1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,200 Hello everybody. Welcome to this week's broadcast. 2 00:00:08,590 --> 00:00:18,070 I'm delighted to welcome Tikka Masala and Ed Jones, who are two of our junior deans here at Worcester. 3 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:21,340 So both. Welcome to the cast. Thank you for having us. 4 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:22,120 Pleasure. 5 00:00:22,660 --> 00:00:32,020 You're here by popular request because everyone was really keen to find out more about what the welfare team and the Dean team in particular do. 6 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:39,490 By way of introduction, can I thank you and the Dean team and anybody else who's involved in welfare for what you do? 7 00:00:39,910 --> 00:00:44,190 T.K., you've been Junior Dean for four years. 8 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:51,010 I think that's true. I think it's a very fortunate instance because I did my dphil and continued as a postdoc, 9 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:56,260 which allowed me to cover this long period of time, which is unusual, I must have to admit. 10 00:00:56,620 --> 00:00:59,889 You've just completed your dphil, as I understand it. For which. 11 00:00:59,890 --> 00:01:02,920 Congratulations. What's your dphil in? Thank you. 12 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:09,010 It's and chemical biology. Where I look at drug interactions between different targets for infectious diseases. 13 00:01:09,010 --> 00:01:12,160 And namely, it was tuberculosis and COVID 19. 14 00:01:12,430 --> 00:01:18,460 Well, well done. And I know you're busy continuing your research and now looking for permanent positions. 15 00:01:18,830 --> 00:01:22,330 And you're at St Anthony's currently. 16 00:01:22,330 --> 00:01:26,200 I think you were in Oxford before you joined the intensities. 17 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:34,420 What were you doing? Yes. So I started out in in history, I did my B.A. in history, mostly looking at genocides, things. 18 00:01:34,870 --> 00:01:40,060 So I wrote my thesis in lockdown. And that was not a particularly pleasant experience, as I'm sure you can imagine. 19 00:01:40,780 --> 00:01:47,649 So I took a year away and now I'm pivoting more towards my emphasis in global and area studies. 20 00:01:47,650 --> 00:01:51,220 I think my main regions are East Asia, Japan and the Arctic. 21 00:01:51,550 --> 00:01:57,730 Great. Good luck with the Mphil you both find time to be junior deans in addition to doing your work. 22 00:01:57,730 --> 00:02:03,070 How does that work? I think it was quite, quite nicely actually, because more than you might expect, 23 00:02:03,070 --> 00:02:08,590 because it's supposed to at least evenings and weekends that we're on duty as junior deans. 24 00:02:08,740 --> 00:02:18,340 This means there isn't too much interaction, if any, with the things I have during my day, lectures and seminars and like library time and so forth. 25 00:02:19,510 --> 00:02:22,930 I'm actually I find it's quite nice to kind of break up the day a little. 26 00:02:22,930 --> 00:02:29,860 Sometimes it kind of gets me out of my kind of academic sort of headspace and back into the real world. 27 00:02:30,340 --> 00:02:34,450 Then to add on to what I'd said, I think for me it was about finding the right balance. 28 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,730 I would otherwise get stuck in the lab, you know, experimenting and trying new things all the time. 29 00:02:39,910 --> 00:02:45,819 But if I have a wife that was there that organised my route on its own, I have to be somewhere, so I need to get out. 30 00:02:45,820 --> 00:02:51,700 Yeah. You know, you wouldn't just do another round of experiment because you're curious, you know, you would let it hold a day. 31 00:02:51,940 --> 00:02:58,360 So I think I've found a good balance for my Ph.D. by actually being employed as a junior dean as well. 32 00:02:58,420 --> 00:03:05,300 Great. Apart from being able to look after myself better now because of all the trainings I received as a junior dean, you know, 33 00:03:05,350 --> 00:03:12,880 along with helping students and the wider community at Worcester, I've also been able to support myself, which I'm I think I'm thankful for that. 34 00:03:13,030 --> 00:03:19,840 Great, great. And why did you both want to be Junior Deans, other than the reason that you've just given teacher? 35 00:03:19,870 --> 00:03:27,490 I mean, are you driven to help support students and can unconcerned about helping their welfare? 