You’ve come to the right place if you’re…
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hoping to make some new friends,
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feeling a little lost or lonely, or
Our meet-ups are hosted by friendly students, just like you. We have a mix of online (usually on MS Teams or Adobe Connect) and face-to-face meet-ups and events, and you can find the listings on our events calendar.
There is no pressure in these spaces, if you’d like to come along but keep your camera off or drop in and out, that’s just fine. If you’d like to get in touch with the event host before the event to talk anything through, including any accessibility requirements you have, drop us an email at oustudents-meetups@open.ac.uk and we will put you in touch if we can (by emailing us with this request, we will assume you give permission for us to pass on your email address). You can also find out more about accessibility when using Microsoft Teams and Adobe Connect. We know it can be a little daunting to turn up at an event when you don’t know anyone but we can assure you of a warm welcome. There tends to be around 10 to 15 students attending our regular drop-ins at any one time.
A student meet-up.
Robbie, a regular attendee at the East of England online meet-up says:
“As a new OU Student (and first time Uni student) I thought it would be a good idea to meet some other people (you know, the whole social side of Uni). - Only problem I had was I can be quite shy when it comes to meeting new people.
I spotted an East of England chat on one of the events pages and I thought “well, let’s give it a go!”
My expectation was to sit there listening to everyone talking for the hour and a half, however before the videos of the attendants had even loaded on my screen everyone was saying hello and welcoming me into the group, ‘What luck!’ I found a welcoming and friendly group!
Ever since that first day I joined I have tried to get to each meet as it’s great to hear how everyone is doing and I feel like I’ve made some friends for life!”
Leanne, reminisces about attending their first couple of meet-ups:
“I saw an advert for a “drop in” with the Students Association and decided I would go along and just see what it was like. I don’t think I said a single word for that entire first session, the people were friendly and the conversation pleasant but for that first session I just wanted to listen. I went back for a second session and again I was welcomed in by everyone and this time I bit the bullet and started speaking….I think that was the moment everything changed for me. I found laughter, I found friendship, I found support and I found a sense of belonging that I hadn’t expected.”
Whilst the mutual support of fellow students can be a fantastic help during difficult times, it is important that you know that our meet-ups are not therapeutic support spaces. Our volunteers are not trained to help if you are experiencing a period of crisis, but they will be able to signpost you to other services to help, such as our Peer Support service and the Samaritans.
If you are interested in organising your own meet-ups, please drop us an email at oustudents-meetups@open.ac.uk or check out the volunteer pages to see if Meet-up and Event Host volunteer recruitment is open.
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