Connecting Minds Episode 9 

Colette Murphy, USI Vice-President for Welfare 2023-2024

Useful links:

List of counselling services available through PCHEI: https://www.pchei.ie/index.php/students1/student-counselling

USI Mental Health Website: https://mentalhealth.usi.ie/ 

USI Mental Health Social Media: https://twitter.com/MentalHealthUSI 

Sources of Help & Support for your mental health: https://mentalhealth.usi.ie/i-need-help/help-in-a-mental-health-emergency/ 

National Office for Suicide Prevention: https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/mental-health-services/nosp/

This transcript was automatically generated and lightly edited for context. Any transcript errors should be notified to mentalhealth@usi.ie

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

mental health, students, sleep, service, working, campus, welfare officer, counseling services, good, people, counseling, college, student, colette, lobbying, year, gp, suppose, important, access

SPEAKERS

Sarah Hughes, Colette Murphy

Sarah Hughes  00:07

Hello, and welcome to episode nine of Connecting Minds, the student mental health podcast, brought to you by the Union of Students in Ireland. I'm your host, Sarah Hughes. And today I'm delighted to welcome Colette Murphy, Vice President for welfare for USI to talk to us today. Hi, Colette, thanks very much for joining us.

Colette Murphy  00:25

Hi, Sarah, how are you?

Sarah Hughes  00:27

Not too bad, thanks, yourself? 

Colette Murphy  00:29

Good. 

Sarah Hughes  00:30

So tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you, and how did you become Vice President for Welfare?

Colette Murphy  00:36

A big question. Um, well, I'm Colette, and I'm the welfare officer in the Union of Students in Ireland, as you said, and I became welfare officer this year after having run. I was in DCU last year as the vice president for wellbeing there. And I really enjoyed the job. It was very varied. There was a lot of on the ground stuff with students, lobbying stuff as well. But I think the thing that appealed to me in this job is that you get to focus more on the policy and the lobbying. And then you also get to go around the country to different campuses. And roll out campaigns, like our mental health campaign, and then our shag campaign as well. So yeah, I'm really liking the role this year. And I think it's been going well, so far.

Sarah Hughes  01:19

Yeah so you've been in the role a couple of months, but we're kind of just getting going with our plans and stuff as students get back on campuses in the last couple of weeks. And I know, we've got big plans for the year, eh, would you like to talk to us a little bit about some of the, some of the reasons that you ran and some of the ways that we're implementing those into actions for the year?

Colette Murphy  01:38

Yeah, so I ran, because I wanted to advocate for increased resources for mental health counseling. I mean, there's lots of reasons I ran, but that was, I suppose, in the mental health realm. That was what I was interested in. And we have been doing that this year, so far, when we've been meeting with ministers. And we had it, you know, in our lobby days and when we meet with Simon Harris, it's something that's always on the agenda. Em, and then I suppose in terms of plans for the year. Em, well, obviously, there's different stuff I ran on in my manifesto. And I brought a motion last year to Congress to mandate USI to look at doing a national student mental health survey, because we run one about three years ago now. But that was pre COVID. And it doesn't really represent the experience of students now. So that feeds into being able to lobby effectively for mental health resources, in third level education. And hopefully, if we get a survey done, it will be a useful tool to advocate for increased services, and also that we just have a better picture of what the state of mental health is like for students in Ireland today. But there's other stuff as well. Like it's, you know, coming up to Movember now. And I do think that it's important to focus on men's health and men's mental health. I think Movember is a really fantastic way to do that. So I know, we were in the process of chatting about ordering mustaches and doing all these fun, different things that unions can have. Em, so yeah, like, that's, I'm, it's exciting. I think we're only about a third of the way through the year now. So we have kind of got the plans in place for the year going forward. But also, we've managed to tick off a few things already, which has been nice.

Sarah Hughes  03:39

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm really excited to see how some of those those plans unfold as the year goes on. And it's, as you say, getting out on campus and engaging with the students is one of the best parts I think about this job. When you were vice president for wellbeing last year, like what were the main issues that you kind of saw coming up from a mental health perspective for students?