36 00:03:28,060 --> 00:03:34,210 I think that's true. That's largely true, actually, because when I joined Worcester, I was a second year student, 37 00:03:34,750 --> 00:03:40,000 but in my first year of Dphil, I was supporting the students that I was supervising in the lab. 38 00:03:40,390 --> 00:03:46,330 And a lot of the time issues came because they had mental health problems, but they would not be so forthcoming to share. 39 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:52,120 And while I was providing that support, I thought if I could officially do this, 40 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:57,700 I would be supporting a broader community of people, as well as probably getting more training, which I didn't have at that time. 41 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:02,320 So that was a large part of my motivation and anything to add. 42 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,530 So for me, I think it's a case of, well, 43 00:04:05,530 --> 00:04:13,239 I was involved in the welfare team at Lincoln when I was doing my undergrad there and I was JCR Hippy for a little while actually. 44 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:21,550 So I came to understand how important college welfare provision is for students and the role that colleges play in providing that. 45 00:04:22,390 --> 00:04:30,670 I enjoyed being being a junior dean here because I think it gives me the opportunity to make a positive kind of contribution to the community. 46 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:39,550 I think it's a wonderful opportunity to interact with students and in a way that usually I really wouldn't as a as an NFL student. 47 00:04:39,730 --> 00:04:44,860 And even if I can't help a student immediately, as is quite often the case, 48 00:04:44,860 --> 00:04:49,360 you know, a lot of the job is signposting people to other bits of the university, 49 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,900 other avenues of support that they didn't necessarily know existed, 50 00:04:53,350 --> 00:04:56,440 suggesting they send emails to people that they didn't know they could get 51 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:01,810 help from or pointing people towards and have support in the form of jorgie. 52 00:05:02,230 --> 00:05:06,930 Head of Welfare. To be, even if it's a relatively small contribution like that. 53 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,470 It's nice to know that you're able to be useful and to be helpful. 54 00:05:11,190 --> 00:05:12,590 I'm sure you're being modest. 55 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:19,500 It's a big contribution and I know that everybody in the Worcester community appreciates what you do and talks highly of the Dean team. 56 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:25,170 Tell us about how many people are in the Dean team and the different roles it's just talked about. 57 00:05:25,410 --> 00:05:27,960 Georgie, should we start with Georgie? What? What does George do? 58 00:05:28,380 --> 00:05:32,880 Yeah, I think I first have start by saying he's one of the loveliest members to have in the team. 59 00:05:33,180 --> 00:05:39,900 She's the welfare officer. So I think apart from setting out the protocols about how to handle a certain situations, 60 00:05:40,170 --> 00:05:43,920 students can come to her directly to talk about things they want. 61 00:05:43,950 --> 00:05:49,409 It could be anything, or it could range from severe cases to sometimes just missing home. 62 00:05:49,410 --> 00:05:53,940 Being homesick. Yeah, moving to Oxford is a big thing, especially for first year students. 63 00:05:54,300 --> 00:06:00,000 So it could be cases like that. And then next to Josie, we have Paul, who's our lovely dean. 64 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,030 And then his role is to just guide the whole team. 65 00:06:03,270 --> 00:06:10,409 And we've got our assistant dean never was previously a junior dean as well, and she's the line manager for Junior Deans. 66 00:06:10,410 --> 00:06:13,980 Just, you know, I'll go to person if something comes up in the shift and we're not sure. 67 00:06:14,010 --> 00:06:20,400 You know the rest of the team is composed of junior deans is Gaby sees a psychologist. 68 00:06:20,850 --> 00:06:25,450 James has joined the team the same time as I did last October. 69 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:31,010 Is he an economist? I always forget. He is. He is? Yes. So we're relatively new. 70 00:06:31,020 --> 00:06:34,380 And then there's Holly who's been in the team for a little while longer. 