{"id":6607,"date":"2026-09-24T16:24:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/?p=6607"},"modified":"2026-09-24T16:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:25:14","slug":"students-supporting-students-the-difference-wellbeing-champions-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/students-supporting-students-the-difference-wellbeing-champions-make\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Supporting Students: The Difference Wellbeing Champions Make"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This blog is written by Phillip Harris from the Learning and Teaching Academy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Throughout my role as Student Events Coordinator at Cardiff University, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of colleagues, students, and support services. One group that consistently stands out is the University&#8217;s Student Wellbeing Champions.<\/p>\n<p>Wellbeing Champions are students who have received health and wellbeing training to provide peer support to their fellow students. Through their knowledge, lived experiences, and understanding of the challenges that can accompany university life, they help promote self-care, raise awareness of wellbeing issues, and connect students with the wide range of services available across the University.<\/p>\n<p>A key strength of the programme is its peer-led approach. Wellbeing Champions understand first-hand the realities of university life and are therefore uniquely placed to offer guidance, share experiences, and help others access appropriate resources. This creates an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions, seeking advice, or simply having a conversation with someone who understands their experiences.<\/p>\n<p>The Wellbeing Champions lead an impressive programme of events and initiatives throughout the year, creating opportunities for students to build connections, share experiences, and enhance their wellbeing. These include coffee lounges for different student communities, postgraduate social meet-ups, awareness campaigns, peer support activities, and events celebrating diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing. They also produce online content, podcasts, articles, and social media campaigns that encourage open conversations and help ensure wellbeing remains a visible and accessible topic across the student community.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside this programme of activity, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Wellbeing Champions at a number of student-facing events. Whenever they are involved, they bring enthusiasm, positivity, and approachability that enhance the experience for everyone attending. Their ability to engage with students and build rapport quickly helps create an atmosphere where people feel welcome, included, and confident exploring the opportunities and resources available to them.<\/p>\n<p>Through our collaboration at student-facing events, I have seen first-hand the difference they make. They consistently engage attendees, answer questions, encourage participation, and foster a positive and inclusive atmosphere. Their involvement often helps students develop connections not only with University services but also with one another, strengthening the sense of belonging that is so important to the wider student experience.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"post-6609 media-6609\" class=\"image align-none\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/286\/2026\/09\/Christmas-Event.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>What I admire most about the Wellbeing Champions is their genuine commitment to helping others. They enhance the student experience and demonstrate, through their actions, the importance of kindness, empathy, and community. Their contribution extends far beyond individual events, helping to create a culture in which wellbeing can be discussed openly and where students know they do not have to navigate challenges alone.<\/p>\n<p>The success of the Wellbeing Champions programme comes not only from the support they provide at University events but also from the diverse range of initiatives they lead throughout the year. Whether hosting a coffee lounge, delivering a wellbeing campaign, creating student-focused content, or working alongside colleagues at collaborative events, they make a meaningful and lasting contribution to the University community.<\/p>\n<p>From my own experience, the Wellbeing Champions are an invaluable part of Cardiff University. Their dedication, compassion, and ability to connect with others help foster a more supportive, inclusive, and connected student community. Their positive impact is evident in the students they engage, the conversations they inspire, and the stronger sense of belonging they help create. I look forward to continuing to work alongside them and seeing their contribution to the Cardiff University community continue to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This blog is written by Phillip Harris from the Learning and Teaching Academy. &nbsp; Throughout my role as Student Events Coordinator at Cardiff University, I have had the opportunity to [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":7169,"featured_media":6608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[36],"tags":[311,74,63,326,1147],"custom_author":[1109],"class_list":["post-6607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-engagement","tag-collaboration","tag-event","tag-student-engagement-2","tag-student-experience","tag-wellbeing","custom_author-phillip-harris"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":6607,"cy":6626},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KqgK-1Iz","meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/286\/2026\/09\/Wellbeing-Champions.jpg","pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6607"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6631,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions\/6631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6607"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/LTAcademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=6607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}