Kai, kōrero, connect
Flat chats is an initiative that launched in 2022 looking to tap into the student flat culture and facilitate healthy conversations about mental health.
Flat Dinners
Flat chats involve providing a dinner for University of Canterbury students at a randomly chosen flat once a week, and discussing wellbeing and strategies to improve students’ mental health in an informal discussion.
Flat chats are an opportunity to provide support for the student community during a time where your friends and flatmates are essentially whānau. Our flat chats coordinators are trained in community level mental health first aid.
A connected student community, actively discussing mental health
The goal of this program is to form a connected student community that is actively discussing mental health, with Flat Chats providing a large quantity of informal community care for students.
There is no cookie cutter fix to mental health, and we look to reflect this by having a very flexible and organic structure to each and every conversation. They all start with the same question every time “What does good mental health look like to you?” From that point, the talk could go in any direction.
For 2023, our goals are to continue this mahi and ensure we reach a diverse range of flats and students throughout the year through the collaboration with other university clubs and organisations.
Getting our message out there
Hear from previous lads about Flat Chats
"We realised how much had been left unsaid between us" – Josh Nichol
"It wasn’t until we started diving into the meaningful topics that we realised how much had been left unsaid between us. I’ve noticed a positive difference in everyone's approach to mental health."
"We were all talking about how great the experience was" – George Lamb
"As soon as the guys left we were all talking about how great the experience was. We all now have a better understanding of each other and the way we deal with problems, big or small."
Learn about other initiatives
