Students have raised concerns to Exeposé about the Students’ Guild’s mental health month campaign, as it has emerged that the Guild has deleted four songs from a mental health-themed playlist.
Meanwhile, Student Minds have trained more than 500 Exeter students to spot mental health issues and to help anyone suffering with finding support.
The playlist originally contained ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, which has strong connotations with 9/11 and the Iraq war; ‘Back to Black’, which discusses substance abuse; Imagine Dragons’ ‘Demons’; and Britney Spears’ ‘Everytime’, the music video of which shows the singer committing suicide. It still includes the Lord Huron song ‘The Night We Met’, which is used heavily in the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why. Its tone has also been questioned. A second-year Drama student said: “A playlist created in support of Mental Health awareness month? Brilliant idea. Said playlist including songs which reference suicide or drug use? Absolutely not. For me, this isn’t a case of a lapse in judgement, it’s pure laziness on behalf of the Guild. Whoever created and/or authorised this playlist should have had the common sense to check what each song was about. The overall tone of the playlist is also dubious. Spice Girls juxtaposed with Lana del Rey? Saying there’s mixed messages is an understatement. Are we supposed to feel joyful when listening or wallow further? Do let me know when the Guild works out which one it is.”
A Guild spokesperson said: “The Mental Health campaign is focused on raising awareness of everyone’s mental health, through student-led activity, sports, and games. The Spotify playlist was created to provoke thought and discussion by highlighting the spectrum of issues that musicians tackled in their work and have the potential affect all of our mental health. The purpose of the campaign is to get students talking about mental health and given the very personal nature of the topic we expected a diverse range of views in the discussion, both positive and negative. We’re delighted to see so many people engaged with the project.”
“Student groups and AU Clubs were co-creators of events for the campaign, with our VP Welfare and Diversity spearheading the campaign as a whole. It’s great to see student involvement in the organisation of such an important campaign that affects us all in one way or another.”
A second-year History student said that: they had “a problem with the way the Guild advertises this playlist. The Twitter interaction is a display of romanticising poor mental health. No doubt it was written with good intentions, but its descriptions of depression and other conditions as a ‘rollercoaster’ which maintains the stigma, and solidifies mental health in a position inferior to physical health.”
A second-year English student said: “As someone with a mental illness, I appreciate the campaign’s attempts to connect and support students,” adding: “It’s a personal issue, and whilst Guild support is wonderful, I think it’s incredibly difficult to offer this blanket support for all students with mental illness, as each person experiences it so uniquely.”
The campaign is joint betweent the Guild and AU, including events such as Meet the Guide Dogs, sports taster sessions, and free exercise classes. It is an extension of the AU’s #SportSomethingSaySomething campaign.
Jim Balshaw, AU President, said: “Taking part in sport and getting active is a great way to relieve stress and take a break from study and can help you feel refreshed.
“We will also take the opportunity this month to promote the wellbeing services available to students. The University, AU, and Guild provide a wide variety of options to help with any issue at any level including workshops, online self-help, medical services and support groups.”
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