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Changes to welfare roles on committee
Changes to welfare roles on committee
As an SU we have welcomed the rise in the number of student groups and passionate students who are looking to take on roles to support each other’s wellbeing and welfare. We want to support student volunteers to be able to fulfill such roles safely and with appropriate training on the boundaries of their responsibilities.
That is why we are introducing the Wellbeing and Community Champion role, that any student group can choose to adopt onto their committee.
What is the Wellbeing and Community Champion committee position?
What is the Wellbeing and Community Champion committee position?
The Wellbeing and Community Champion is a standardised role across all student groups, so that students are aware of where their responsibilities lie on committee and when to signpost other members to further support.
In short, the Wellbeing and Community Champion will replace all pre-existing Welfare Officer/ Wellbeing Officer related roles, in order to standardise the level of responsibility expected of students in these roles across our 300 student groups, and to give the appropriate training to students who are elected into this role.
For more information, check out our role description in full!
What does the Wellbeing and Community Champion do?
What does the Wellbeing and Community Champion do?
Key duties of the Wellbeing and Community Champion include:
Key duties of the Wellbeing and Community Champion include:
Making sure your group activities feel as safe as possible for all students to be able to attend, not solving problems with an individual. You are not a therapist!
Signposting other committee members and the wider group membership to appropriate support services that are available if you are asked. Finding ways to promote these within your group.
Help to organise activities for the group to socialise outside of their activity, tea or coffee chats, relaxed non-drinking social events.
Promote inclusive group practice, focusing on how organised events or activities can be accessible for different student communities. The SU provide resources to help consider best practice.
Help to reflect and feedback on what more can be done by the SU to improve the wellbeing of students and the accessibility of student groups for different student communities.
Promote wider attendance from your members at SU activities and events around wellbeing and inclusion.
What compulsory training does the Wellbeing and Community Champion require to do?
What compulsory training does the Wellbeing and Community Champion require to do?
You are required to attend two separate training sessions for your role. These include:
Look After Your Mate Training Session: This training session covers how to signpost and support your members, with content provided by Student Minds through their Look After Your Mate programme. These sessions run throughout the year by different members of York SU staff, and sessions will be communicated by your link staff member.
The second training session will look at inclusion within student groups, best practice for organising activities and elements of active bystander training.
We will be offering a Look After Your Mate Training session at the Student Leader Training Conference in May for any student group Wellbeing and Community Champion to attend.
We've already held our AGM, and elected a Welfare Officer. Do we need to re-elect for this role?
We've already held our AGM, and elected a Welfare Officer. Do we need to re-elect for this role?
In short, no. If you have already elected a Welfare Officer, please re-evaluate your description on your constitution for this role against the Wellbeing and Community Champion role description, found on this page, and change your Welfare Officer role to 'Wellbeing and Community Champion'. You do not need to re-elect for this role, it will just replace what you currently have as Welfare Officer.
If your committee are not happy with the Wellbeing and Community Champion role, then your group will not be able to hold a welfare position on committee.
For the 25/26 ratification period, we have added a specific section about the Wellbeing and Community Champion within your constitution template, so please complete this when you re-ratify for the year ahead.
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