Overview: It is nice to win an award. Especially when you’ve had first-hand experience of seeing how hard people worked to make something happen. Good Vibes Experiment is the lucky recipient this time and the team involved did an amazing job. Reading time ~ 3 minutes.
The Good Vibes Experiment is a mental-health focused campaign that was launched here at Flinders in 2021 and is still active.
The campaign was built with students, for students and focuses on the things we can do everyday that promote positive mental health.
What are these ‘things’?
We call them ‘wellbeing tactics’, of which there are 20, and they are explored in the GVE Activity Book which you can still find at Oasis, FUSA and you can even order one online if you have a Flinders email address.
With 20 wellbeing tactics, there is likely something for everyone in the campaign. For some, positive mental health is supported through acts of kindness, cultivating a sense of gratitude and compassion. But those aren’t the only pathways. Others might find wellbeing through lifestyle changes or time spent in nature. Each of us, regardless of our mental health status, has the capacity to build mentally healthy habits and activities into our everyday lives. GVE shows us some of the options.
There were many players who made GVE happen. Here at Flinders, the Project Team consisted of Steph Walker, Chris O’Grady, Jess Nicole and myself. The Student Advisory Group consisted of Surraya, Amrullah, Nathan, Shelley, Anushka, Susie, Natasha, Hannah, Prakash, Nicci, Indianna, Minh, Rudra, Rubayat, Lana and Suryawan. The Design Team from Mango Chutney consisted of Jason, Rowland, Emily and Louise.
We knew as a group that we had built something good but we were recently delighted to learn that the campaign had won an award. The annual Student Experience Network awards named it “Most Successful Wellbeing Support Program”. We are chuffed. Indianna (one of the student advisory group) was there with Director of Student Services Jodie to accept the award.
The success of the campaign speaks to an ongoing interest people have in learning more about how to build positive mental health states, both in themselves, but also the people they care about. Good Vibes Experiment is a campaign for individuals but also a campaign for us as a university community. When each of us commits to trying to be a force for good in our own lives, as well as the lives of others, the whole community benefits.
I look forward to seeing some of the imaginative ways that we build GVE ideas into future events at Flinders, now that we have greater freedoms to collect together as a community.
If you’d like to learn more about the campaign, visit the website and/or email the team at goodvibes@flinders.edu.au
I’d like to express my gratitude for being able to work with an amazing staff and student team to make this campaign happen.