71 00:06:34,740 --> 00:06:38,310 Holly's is the CS, the synthetic chemists in the same lab that I work for. 72 00:06:38,340 --> 00:06:41,940 Okay. Allergist Yeah, and we've got Jo, who's our college nurse. 73 00:06:42,270 --> 00:06:49,560 She's also part of the coding team, and we refer to her for health related mental health and physical health, all kind of issues. 74 00:06:49,650 --> 00:06:52,800 So that I think that makes the core members to be nine. 75 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,960 I work closely with chaplain and other wider welfare community at Forster. 76 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,790 And how does it work between yourselves? You take it interns with shifts. 77 00:07:03,210 --> 00:07:09,780 You meet on a regular basis. I'm sure people would like to hear how the Dean team organises itself. 78 00:07:10,050 --> 00:07:18,750 So from a students perspective, the easiest way to approach it is at any time any student can go to the lodge of the lodge and if it's out-of-hours. 79 00:07:18,750 --> 00:07:24,420 So we work seven in the evening till seven in the morning during term time as well as over weekends. 80 00:07:25,050 --> 00:07:29,310 The lodge will direct that student towards whichever junior team is on duty. 81 00:07:29,490 --> 00:07:32,730 So it could be any of the five junior deans or it could be never. 82 00:07:32,740 --> 00:07:36,510 I was the assistant dean, so that's kind of how the system works. 83 00:07:36,510 --> 00:07:41,820 From a student facing perspective. We also meet every what day is it today, Tuesday, 84 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:48,660 and use that time to discuss college welfare provision, what we've done, what we could be doing better. 85 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,260 If anyone has any comments or suggestions for the team. 86 00:07:52,350 --> 00:07:57,210 That's when we'll kind of discuss them and see see if there's any, any way that we can act on them. 87 00:07:57,330 --> 00:08:01,740 Do add on to that a little bit. Yeah, that's from from the students perspective. 88 00:08:02,350 --> 00:08:09,629 But for I think if we just speak about how do we organise that internally as a team, I think that's when I talk about, 89 00:08:09,630 --> 00:08:15,750 you know, acquiring these other skills apart from just doing a dphil is that we also organise our rota weekly. 90 00:08:16,050 --> 00:08:23,400 So someone in the team takes a shift for taking the minutes of the meeting among the junior deans and Gabby is doing it this time. 91 00:08:23,580 --> 00:08:29,310 I make the rota. Yeah. So Ed's making the rota weekly, so we have a week in advance. 92 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:36,660 And then I think just to add on to the students perspective, everybody's on shift all the time. 93 00:08:36,690 --> 00:08:45,780 If you think about Josie and Paul and Never, but Junior Deans are obviously on Rota for the evening shift, so it works quite well during the daytime. 94 00:08:45,780 --> 00:08:48,929 It's Josie who was taking a huge load during the evenings. 95 00:08:48,930 --> 00:08:54,120 It's the junior deans and I think our team is nice in that sense that let's say you've had a 96 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,560 busy week and then you feel too knackered to take on another day because it's a big thing. 97 00:08:58,740 --> 00:09:03,840 You don't know what's coming in your way. So we have good communication where we're like, Okay, I've had a busy week. 98 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,840 Is it okay if I just, you know, take next week off? Okay. 99 00:09:07,380 --> 00:09:15,000 So, so there's a degree of flexibility. Yeah, there is. And it sounds like you're a very cohesive team sharing the load together. 100 00:09:15,270 --> 00:09:20,490 How many calls do you typically get in the evenings and during the night? 101 00:09:20,730 --> 00:09:25,560 We would say it varies in the training terms sometimes, which is the exam period. 102 00:09:25,770 --> 00:09:33,899 It could get awfully busy. Like we've had moments where we had to invite Josie to later meetings because she had a full pack day for weeks so we 103 00:09:33,900 --> 00:09:41,400 couldn't get out to a meeting in terms of junior deans during the exam times or when whenever there's like events scheduled, 104 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:48,060 we get a lot of call outs. So we've had a quiet days where like sometimes for two weeks the phone would ring, all right. 