ Operations Manager and Resident Wellbeing Ambassador 

Good relationships are proven to be important for your mental health

“If you're interested in what makes for a good life - Robert Waldinger is a lead in the world's longest longitudinal study on what makes for a good life with Harvard University, it began in 1938. After all those years, what they've come up with on what makes for good life is warm relationships. It’s not money, it’s warm relationships.” - Dr Fiona Pienaar, Clinical Advisor at Shout

You also need to focus on your relationship with yourself

“It's not just relationships with other people, it’s also relationship with oneself, you know, students are at that age where identity emerges, you know, from what's our sexual preference, what's our information, what's our gender identity, you know, how to identify with the place where we live or the university. All those different strands to identity can actually be either healthy or they get entangled and pull us down.” – The Revd Dr Ela Nutu Hall, Head of Residence Life at University of Sheffield

Feelings of anxiety are different for everyone but important to recognise

“Everybody can have a different experience. I think firstly, physically. For me it’s often that feeling on the edge. It's the palpitations, it's the racing heart. It's almost your prime thought to go run away from that line of threat and then not being able to calm that feeling down that can then affect sleep, you know, the inability to concentrate.” – Alex Staniforth, Record-breaking adventurer, ultra-endurance athlete, published author and mental health charity founder

Anxiety shouldn’t heavily impact your daily life

“When anxiety gets to a point where it's affecting your daily life, then it's getting out of hand. When it affects your relationships with other people. You know, for students, your levels of concentration, then it becomes a problem. But what I believe is you need to educate and understand yourself. Understand the signs of anxiety in you. That's how you help demystify it.” - Leon Gichana, Student Advisory Committee Member at Student Minds

Stepping outside of your comfort zone is good for your mental health

“Grab every opportunity to do something if you want to do something. It’s that idea of finding your home away from home. So the natural environment is actually very, very important in terms of the safety, the security, you know, the atmosphere around you.

Being too much within your comfort zone isn’t really good for you. So we’re encouraging our students to take a step outside of their comfort zone and try new things. You know, so go to an event that you haven't tried before, go walking.” - The Revd Dr Ela Nutu Hall, Head of Residence Life at University of Sheffield

Finding the right living space can give you a safety net

“In the hierarchy of needs having somewhere safe to go, I think it is vital. And if you don't have that and if you have a tough day, knowing that you have somewhere safe to go back to helps reduce that feeling of everything being a threat.” - Alex Staniforth, Record-breaking adventurer, ultra-endurance athlete, published author and mental health charity founder