The govt are using hollow rhetoric of 'mental health' to encourage unis to continue with f2f teaching, & uni management (at least in some cases) require concerns wrt catching covid-19 be couched in terms of 'mental health'.

There's a disturbing pattern at work here. 1/

Both are seeking to suggest that they're prioritising mental health. But in doing so, they also seek to imply that fears about the health risks of catching covid-19 are not rational. I wrote a thread about this a few weeks ago: 2/ https://twitter.com/EHopeDoherty/status/1317213790430203910

It's getting worse. F2f touted as preserving student wellbeing, only in supporting a selective idea of effects on 'mental health' - likelihood of isolation in small rooms, being away from home/family, concern about covid-19 & esp long covid - none of that counts, apparently. 3/

Mental health & illness has become an issue manipulated to the purposes of govt & uni management to minimise communication wrt the medical dangers of covid-19. Students worried about covid-19 & preferring to learn online are ignored; staff must say their fears are due to 4/

mental health concerns in order to be able to teach online, if they are permitted that privilege at all. All the while actual mental health services remain underfunded & worsening in the midst of the escalating pandemic. This is not about mental health. 5/

It is instead about an insultingly hollow lip service to 'mental health' while instrumentalising the issue to distract from the severity of the pandemic, & to obscure/justify how much the govt (and universities) have fucked it up. I am furious. 6/6