105 00:09:48,090 --> 00:09:51,209 And then there's a period where like there's call every night. 106 00:09:51,210 --> 00:09:54,060 So we're wondering what's happening for the purposes of the course. 107 00:09:54,060 --> 00:10:01,020 I'm really keen that we tell people what kind of things you cover and to encourage people to turn to you if they need help. 108 00:10:01,020 --> 00:10:06,340 But the sorts of things. You mentioned people settling in, you know, when they first arrive. 109 00:10:06,670 --> 00:10:10,910 So listeners to the broadcast they typically you know what. 110 00:10:10,930 --> 00:10:13,240 You're keen to support them with. 111 00:10:13,300 --> 00:10:21,820 I would I would like to say I'm available for anything whenever I send an email to my building sometimes to just introduce myself, I say they're like, 112 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,030 If you feel lonely, if you miss the friend, if you just want to have a tea, 113 00:10:25,210 --> 00:10:29,230 or if you just like a chat and you don't know, maybe your situation is very precarious. 114 00:10:29,230 --> 00:10:36,760 You don't know what to do with it, who to go to. If you just don't have the right tools, then just come to me and then maybe I could signpost you. 115 00:10:36,970 --> 00:10:40,090 Or if you know what your issues and you are getting help from somewhere. 116 00:10:40,270 --> 00:10:43,510 But at the time being you just like some external opinion. 117 00:10:43,780 --> 00:10:51,870 I'll come and sit with you, talk you through. These are the some of the less complex issues, let's say as a junior dean and as a Dean team, 118 00:10:51,880 --> 00:11:00,740 when you're supporting a community which has like 400 students on site, you can imagine why the cases would not be identical amongst each other. 119 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:06,580 Right? So there are sometimes very severe cases where we obviously refer to our internal protocols. 120 00:11:06,820 --> 00:11:10,719 It could be health related, it could be mental health related. We've been called out. 121 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:17,020 We're properly trained. Rest assured on that. We do have this compulsory 30 hours training right at the beginning. 122 00:11:17,020 --> 00:11:17,290 Okay. 123 00:11:17,290 --> 00:11:24,880 I was going to talk to you about training and support, but then on top of that, we get mental health first aid training, physical first aid training. 124 00:11:25,750 --> 00:11:34,660 So all of these come together to support this, let's say more complex issues with the students in a way that they feel supported and not preyed on. 125 00:11:35,020 --> 00:11:39,370 Yes. So I think we we try our level best to give that to the students. 126 00:11:39,490 --> 00:11:44,380 And if someone's lonely in the middle of the night, can't sleep feeling stressed, can they really phone you up? 127 00:11:44,710 --> 00:11:53,140 I'd say that's a lot of what we do. Yeah, right. It's relatively rare that students will cope with, in my experience with just one thing. 128 00:11:53,140 --> 00:11:57,580 You know, very often students experience quite a few different things. 129 00:11:57,580 --> 00:12:03,070 At the same time, I think it's because physical and mental health are so closely related. 130 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,899 A lot of our work is understanding that and unpacking that and then being able 131 00:12:07,900 --> 00:12:12,670 to signpost and let students know where additional support is available. 132 00:12:12,670 --> 00:12:18,760 Of course, if it's 3 a.m., often the choice is between, okay, we should go to hospital maybe. 133 00:12:18,820 --> 00:12:25,750 Or we could talk for a little bit longer. And then in the morning I can suggest that you go to very often it will be 134 00:12:25,750 --> 00:12:29,770 Georgie or it could be could be someone else with in college or out of college. 135 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,190 So that's that that's important. 136 00:12:33,190 --> 00:12:41,080 I think it's also important to say that students should go to the lodge, usually as their first port of call if, if, if there's any kind of sort of. 137 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:46,510 Yeah, I was just going to give some examples, I think, just to just for people to maybe picture it better. 138 00:12:47,290 --> 00:12:55,720 I think one of the cases that I had was just someone phoning me because they're not ready to sit for an exam because of their existing circumstance. 