London - University and Me

Our Young People and Families Service run several workshops across the UK. They will help to build your confidence in navigating health services, school, university and employment; find out your rights and what support you are entitled to.

Young people from the age of 14-25 years and if you want, a family member or friend, are welcome to these day events. The topics we have covered in the past are, support available whilst at university, learning to video blog so you can share your experiences, moving from primary to secondary school and your rights in the workplace.

These workshops also provide great opportunities to get to know our young adult volunteers who have grown up with arthritis or a similar condition, gain some helpful information, as well as learning more about your health condition and ways of looking after yourself by sharing tips and ideas with each other. Mostly it’s a chance to get informed and meet new people!

“We received a lot of valuable information about how to cope with our condition whilst at uni”

What can I expect at a workshop about university?

This workshop is held at a university campus* and is run on a weekday during October half term. This is so you get the full experience of university life, as current students will be there too.

On arrival there will be refreshments ready to be had. We start with a welcome and we get everyone involved in a game to help us get to know each other better – think bingo but names instead of numbers.

You will first do an activity focusing on the decision-making process in deciding whether to go to university, what to study and where to go. We will look at how to make these decisions whilst taking your health into consideration.

Then you have the option to take a tour of the campus including seeing an example of a lecture hall, sports centre and library. Then it’s lunch, where you can use a voucher in the canteen and sit alongside current students, giving you the full experience of life at university.

You then can ask some current students, some of whom have long term health conditions, questions about university life, the support they’ve received and their top tips. Then there is a chance to try out an activity that gives you an idea about the things you might learn on a degree such as psychology.

The day ends with some information from the Disabilities and Dyslexia team who talk you though the support available at any university to help ensure you can make the most of your experience.

Hear from some young people about their university experience and how they’ve made things work for them.

* The London Metropolitan University is hosting this event, but this does not mean that you need to be interested in applying to this university, or even one in London, to come along. Anyone is welcome, whatever universities you might be thinking of applying to.

Want to find out more?

You can find out more about travel, the venue and plans for the workshop and how to sign up to secure your place, by emailing us at ypf@versusarthritis.org.

We also host other events across the country, and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. All of our events are fully insured and run by qualified and experienced staff and volunteers, all with criminal record checks. Versus Arthritis is able to run this activity thanks to the generous donors who support us. Find out more and keep an eye on what’s coming up in your area or contact us.