For the second year in a row students from NUIG will be taking a plunge into the Atlantic to raise funds for students’ mental health and wellbeing services.
‘Coldvember’ was organised in 2018 by six NUIG students as part of the Movember movement, a charity working to raise awareness and funds for men’s health, and raised over €7,000 for mental health service.
Eoin Ryan, one of the students organising the event where students dive from Blackrock in Salthill said “Based on the success of last year we were keen to take on the challenge again.”
“However, we all agreed that we would like to see the entire campaign focused around the University, so that our effort could have a greater impact in our community.”
“We approached the Students’ Union and the University’s counselling services and we began to discuss where our money would have the greatest impact, and also how we could use our campaign to spread a positive message about mental wellbeing.”
The students hope that money raised from the campaign will provide more access for students to counselling sessions and provide education for staff and students through workshops.
They aim to help enhance the use of virtual counselling in the NUI Galway students Counselling Services by providing trained counsellors to review exercises undertaken by students, providing feedback, and organising one-to-one sessions if needed.
Barney McIlroy, a co-organiser of Coldvember, said that the student counselling services already offer fantastic mental health supports to 19,000 students.
“However, in a community the size of NUI Galway, and with the prevalence of very broad mental health issues amongst college students, there is always a lot asked of them, and there is always more that could be done.
“Another aim is to promote positive mental wellbeing, primarily through the act of getting a group together and jumping in the sea. This aim is much less tangible than our financial goal, but is of equal importance to us.”
For those wanting to join or support ‘Coldvember’ please follow the students on Instagram @coldvember_nuig where times and locations will be updated regularly.
For more information or to donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/coldvember-nui-galway.