139 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:01,780 And it was 2 hours before the exam. So we are in touch with the academy administrators. 140 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:08,709 We have this network. So I was able to put her in touch and then address her situation for that to sit for another day. 141 00:13:08,710 --> 00:13:16,300 So this is one of the examples and at the time it was someone had missed going home for their birthday 142 00:13:16,300 --> 00:13:20,470 and they were feeling quite lonely because they couldn't celebrate their birthday with their family. 143 00:13:20,470 --> 00:13:23,590 It was their first birthday away, so I went over. 144 00:13:23,770 --> 00:13:28,630 Sadly, Tesco was closed because it was past midnight, otherwise I would have take a slice of cake for them. 145 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:34,060 In the past, during lockdowns, when people had health issues, I've done food drops as well. 146 00:13:34,180 --> 00:13:39,400 Okay. So I mean, I think it's interesting, you know, and then you get to interact with the students sometimes, 147 00:13:39,620 --> 00:13:42,340 maybe more through the role, even though we live in the college. Yeah. 148 00:13:42,550 --> 00:13:48,580 And so not all call outs are serious and that sometimes it's just, you know, getting to know the student. 149 00:13:48,730 --> 00:13:53,889 Yes. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you do a great job in terms of reassuring that signposting. 150 00:13:53,890 --> 00:13:57,790 But, you know, there are cases where you need to to respond. 151 00:13:57,790 --> 00:14:01,180 So tell us about it. Tell us about the training you got because you mentioned. 152 00:14:01,810 --> 00:14:11,770 Yes. How you get trained. So the first thing the very first thing that I was sent on by the college was sexual violence sort of support training, 153 00:14:12,850 --> 00:14:16,270 which is I think it's incredibly important that we have that. 154 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:22,090 So that's the first thing. Then there was a, I believe, one or two day first aid course. 155 00:14:22,090 --> 00:14:27,490 So we were all four stages filled with that qualification up to date and then mental health first aid. 156 00:14:28,060 --> 00:14:33,160 As I say, that physical and mental health so closely linked and especially in a community like this, 157 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:37,330 I think it's really important that we have those tools to be able to support and signpost. 158 00:14:37,810 --> 00:14:42,100 And the big one really is the week long Junior Dean training, 159 00:14:42,100 --> 00:14:48,460 which is offered by it's the same people who do the peer support training that students might be familiar with that in that training, 160 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:56,170 a lot of it is going through situations, going through real life scenarios of things that junior deans across the university have had to deal with. 161 00:14:56,830 --> 00:15:02,740 It's about knowing the limits of our job. It's about knowing how to help people responsibly, knowing when to. 162 00:15:02,820 --> 00:15:08,640 Offer advice. Also understanding that the role is incredibly different across the university. 163 00:15:08,850 --> 00:15:11,340 So at Worcester we have one way being a junior dean. 164 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:17,610 Other colleges, because of many circumstances, maybe they're great colleges, maybe they're smaller communities than we are. 165 00:15:17,850 --> 00:15:20,910 They all have their own different sort of interpretations of the job. 166 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,899 So it's wonderful to have that kind of network of other junior deans across the 167 00:15:24,900 --> 00:15:29,490 university and to be able to understand and get a different perspective on what works, 168 00:15:29,490 --> 00:15:34,300 what doesn't work. So it's a really flexible course. And yeah, I think it was it was really, really useful. 169 00:15:34,330 --> 00:15:41,250 And is there anything unique about the Worcester approach? This is one way in which Worcester is quite different, is it's a massive site. 170 00:15:41,820 --> 00:15:44,930 I did my undergrad at Lincoln, which is just tiny. 171 00:15:44,940 --> 00:15:49,560 So Worcester Junior Deans are among the only in the university to do rounds every evening. 