Colette Murphy  04:02

Yeah, I mean, they were kind of varied. I think exam stress is a pretty general one. But in the college environment, it's pretty dominant. And then also, I think, loneliness as well. And some students did reach out because they were having trouble making friends or getting to know people. And then there are some instances of bullying as well. So yeah, that's, I mean, that's a hard one, because you come to college, and you come to make friends and then sometimes not everyone is a friend then, which is kind of a hard realization, I suppose. But yeah, those were like it wasn't I didn't have many students come forward, saying hi, I have this specific mental health problem. It was more general issues and then like feeling low as well would come up. But normally, I would just refer people on to the counseling services if I felt like that was something that they needed to talk to somebody in a specific way about their mental health. 

Sarah Hughes  05:07

Yeah, and I think that's something I think a lot of students don't really understand, you know, what the what the focus and what the the ability is of a welfare officer or vice president for wellbeing is on campus? Could you maybe tell people a little bit more about what that is?

Colette Murphy  05:24

Yeah, it's a good question. I suppose you're a representative of the student body. So you represent students on various different committees, and as welfare officer, then they're generally to do with student welfare. So it might be like, for example, I co chaired the healthy relationships committee in DCU, we would have been, I would have been really, really involved in organizing consent classes and running them on campus. And that was a really, really big, big project for me last year. And then also, yeah, anything to do with like mental health resourcing, like we brought in Nightline, which is a student listening service last year in DCU Students Union, and that was a brilliant resource for students who wanted to chat to somebody after hours. So I suppose what's the role of the welfare officer? It's varied. And, but it's lobbying. It's representing students. It's handling casework. And you get an awful lot of casework that students get in contact with you about specific situations, or barriers they're encountering, it might be how do I access the health service? Is there a GP on campus? I think I might have an STI. What do I do? It could be Hi, I've been feeling low lately. How do I access counseling service? Is the counseling service free? Is the counseling service anonymous? Or like it's every kind of query under the sun. Or it could just be how do I access my exam results? I'm having trouble doing that, you know. And the extenuating circumstances process as well is one that students are often not very aware of how to navigate if they have experienced extenuating circumstances during the semester. So letting them know about that, and how to navigate that would have been a part of my job last year as well.

Sarah Hughes  07:17

Yeah. So I mean, as you said, yourself, it's so wide and varying and I'd say you didn't know what was going to come through the door from one day to the next. But I think, yeah, it's really important that students are aware that, you know, you guys as part of the wider Student Union, body, but you guys exist, and you can be a sort of a first port of call for an issue, if you don't know where to go for help for any particular issue that you're having while you're in college. 

Colette Murphy  07:45

Yeah, I think that's the benefit of the students union is, it's, you know, there are people your own age, people who were students themselves last year and people who understand from, you know, like a relatable perspective, what it's like being a student. So, you know, whether it's like an issue with SUSI or an issue with your visa or whatever. It's nice to be able to get in contact with the Students Union. And oftentimes it's signposting is what the students union officers do, it's listening to what's going on, and then passing it on to whoever might be able to help you whether that's in the university or beyond, but a lot of the problems then can also just be solved. You know, when you meet the officer, so it's, it's varied. And I think it's very, it's probably one of the most accessible places in the college to go when you're experiencing a problem. 

Sarah Hughes  07:45

And you said that you, you know, you will get a lot of queries about if students are having mental health issues around like, how does the counseling service work? Is it anonymous, all that kind of stuff? It might be helpful, I think, if we answer some of those questions here for for people who might not know how, in general counseling services work on campuses. 

Colette Murphy  09:03

Yeah, I think the important thing to say, first of all, is that not every campus has an on campus counseling service, but many do, particularly bigger institutions. But a lot of students are not aware that they have a counselling service to start off with, so don't assume you don't have one you most institutions do, and you may do yourself. So yeah, so I mean, how does it work? Generally, well, they're all free. There's no charge. And it depends on the service. Some have a limited number of sessions, some don't. But honestly, the best thing to do is just get in contact with your own Counseling Service and ask their not, like, if you got in contact with the counselling services, they obviously ask you your contact details. But they're not like you know, going to be contacting your lecturers on your behalf without your permission or they're not going to be, em, you know, doing anything that; it's confidential, obviously, unless there's a risk to your own life or somebody else's, or risk of harm, but they'll talk about all that through with you at the start of the session. So the counseling services themselves are the best place to go for information for for that really.

