Student Ambassador for Wellbeing, Louise Stableford, shared her skills with others by leading a virtual wellbeing session focused around crafting origami hearts.

Louise led a lunchtime origami club for students in the Learning Resource Centre prior to the first lockdown and was keen to adapt to the virtual environment, to help students support each other during this time. Louise carefully considered how to adapt her sessions online, including experimenting with camera angles, pre-recordings and written guides to make the session accessible to all.

Students and staff at the College of West Anglia joined along with a tutorial on making origami hearts.

Photos were then uploaded onto the college Virtual Learning Environment so participants could admire each other’s work:

One participant commented: ‘It’s been really useful for encouraging me to take a proper break, particularly when the weather’s too bad to get outside’.

Louise said: 'Thank you so much to everyone who attended this morning's session. It was a joy to teach such a wonderful bunch of people! I hope to see some new faces come along in the future.'

These sessions will become a regular feature in the CWA Support and Enrichment Programme: a programme of virtual support sessions and enrichment activities aiming to keep learners involved in their college community throughout lockdown.

Louise is applying to study Medicine and has been exploring the use of origami in medical research and in therapy. She has worked taught origami to patients in rehabilitation centres, which has helped improve their manual dexterity as well as mental wellbeing.