172 00:15:50,010 --> 00:15:57,270 So we walk around, we make sure that everything is okay and we kind of support the porters and and the lodge team in doing that. 173 00:15:57,300 --> 00:16:01,800 So that's one way in which our job at Worcester is is relatively unique. 174 00:16:01,830 --> 00:16:06,090 And who supports you? Thank you. 175 00:16:06,090 --> 00:16:13,590 I think not many people access that quite often. Sometimes one incident is I have the I myself go to Josie and say I need some support. 176 00:16:13,710 --> 00:16:17,340 Is that to handle this case? Or I could go to Joe. I'll call his nurse. 177 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:24,200 Apart from that, we also have visits with Tim Oke, who trained us with the at least for me, 178 00:16:24,210 --> 00:16:29,130 he was, yes, training the junior dean throw away, famous training that was talking about. 179 00:16:29,190 --> 00:16:36,629 We have full supervision. Tom Yeah. So it's nice place to go and meet other dunedin's from different colleges. 180 00:16:36,630 --> 00:16:41,310 And sometimes if you've dealt with a case that you thought was the circumstances were quite unique, 181 00:16:41,580 --> 00:16:45,450 you can open it to the floor and see how they would have handled it versus how you do it. 182 00:16:45,690 --> 00:16:51,899 It's a group session. It is, yeah. I think Junior Dean sign up and then Tim is like supervising and asking everyone what they 183 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:56,760 think of it and guiding and probably sharing his own expertise on how you would have dealt it. 184 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:02,010 Is there any other way we could have gone about it? So it's basically just to check that we're doing okay. 185 00:17:02,010 --> 00:17:11,069 And yeah, you know, it's a long term sometimes. Yeah, and we're a learning organisational way and it's really important to be alive to, 186 00:17:11,070 --> 00:17:15,719 you know, how you can approach things differently and share that expertise and insights. 187 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:21,990 So it sounds very sensible, goes without saying in kind of that kind of scenario where it's supervision data is anonymous. 188 00:17:21,990 --> 00:17:27,720 Yeah. So we're not talking about students using their names or any identifiable details. 189 00:17:27,990 --> 00:17:31,500 Actually, let's talk about confidentiality. There's some things I wanted to touch upon. 190 00:17:31,860 --> 00:17:35,700 How can students feel comfortable there when they turn to you? 191 00:17:35,940 --> 00:17:39,290 They can trust you, you know? How does that work? 192 00:17:39,300 --> 00:17:42,600 Tell us just to reassure people most of the time when they come to us, 193 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:49,620 everything is confidential and the confidentiality is only extended within the member of the team in a need to know basis. 194 00:17:49,830 --> 00:17:57,360 So everyone can remain confident that whenever they come to us we understand and actually want it to be confidential for their own sake. 195 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,329 Otherwise the safe space doesn't happen, right? 196 00:18:00,330 --> 00:18:06,540 Yeah, I know from talking to students in my drop in that they're always incredibly positive about our team. 197 00:18:07,020 --> 00:18:09,270 So, you know, thank you for all of that. 198 00:18:09,540 --> 00:18:16,859 What are your particular highlights and anything you'd particularly like to mention as a highlight as a Dean team? 199 00:18:16,860 --> 00:18:22,140 I think it's put us in a wonderful place of being staff whilst being a student. 200 00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:28,049 So I think I've quite enjoyed the dimension of being a staff and supporting the student as 201 00:18:28,050 --> 00:18:33,250 well as being a student myself and the unique community and the lovely gardens in Worcester. 202 00:18:33,510 --> 00:18:40,650 I think that has been one of the biggest highlight and the friendship I've been able to forge with Simon over time has been great. 203 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:46,950 And Simon Bagnall had to go, Yeah, yeah. And for you, any particular highlights you'd like to mention? 204 00:18:46,950 --> 00:18:52,860 It's early days for you. So many days. But what I would say is working with this with the Dean team, 205 00:18:53,070 --> 00:19:02,130 I felt so welcomed and it's been a really wonderful opportunity to meet interesting people from around you, like around the university. 