Sarah Hughes  10:19

Yeah, and I think as well, a common kind of misconception that people might have is that they need to be either really, really bad with their mental health, or they need to, you know, already have a diagnosis or feel like they're reaching the criteria for a diagnosis of a mental illness before they attend this, the counseling service. When really it's, you know, if you're feeling a bit stressed about your exams, or you're going through a relationship breakup, that can be enough, you know, you can you can go and speak to a counselor if it's, you know, just life problems that you're having as well.

Colette Murphy  10:51

Yeah, exactly. It's not. It's not like the HSE, it's a college-run counseling services. And they are run differently. And it is just like, if you're having a problem, it's always better to reach it earlier, rather than later. And it's also easier to deal with a problem when you reach it earlier, rather than later. So, you know, I wouldn't, I'd say not to be embarrassed or ashamed. If you think your problem isn't big enough, or if you're questioning whether it is or not, like if you're questioning us, that obviously a part of you thinks that it is big enough to be talking to someone about it. And there's if there's if you have a need or wants to talk to your counselor, make use of that. And go for it, I think 

Sarah Hughes  11:34

I mean, at the end of the day, it is part of what your student fees pay for. And so you know, it's there for you as a student to access just the same as the library is, or the canteen is or any of the other services on campus. And, and I think something that you and I Colette are really strong in terms of the message that we're getting out this year is that there's absolutely no shame in having mental health issues, there's absolutely no shame in needing help, or in seeking help. And if anything, it's it takes bravery and strength to reach out for help for your mental health. 

Colette Murphy  12:07

Yeah, and college, like there's loads of change that you encounter in college. And that's really exciting. And it's good, but then also, sometimes it can be overwhelming. So it's not like, you know, there's plenty of other people reaching out to counseling services as well, you're not the only one doing it. And, you know, I think that that's reassuring to know, for students, I think it's important as well to, to remember, because there's a lot of talk about counseling waiting lists, but, they always will like, if you're in desperate need, or you're a high, like you're at risk, they always will prioritize people who are in the most distress, and they do have emergency counseling appointments available. And even while sometimes at some peak points in the year, there might be a waiting list, it's better to get on that waiting list and then be seen, rather than just not getting on it at all. So I think, you know, don't be comparing your needs to anybody else's, counseling services are there for everybody. And just put your name on the list if there is one.

Sarah Hughes  13:15

Yeah, I think that's really, really good advice. And, and as well, I think some counseling departments, they'll have drop in services as well, if you kind of if you're on the waiting list, but you know, you feel like you'd rather kind of try and get seen sooner, that can be sometimes an option for people. And also, I'd say, if you are on the waiting list, but you feel like your mental health is getting worse, it's no harm to kind of, you know, get in touch with the service again, and just let them know that like, let them make the decisions about things. And you know, they're the ones with the expertise and the experience rather than you deciding, oh, well, even though I'm getting worse, I still need to just wait, I don't, like we hear a lot that people don't feel the need that they don't want to take a slot from somebody else, em, when in reality, as you said Colette, that's not really how the services work at all. Em, they do work largely according to, you know, a basis of need and that so if you need a slot, you need it as much as anybody else does. So not like it's important not to kind of have that comparison kind of thinking going on for yourself. 

Colette Murphy  14:19

Yeah, 100%. And as well, like if counseling isn't for you right now, a lot of colleges have other resources available. Like there's oftentimes low mood workshops or anxiety workshops or other types of workshops available on campus. And then there's online programs as well. There's Togetherall which is an online chat basically where you can chat to other people about your mental health or just how things are going. Em and if you check out your counseling services website, then they'll have like the full array of services and mental health support that are available.

Sarah Hughes  15:04

You know, we have focused on on-campus services that are available. But of course there are those off-campus services as well that are available to anybody whether you're like a student or not like you can go to your regular GP at home, you can access nongovernmental organizations like 50808, or the Samaritans or Aware, or Pieta or any of those kinds of organizations. And there's no rule to say that, you know, you have to pick one avenue for help and stick with it. Like, it's it's important to, you know, kind of shop around until you find one that actually you feel is helpful for you. Because I think that's the key thing at the end of the day is that you feel like you're getting a benefit from the help that you're being given.

Colette Murphy  15:46

Yeah, exactly. I think it's that phrase of keep looking for help, until help helps you. I think that's a good one. Because the first time you reach out, you might and it might not, might not be the one the one time that works or you find it helpful. But don't be discouraged. And you know, there's other avenues. Actually, your student welfare officer can chat through the different options available as well. 

