Hello everyone!

Firstly, I would like to humbly apologize for being absent over the past two months with my blog posts. It has been very intense trying to juggle delivering the amazing projects to connect students and continue my day-to-day tasks as your Vice President of welfare. Thankfully, I was able to update Parliament recently on some of the work that I have been doing.

As the weather starts to clear, and the Sun starts to last longer, I hope that your days are looking brighter. One of the things that I look most forward to in the upcoming months is the ability to hope for a better future soon. Without further ado, here are some of the things that will be heading your way soon:

Hate Crime Awareness Workshop

With the help of our amazing V-Team, we were able to have a session on Hate Crime Awareness with Lou Middleton of Essex Police. The workshop explained what constituted as a hate crime, how to report it, and the active steps that students can take to make a change in society to prevent Hate Crime from occurring. 62 students attended the session. As more students attend these workshops, it shows promise that Essex students are gaining more resources and tools to assist them in handling a community-wide issue.

Bystander Training

With the assistance of Lorna, the Wellbeing Assessment Manager, she was able to deliver the Bystander Training. Bystander aims to give tools to individuals who are not directly involved in a situation, but are able to de-escalate, help or even prevent the situation from worsening. Bystander training covered areas such as sexual violence, harassment, racism, homophobia and much more. More than 100 students attended over the course of 2 days. This is another example of how our students are benefiting from training and how that makes campus a safer place to be in.  We are planning to have more sessions over the next upcoming weeks.

Reviewal of Report and Support System

Many students have reported concerns over the ability of Report and Support to accurately capture the support that is needed once students have submitted a report. Concerns have also been raised over the University's ability to appropriately handle these types of cases. I am having a meeting with the University next week to address these concerns at a senior level. We are hoping these issues get resolved as soon as possible. It is of vital importance that soon feel safe on campus. I will update once I have received news.

As always, take care and stay safe. Please feel free to contact me for a chat at vpwelfare@essex.ac.uk

Love

Vinnie

Your VP Welfare