206 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:09,780 We're pretty diverse group in terms of the stuff we study and you know, to meet this kind of cross-section of the university. 207 00:19:09,780 --> 00:19:17,999 And also I think it's wonderful to be able to work with students, even if even if I can offer only limited advice, you know, 208 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:27,750 and even if they don't want my advice, they just want someone to talk at for 45 minutes to be able to be there and see them a little bit later on. 209 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:33,870 You know, of course I won't say anything, but I'll see them at lunch with their friends and that they're doing better and they're having a better day. 210 00:19:34,020 --> 00:19:37,830 I don't that that really makes it. That's a good feeling. Really special. 211 00:19:38,610 --> 00:19:44,969 And final question for me, one piece of advice from each of you to everyone listening, 212 00:19:44,970 --> 00:19:51,240 I think I think it's applies to kind of as much as us as it does students. 213 00:19:51,570 --> 00:19:55,020 It's making time for social time. We're social creatures. 214 00:19:55,020 --> 00:20:02,580 I think it's really easy to neglect the time we spend with friends in favour of oh, well, spend an hour or more in the life. 215 00:20:03,110 --> 00:20:09,290 I won't go to that thing. That time is super, super important and really important for mental health, too. 216 00:20:09,710 --> 00:20:16,820 I'm really pleased to hear you say that because it might drop in. Quite a few people come in and say, Should I go and do some sport? 217 00:20:16,820 --> 00:20:22,520 Or I really get stressed when I'm not in the library and I'm busy telling them exactly what you just shared, 218 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:31,910 which is that it's equally important to go and, you know, no couple around or, you know, play Frisbee, you know, all of that stuff or just to chill. 219 00:20:32,270 --> 00:20:37,309 So yeah, I advice I take umbrage with the idea that you have to be doing something all the time. 220 00:20:37,310 --> 00:20:40,700 So even your kind of downtime has to be around an activity. 221 00:20:40,730 --> 00:20:44,210 Yes. And I think just hanging out, just chilling. That's fine. 222 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,020 Yeah. At least I said that as my final edition. 223 00:20:48,020 --> 00:20:53,870 Chilling and secret from for you. Well, I value its advice quite a lot. 224 00:20:54,560 --> 00:21:01,670 The thing I'd like to add on to that is if you feel like you could use a sport, do not hesitate, do nothing. 225 00:21:01,700 --> 00:21:06,499 You know, maybe someone else needs more support or my shoe is not as big as everyone else's. 226 00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:09,560 So maybe if I give it a couple of days, it will go away. 227 00:21:09,860 --> 00:21:14,659 I will say, please make that call. Please reach out your friends, your community. 228 00:21:14,660 --> 00:21:18,890 Everyone will appreciate that you made that call that you wrote that email. 229 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:23,870 So I think during hard times when you're unsure if you should reach out, the best thing is to reach out. 230 00:21:24,180 --> 00:21:30,560 Right. So I would just suggest people to be more open about how they feel and, you know, make it a norm to talk about how you feel. 231 00:21:30,710 --> 00:21:34,730 Not in a ranting way, but just about. I'm not doing okay. 232 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,339 Can I talk to you? Just check in if they have the time for us. 233 00:21:37,340 --> 00:21:42,800 I think it's important to be respectful if the other person you're going to offload onto has the time. 234 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:48,050 And once you respect that and address that, then please just reach out to people. 235 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,980 Do not suffer in silence. So it's okay to reach out. 236 00:21:52,130 --> 00:21:59,420 Yeah. And just to ensure that everyone understands how to reach out, you can turn up to the porters launch. 237 00:21:59,540 --> 00:22:03,679 Yeah. And you just mentioned emails and I was mentioning phone calls. 238 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:09,470 You can phone them, the porters launch the lodge and then who should they email if they want to email. 239 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:13,340 So we have the communal email of the team for emergency issues. 