Sarah Hughes  16:12

Yeah, I think it is it. And it's the beauty of having a welfare officer on campus that you can talk to you because I do understand that if you are struggling with your mental health, trying to figure out where to go and how to get there can be a bit overwhelming. And that's something that a welfare officer can help you with, you explain what's going on for you. And they can say, well, this option or this option might be really helpful for you. And oftentimes, they will have the contact details there. And they can give it to you, and you can take it from there. So you don't even need to take that step of figuring out what help might be working for you on your own, which I think is really valuable to have in the in the student union kind of context.

Colette Murphy  16:52

Yeah, no 100%.

Sarah Hughes  16:55

So Colette, there are two questions that I ask everybody, before I let them leave the podcast studio. And so I'm going to ask you them. And so our first one is, if there was one kind of takeaway, or one piece of information about mental health that you wish everybody listening to this, and all students would take away in terms of information about their mental health, what would it be and why?

Colette Murphy  17:20

I would say that, you know, we all have mental health. And you can go through, you know, ups and downs. But I think just being conscious of your mental health and being proactive, by looking after it is really important. And yeah, like just I think being aware and taking care of yourself, can just go a long way, in protecting yourself and looking after yourself through like up downs, etc.

Sarah Hughes  17:55

Yeah, I think knowledge is a real kind of power. And, you know, it's it's a cliche to say that knowledge is power, but they're cliches for a reason because there's a grain of truth in them. So yeah, I think if you if you educate yourself about mental health and what it is and what it might look like for you, well, then you're kind of 10 steps ahead in terms of knowing when you are struggling and what to do about it and stuff. So yeah, I think that's a really good piece of advice. And then the last question then is, what is your either your favorite or your most used form of self care for yourself?

Colette Murphy  18:27

Sleep. It's my favorite form. It's my most used form. I honestly think like, you know, you can come home from work, and you can be stressed about something or whatever. But after you've had your dinner, etc. I think sometimes you realize you just actually, it's just tiredness, you're just tired. And a good night's sleep, and you wake up the next morning and you're in a much better mood. I think I used to be an insomniac. So I value my sleep very, very much now.

Sarah Hughes  18:59

I mean, I love when people give that sort of an answer to that question because I think it's something that people might not be aware, actually counts as, self care. You know, it's probably in one of those kind of boring self care kind of categories. But you're right, it is so vital. And you know, people might be like, oh, sleep, you know, everybody gets sleep, what of it, but I do think if if you are struggling with your mental health, and then you are not getting good sleep, things are just going to be so much tougher, and it is as well one of the signs that your mental health can be suffering if you are noticing that suddenly you're struggling to sleep well where normally you wouldn't have that as a problem. So I think it is a really kind of central thing to your mental health and like you say a good a good sleep can make a lot of things feel easier to deal with as well. 

Colette Murphy  19:46

Yeah. 

Sarah Hughes  19:47

And so yeah, absolutely and good sleep hygiene around that in terms of you know, not looking at screens for hours before you go asleep. You know, making sure that you have insofar as possible have a good environment set up for sleeping in terms of, you know, the noise levels and the light levels and all that kind of stuff can really go a long way to that. But yeah, I think that's, that's a really good piece of self care and one that I think, you know, sometimes, like you say you used to be an insomniac, sometimes we can struggle to sleep, and there's not a lot we can do about it, and that's fine. But I think there are things we can all do to try and, you know, get better sleep, whether it's even just go to bed half an hour earlier, or putting our phone away a little bit earlier or whatever. 

Colette Murphy  20:28

Yeah, and it's easier said than done, because I remember like, I thankfully do not struggle with getting to sleep much anymore. But I remember when I used to, you'd just be staring at the ceiling, so wide awake, like, you're nearly laughing about that, like you're still awake at whatever hour it is but, you can't like, it's it is difficult, I don't really have a solution for people. But I everything you said is good, and it's helpful. But I think when you can like prioritize, going to sleep at the right time, and like, whatever that time is for you. And just getting into a routine of it like it is it's a lot harder to do than it is to say, but once you do do it, I think it does make such a difference. 

