This research, was based on the idea of doing a random act of kindness for a stranger. We had decided to concentrate the location of the project within CIT, so the research was carried out there. Inside the wrapped packages is a bar of chocolate with a USB. I handed them out the to random students and asked them to complete the survey that was included in the document.
Document that was included in the USB
Here is a link to the survey I asked them to fill out. In total I handed out 10 items and got a response back from 23 students. The results of this be viewed here.
The high number of responses gathered indicated that students supported the idea that being kind to a stranger has positive implications to ones mental well being. I can attest that by handing them out has positive benefits for me. Because of this research, it brought attention to the issue of students mental health, something we had not considered before for our project. In order to pursue this further I contacted the two societies that are involved with student health, the CIT Mental Health Socieity and Breaking the Silence.
What struck me at first was why were there two separate societies for the same issue. I had never heard of the Mental Health socieity before even though it was set up for about a year. Both societies are in effect doing the same work, promoting positive mental health amongst students. A quote that struck me from Joe Crowley, the student who established the CIT Mental Health socieity, was that it was “impossible to start a debate around the area of mental health”. That is something that he is trying to pursue in CIT by going a very direct route and asking students to volunteer to make a video where they state their name and say they have struggled with mental health in the past. Here is a link to that idea. It is a tall order to ask of students to publicly undertake something like that. While I agree with it in principle, it has the potential to cause problems for students as well. I asked him if many students got involved in this idea and he said there wasn’t. This could also be down to the fact it was not advertised that much so it does not give any real definitive information on the issue apart from the fact that the socieity is struggling to come up with a way to create a debate around the issue of mental health.