240 00:22:13,340 --> 00:22:19,879 Obviously the emails are not monitored as often as would be, but if it's just about something, you know, 241 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:25,550 that could wait a couple of hours and it's not an urgent issue, then you can email us if it lets you open up. 242 00:22:25,550 --> 00:22:29,629 We use teams as well, whichever communication channel is preferred. 243 00:22:29,630 --> 00:22:37,760 Like some people like to talk in person, some prefer phone or video, so we try to make as many options available as possible. 244 00:22:38,090 --> 00:22:46,970 So Lodge is the main recommended one, but we're also available through teams and emails and any thing you choose, we will be there. 245 00:22:47,210 --> 00:22:51,440 It's great that people have the opportunity to turn to somebody. 246 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:56,270 I think for our role as Jody and I think it's very essential to highlight the close relationship 247 00:22:56,270 --> 00:23:00,229 we have with the Lodge supporters as well because they are the first port of call. 248 00:23:00,230 --> 00:23:05,450 So if they were not supporting us, I think some of the days could have been more difficult for me. 249 00:23:05,450 --> 00:23:10,310 So I think definitely thanking them on behalf of the entirety of the team, if I can, 250 00:23:10,700 --> 00:23:19,159 and then the core team obviously because I think it wouldn't run as smoothly if the internal members were not that st outside of that, 251 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:25,460 also the students, I think without the students there would not be a vibrant community and the need for it. 252 00:23:25,730 --> 00:23:29,030 And I think the whole of SCA that we're privileged to be part of. 253 00:23:29,300 --> 00:23:34,550 So, you know, speaking to a lot of different professors and fellows and getting to know about their work, 254 00:23:34,700 --> 00:23:40,160 sometimes meeting their guests, some interesting ones, I think I'm quite thankful for that as well. 255 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:46,520 And obviously the catering team, because one of our privileges as the team is dining, right? 256 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:55,430 So I think all of the delicious meals and I've had the fortune of bringing my friends over were incredibly jealous and envious of my rights. 257 00:23:55,430 --> 00:24:01,240 So I think definitely the catering team who have been always so nice and welcoming when I first started, I think right, 258 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:08,479 once you walk through the Worcester Lodge to the entirety of the college, you'd find so many happy, welcoming faces in the grounds. 259 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:13,940 I didn't know. I'm pretty sure they didn't know me as well. So just smile and greeted by the same two gardeners, too. 260 00:24:13,940 --> 00:24:18,290 Yeah, I know that. That's where I'm going. Yeah, I think as soon as you come, then nobody knows you. 261 00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:23,419 But, you know, that's just warm, green or smile. Sometimes that's enough to make someone else's day. 262 00:24:23,420 --> 00:24:29,510 So please be generous smile often and thank you everybody who have supported us to this roles. 263 00:24:29,750 --> 00:24:32,790 And if we have not mentioned you today, we definitely appreciate you. 264 00:24:33,230 --> 00:24:39,680 Take care. Thanks. That's great. And as I said earlier on, and thank you for everything that you guys do and the Dean team does. 265 00:24:39,860 --> 00:24:43,790 And as provost, I'm really proud of everything that the Dream Team does. 266 00:24:43,790 --> 00:24:48,469 And the welfare support here is, you know, really strong and effective. 267 00:24:48,470 --> 00:24:50,450 So thank you for being on the podcast this week. 268 00:24:50,660 --> 00:24:59,450 Next week, I'm going to be interviewing Chris Reid, who is visiting Tara Professor in the history of American Art, 269 00:24:59,660 --> 00:25:04,090 and I'm very much looking forward to interviewing. But have a very good week. 270 00:25:04,100 --> 00:25:10,620 Thank you for listening. And as ever, do make an appointment to pop in to see me and my drop in. 271 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:16,250 Make contact with Sue Gettys at Walk Don't Ask Don't UK. 272 00:25:16,300 --> 00:25:21,970 I said it correctly and I look forward to seeing you then if not bumping into you around college. 273 00:25:22,060 --> 00:25:23,200 Have a good week. Thank you.