‘Listen – are you breathing a little and calling it a life?’ MARY OLIVER

Positive mental and emotional wellbeing is the vital sign that says you are living the life you were born for.

Instead, suicide rates are on the increase. In the UK, suicide is now the biggest killer of people under 35 years old. Many of these young people are in universities and colleges, where not only students, but also teachers and staff, struggle to manage anxiety, depression, overwhelm and burnout. Many to the point they want to quit.

Places of higher education should be the launch pad for hugely needed deep, transformative impact on the growing crises of this world. Places that generate positivity, creativity, and empowerment – not misery and endurance.

LifeRoute is a hub that invites and incubates new thinking, new pedagogy in education, and new languages of expression that are values-based. Its Caring on Campus initiative especially focuses on the creation of a culture of compassion that can ripple out to give greatest societal impact. There is no better solution if we are to hope for a future where we all can grow and thrive together.

Encouragement in Academia

In The Swamp?

More than ever, Higher education is a hugely demanding work environment with many things to balance. So it's hard to remember when it feels you are up to your ears in hungry alligators that your priority should be to drain the swamp. But what is the alternative? Using...

Mis-Fit?

Often described as the round peg in the square hole. Or worse, the square peg that can't even get into the round hole. If this is how you feel, then it doesn't mean that there is something wrong or lacking in you. It's just that the environment, the context, or simply...

WELL-COME

...The UnWelcome It takes us to scary places, but that's also where the buried treasures lie. When we learn we are Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lyra Silver-tongue... Where we re-discover all that is strong and brave and good within us. It's a good way to define both...

Revolving Doors

Where an online integrity educators' practicum included a survey on the participants' own formal moral and ethics training, in relation to their work-field experience, most respondents stated that their higher education in this area was of little relevance. That they...

The World’s Most Played Song

The world’s most played song is the one we keep singing to ourselves, often all day long. You can spot it in conversations when it is clear no one is really listening. Hearing, yes (maybe), but not listening to a level where they are engaging their mind and heart with...

Don’t SUPPORT Me – GROW ME

Support is a word that many people shrink away from. It can suggest 'You are weak', 'Something is lacking in you that needs fixing'. Many students would rather suffer low mental wellbeing than walk through a door where the word 'Support' is written because it is like...