About us.

You could be excused for never having heard of UQMind before. The incubation period from casual conversations between colleagues in late 2015 to the formation of a new branch within the UQMS in 2016 was as rapid as it was exciting. It all began with a simple question – why isn’t anything being done for the health and wellbeing of our cohort?

As first year students, the hazards we were to face in coming years were as daunting as they were well-documented, but safe passage through these was not – and it certainly was not represented by the beaten path. UQMind is made up of a group of students who decided to take on this challenge, and do something meaningful and real, as med students helping med students.

The concept itself is simple, and seems like something that could happen quite organically, but the closer to reality the committee got, the less clear our goals became. We decided to keep it basic. It begins with a mantra: surviving and enjoying medical school is a balancing act – keeping up with your studies, having a life with your friends and family, and staying healthy and active can be challenging; although studying medicine is an enriching experience, there are times when it tests us all.

Throughout 2016, UQMind built a strong social media presence with the goal of promoting the conversation around the health and wellbeing of medical students. The rest of 2016 saw us hosting more free morning tea events as well as Blue Week (an AMSA initiative aimed to improve mental health literacy and reduce stigma).

2016 was an absolute ride for the UQMS Wellbeing Committee and all the UQMind volunteers and we’d just like to take a moment to say thank you to the UQMS, UQ School of Medicine and the UQ Med cohort for their excitement, enthusiasm and support in this new, exciting, constantly growing venture! We are excited to see what the future holds for UQMind!