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Student stress highlighted by local boy tragedy

University can be an incredibly stressful time for students. Not just from the workload but also the mental effects it can have. Loneliness and stress, along with anxiety and depression are commonplace among young people at university. Recently it was reported that a Hampshire student committed suicide in his home near Romsey. At the inquest into his death, it was heard that he was struggling with his workload at university and was disappointed with the progress of an experiment he was carrying out. He’d signed up to university counselling, seen his GP and his family felt that he’d gotten a lot better since the previous year. According to the Universities UK’s mental well-being working group, there’s been a record breaking rise in students seeking help for stress. There’s been an annual rise of 10% for university counselling services – an area which until recently had been almost ignored. It’s not just an issue that affects Southampton Solent University students, or even t
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Why Prince Harry’s ideal stigma free world isn’t quite within grasp

Almost 20 years on from the death Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, has spoken out about his struggles to come to terms with his mother’s death. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph he revealed he refused to think about his mother “because why would that help?” Prince Harry was just 12 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. He failed to deal with his grief for so long that when it caught up to him in his late twenties he wasn’t even aware it was grief he was feeling “I just couldn’t put my finger on it,” he said. “I just didn’t know what was wrong with me.” At the age of 10, my father died of a stroke and as a child and also because of how sudden it was, several months passed before I was even hit with the finality of it. Eight years on I still haven’t worked through the loss in a conventional way like seeing a bereavement counsellor. Prince Harry opening up about his own struggles dealing with grief

Woman charged with dangerous driving during suspended sentence for blackmail

A law student and single mother, was today charged with dangerous driving at Crown Court. 30-year-old Leanne Davies could be seen crying in the dock as the judge told her “Your driving was utterly dreadful.” The event, which took place on January 7 th 2016, was captured by dashcam footage from a nearby recovery vehicle. The video showed the moments after an altercation between Davies and motorcyclist, Sam Wolf. Wolf was forced to avoid a bump in the road which resulted in Davies putting her middle finger up at him. Wolf replied with the same before calling out “What’s your problem? You need to learn how to drive.” The clip, which was shown in court, showed Davies’ silver Audi driving on the wrong side of the road before almost crashing into a Yamaha motorcycle, causing Wolf to fall off. He suffered three broken bones in his wrist and a dislocated shoulder, both on his right side. This incident breached Davies’ 24 month suspended sentence for blackmail. Dr Rupert Pemse

Soton council new and improved health and wellbeing strategy

Southampton City Council introduced the replacement Health and Wellbeing Strategy for approval today at a meeting in the Civic Centre. This new strategy for 2017-2025 replaces the 2013 one which ran previously, but targets areas in new ways. It promises to prioritise areas such as mental health and problems affecting young people. The Council is required to have a Health and Wellbeing strategy, however it was designed to align with the current City Strategy’s vision to be a city ‘where everyone thrives.’ Many issues such as suicide rates, childhood obesity, physical inactivity and air pollution are worse in Southampton than the national average. The new strategy plans to prioritise these areas and others. Some Councillors were concerned that the new strategy isn’t different enough from the current one and prioritises so many areas that it’s likely to be ineffective. One councillor argued, “Identifying the handful of health problems to focus on would be far more effective