Sarah Hughes  21:13

Yeah, and I think a lot of it is about getting into a routine and like getting getting your body and your brain kind of thinking, oh, it's such a time I'm normally getting ready for sleep now. And your body will start to kind of naturally get into that sort of rhythm. But it does take time. And as you say it's it is sometimes easier said than done. And one thing I will say for anybody listening who is really struggling with their sleep on a consistent basis, it might be worth talking to your GP about because it could be that there is something going on that they can help you with as well. And, or to your counselor, if you're you know, if you're speaking to somebody about your mental health talking through maybe some of the reasons that you can't sleep or if you're having racing thoughts, what those thoughts might be, maybe talking about them might help as well, 

Colette Murphy  21:56

I think as well like when you're younger, your biological clock, like your they always say about teenagers, you're nearly designed to stay up later, and get up later. So maybe some of that, that's some of it to some some of us as well, for people but it obviously depends on the individual, and you're not really gonna know until you have a chat with your GP or, you know, counsellor maybe as well. 

Sarah Hughes  22:22

That's it. And I think a key thing for people who are in college, especially, you know, first years who are just experiencing things for the first time, part of it can be that like, you know, suddenly there's all these nights out with different clubs and societies. And the temptation can be to be going out, like, you know, multiple nights a week, which is grand up to a point, but there comes a point where if you're staying out till 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning, every night, that's time that you're not getting sleep. And then if you're trying to get up and be at lectures, the next morning, you know, you're you're reducing overtime the amount of sleep that you're having. And they do say that you can't catch up on lost sleep. So that does have an impact then over time in terms of on both your physical and your mental health as well. 

Colette Murphy  23:06

When you think about the schedule in college, like it's really not designed for good sleep, like if you like your lectures, now, unless it's like a course, that's nine to five, like a lot of science courses or engineering, medicine. But if you're in arts, for example, your schedule is all over the place, then I know for example, I was working in a bar. So at the weekends, even when I was only working till 11pm, you still need an hour or a bit more really between travel and getting home relaxing, unwinding, to actually fall asleep. And then if you're actually working late night, like until half two in the morning, it makes such a difference. It really, really does mess up your sleep routine. And you can't really it's very difficult to get into one. I think looking back, I don't think I realized it's the same as that at the time. But it does. It messes with your ability to sleep and kind of get into a good good sleep habits, particularly then because you also want to go out as well with your friends but, you know, it's I think that the natural schedule of college doesn't really lend itself to good sleep.

Sarah Hughes  24:14

And like, of course, we're not saying to people Oh, you must if you're like that if you're working a job, that means you're working late nights, therefore you need to not go out with your with your friends and just sleep all the other nights. I think it goes back to what you were saying in your first, em, the answer to the first question there about, you know, it's about awareness and about figuring out something that works best for you within the constraints that are out of your control. I think really.

Colette Murphy  24:37

Yeah, no 100% I think you can just do your best with what you have. Like I don't have any regrets about college and working as well as doing college and going out. But I am very grateful for my sleep now, I have to say.

Sarah Hughes  24:55

That's fair. That's fair enough and it's good to hear that you know, in hindsight, you don't have any regrets about it. But also that you managed to learn the value of sleep, and now that you're kind of out the other side, you're developing good sleep routines and that kind of thing. 

Colette Murphy  25:08

Yeah, exactly. I think it's important to just, I don't know, go easy on yourself if it's not working out because if your schedule is messy or whatever, then it like there is only so much you can do really to to an extent.

Sarah Hughes  25:25

And actually, I think that's a really good point is that you know, stressing about how you're not sleeping is not going to help you get more sleep it's actually going to make it less likely that you're going to be able to sleep.

Colette Murphy  25:37

Yeah, that's a really good point actually. Yeah.

Sarah Hughes  25:41

So yeah, thank you so much for joining me today Colette, I think you know, I It's something I've learned from from working with you so far - we could we could chat all day about things mental health, yeah, thank you very much for listening to today's episode. Connecting Minds is made possible thanks to funding from the National Office for Suicide Prevention. If you have any comments or questions about today's episode, the podcast, or the work that USI are doing on student mental health, please feel free to contact us at mentalhealth@usi.ie or follow us on our social platforms, details of which are available in the shownotes. Sources of support are also included in the show notes. Please reach out for help if you're struggling in any way with your mental health.