Being a student civil servant in Amsterdam is about building bridges between students, student organizations, education institutions, local health organizations and the City of Amsterdam. In addition to this a student civil servant in Amsterdam also works together with students to set up events and projects in order to make mental health discussable and create awareness about available low threshold services. Working with a broad number of partners is key, a few are touched upon. Think about the 4 biggest higher education institutions in Amsterdam who play a role in exchanging data and experiences of students. Also to assist student organizations regarding information about subsidies, contacts within the statutory organizations and connecting them to other relevant stakeholders. In addition student associations are important to make them aware of the available low threshold services in the city. Finally, students themselves, to let them raise their voice in order to tackle the stigma aroundstudent mental health is extremely valuable.

Several activities were introduced by the student civil servant in Amsterdam or played a significant role regarding the organization of events. The ‘Studyroomservice’ for instance, which provided the opportunity for students to study in an empty hotel during the lockdown in 2021. 1500 students were involved in this project. The campaign ‘Healthy Talks’, what was about to share student mental health experiences in Amsterdam and reached out to more than 7000 students. Furthermore, during the Mental Health Café, psychologists, student initiatives and students engaged to the topic, shared experiences and discussed multiple ways how to cope with stresses of life. Finally due to the student civil servant a high number of new students have received information about how to protect their mental health and the participation to expand the monitoring program Caring Universities makes it possible to work towards more data about student wellbeing.

We have discovered that the communication with students is much more easier. A student from its own community knows better how to approach other fellow students and what to ask. This is why we have gathered many student experiences and why their position have been recognized much better by the statutory organizations across the city. The network of the student civil servant made it possible to empower students but above all, to connect initiatives, organizations and knowledge with each other. However, it’s still a challenge to reach out to the ‘regular student’ who is not directly attached to the subject. In particular groups and communities student wellbeing is still not embraced yet. For instance, a major part of the student associations do care about mental health and wellbeing, unfortunately there are still associations with poor motivation to work on it. In the upcoming period more attention to these groups and communities will be a
priority. Besides this, we noticed a number of education institutions are heard to maintain contact with, we would like to overcome this issue to reach out personally to these certain institutions. Finally, the first months of this new established role was challenging.

Challenging in a way that there was no clear approach or structure to follow. Since Amsterdam has one of the biggest student numbers its hard to represent all the students from one certain moment. It took quite a period to get used to all different forms of initiatives, get the new role visible within our own organization and create a common approach. This has mainly changed due more focus on evaluation, for example after making a connection between organizations, an event or a workshop. Currently there is more to experience to base on, what also drives the content for an updated plan of action for the upcoming year.

The student population in Amsterdam benefited since there is a better connection with, in particular, student organizations and students with the City of Amsterdam and local health authorities. The role has created new events such as Healthy Talks and the Mental Health Café which are targeting students mental wellbeing. Thanks to Thrive, several connections were quickly made with other relevant initiatives in the city. The task of the working student in Amsterdam is now to create structure within these connections. The focus is on the UvA, HvA (University of Applied Sciences) and umbrella associations within Amsterdam priority. Besides this, we noticed a number of education institutions are heard to maintain contact with, we would like to overcome this issue to reach out personally to these certain institutions. Finally, the first months of this new established role was challenging.

Challenging in a way that there was no clear approach or structure to follow. Since Amsterdam has one of the biggest student numbers its hard to represent all the students from one certain moment. It took quite a period to get used to all different forms of initiatives, get the new role visible within our own organization and create a common approach. This has mainly changed due more focus on evaluation, for example after making a connection between organizations, an event or a workshop. Currently there is more to experience to base on, what also drives the content for an updated plan of action for the upcoming year.