Health and Wellbeing

At the University of Nottingham Hockey Club, the health and well being of our members, university community, and hockey community is at the forefront of what we do. Therefore, we look to offer the best support possible to our members at every stage of their hockey and university careers. We believe that good mental health is essential to a top quality performance in all aspects of life. Hence, we look to create a supportive atmosphere across all of our teams so that our members always feel they have someone to talk to. The club has a welfare team led each year by the Welfare Secretary to ensure that the club is run in a way that ensures our members welfare is always our top priority.

Looking after yourself

If you yourself are feeling down we encourage you too:

1. Talk to a trusted friend - some of us find it easier to open up to people we know, so if you are a member of our club don’t be afraid to open up to a teammate when you are struggling - the hardest part is often admitting you need help. If you are not a member, think about those that are closest to you or maybe even consider joining a club and finding those friends that can support you.

2. Call a helpline - for some people, talking to someone we know can make it really hard to start the conversation, however, there are loads of great help lines available if you want to speak to someone else. Here are just two common helplines:

Samaritans- 116 123 (free calls in the uk and Ireland 24/7)

Mind - 0300 123 3393

3. Get active - exercise is proven to help improve your mental health, as a highly competitive club often our sport can be anything but relaxing so we also encourage out members to get involved in other activities be that with other clubs at the university or with their team mates (e.g a just play session, joining an IMS league or a friendly game of squash)

looking after others

In addition to supporting our own member, we want to support our university and hockey community in helping one another also. The club is a great supporter of mental health charities specifically Movember - and every year look to raise money and awareness for the cause. Movember have some fantastic resources to help with conversations around mental health:

ALEC (video below)

Ask - How are they feeling?

Listen - listen by giving your full attention, put aside time, put away your phone and give them you undivided attention.

Encourage - encourage them to focus of simple little actions they can take to improve the situation they are in

Check in - follow up on your conversations regularly to ensure they always feel supported

If you’re interested in finding out more about how to start the conversation, please visit Movember Conversations.

If you’d like to discuss anything to do with Health and Wellbeing at UoNHC please contact one of:

Sam Ross Russell (Men’s Welfare Sec) - svysr9@nottingham.ac.uk

Fergus Stevens (Men’s President) - ppyfs1@nottingham.ac.uk

Hannah Kilpatrick (Ladies Welfare Sec) - mbyhk4@nottingham.ac.uk

Lydia Drinkall (Ladies Welfare Sec) - msyld5@nottingham.ac.uk

Kitty Griffin (Ladies President) - apykg1@nottingham.ac.uk