Greetings Adventurers!
As you probably know, EUSA is running their mental health and well-being ‘week’ between 9 and 27 November. As part of this initiative, a lot of societies are having a #WellbeingWednesday campaign, and we at Geas are also going to do something similar.
We on the Committee acknowledge that these times are really stressful: not only are there the usual stressors of university, financial pressures, work, personal circumstances, our health, and the wellbeing of people we care about, but all this is further exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic and the challenges of everything moving on-line. A lot of us are feeling isolated and anxious because of lockdown, social distancing, and the ongoing crisis. In acknowledging this, we want to reassure everyone that it’s okay to feel this way, and that we’re not alone through these times. It’s okay to reach out and seek support. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
If you feel the current situation is affecting your well-being, or if you need support or help, then you can check out the resources that EUSA have compiled here:
https://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/yourvoice/ourwork/mentalhealthweek/
In addition, I’ve compiled a list of other resources at the University on our #uni-related channel on Discord.
We appreciate that for a lot of us, gaming is an activity that helps us cope. It is a source of consistent social interaction, an outlet for creativity, and fun! So we’re going to be joining in with other societies with our own little Geas #WellbeingWednesday initiative! As part of this initiative, there are three things we would like our members to do:
1) Take Long Rests if you need them: Remember, your well-being comes first: it’s okay to back out of a game or skip out on a few sessions if you are not feeling up for it. It’s okay to step back for a bit until you have a Long Rest and recover your Spell Slots.
2) Lean into the Social and check in with everyone: It really helps to spend the first and last 15 minutes of a session to check in with each other in your game. Just chat about how you’re feeling about playing, and how things have been going. The chit-chat at the start of the session is a great way to get warmed up and to get to know each other at the table, and to give us an opportunity to know if there’s something we need to be sensitive of.
3) Roll with Insight and Listen for How Everyone is Feeling: It can make a huge difference if people at the table listen to how everyone else is doing before and after a session, and adjust their session accordingly. Speaking from experience, I was gaming once when I had a bad few days, so I talked to everyone at the table and asked that we take it slow for the session, or that we take a few breaks, which really helped! We’re not saying that you can solve problems or issues others may be having, but at the very least you can adapt your session so that it is inclusive to people who might be feeling a bit off their game for whatever reason.
(Now we know this is technically called #WellbeingWednesday, but we’re going to cheat a little and ask the same for our Wednesday and our Sunday games. This doesn’t just apply to this week; it’s actually a great habit to get into when gaming generally.)
As always, if you’re having any issues at Geas that you feel is affecting your enjoyment of your games, you are welcome to get in touch with me at Geas.Welfare, or anyone else on the committee.
Rolling Comfort and Support,
Vivek Santayana
Equality and Wellbeing Officer
