Welfare Department

BY AMITABH JEGANATHAN

2021 saw a refocusing and expansion of the Welfare Department, with a strategic shift to encompass the wide field of student welfare at University. Structurally changing the roles in the Welfare Department to include Student Living, Campus Culture, Physical Health, Men’s Mental Health and CaLD Reps. In addition, the Welfare Council was restructured to be a place of collaboration between clubs on campus who have a large stake in campus culture and student wellbeing.

As a result of this restructuring, the Welfare Department saw a more diverse reach and engagement this year. From running our first event around financial literacy for students, to a CaLD panel night, the Department was able to reach more students in ways that were relevant and focused.

For O-Day in Semester 1, we created a “chill out zone” for students, giving out free Welfare Packs, having a DIY facemask station and a Wii set up, providing an opportunity for students to get a break from the typical loud, exciting O-Day experience. Throughout the year, we continued to distribute over 600 of these welfare packs, which contained tea bags, mints, muesli bars, semester planners, a Welfare Department guide to uni life, affirmation cards and pens. These packs proved to be very popular and aided in increasing awareness of the Welfare Department in both semesters. Alongside our standalone events, the Department worked to increase collaborations with other clubs and societies on campus. This ranged from DESI Student Society’s soldout panel night on South Asian cultural stigmas to AISEC’s World’s Greatest Lesson and Bubble Soccer with Health Students’ Society. These collaborations helped the Welfare Department create a sense of social cohesion as students move back to campus as well as reach students who would have typically not engaged previously.

Finally, the Wellbeing Volunteers program saw significant expansion this year, being present at most of the largescale social events and some minor events this year. It is clear that the program has a bright future and will be a mainstay of UWA campus culture into the future, helping to create a safer environment for all students. Massive thank you to Sharron Sekhon and Daniel Roden who organised the Wellbeing Volunteers program this year.

The growth of the Welfare Department in 2021 has been exciting and I am so thankful for my department in their support and efforts throughout the year. I look forward to seeing the work Sapphire does in this space for 2022.