Natalia Crisanti is the Student Engagement and Communications Officer at the University of Kent. Her role sits in the Student Support and Wellbeing Team, which forms part of the larger Student Services Team.
Here we find out more about Natalia’s role:
“I work on organising and promoting co-curricular events and peer support groups for students who might benefit from meeting others with mental health conditions, autism, specific learning difficulties or physical disabilities. I also work on communicating the services available via our Student Support and Wellbeing teams through social media, web pages, blog posts and podcasts. My aim is to find inclusive and creative ways to inform students at the University of Kent what support they can access while they’re here, to enhance their experience, remove barriers to participation, and raise awareness of disability throughout our university community.
Student Support and Wellbeing employs over 100 expert staff to support students. The team is equipped to support those with disabilities and/or specific learning difficulties (SpLD) in a number of ways such as discussing academic adjustments for people with temporary or permanent disabilities or chronic conditions, supporting autistic students and offering support for students experiencing distress arising from psychological, emotional or mental health issues. We also have specially trained sexual assault and harassment wellbeing staff, and another team who can help students access their learning materials in alternative formats, and who work with other university colleagues to help the whole student experience to be as accessible as possible.
I love my job because I get to work with a wide range of people and develop an understanding of lots of different student needs and support mechanisms, to then translate these opportunities into accessible language and interesting visual and audio formats to engage students who might benefit from them. I really enjoy working with student communications interns and creating digital content collaboratively.
I’d recommend checking out @UniKentSSW on Instagram to get a sense of the types of activities and support on offer. Kent has a large neurodiverse community, an active accessibility students’ network, and is striving to improve access to learning for all through professional support services, awareness-raising and social support opportunities. We’re here to listen to and work with students to help our services and communication evolve in step with what our student community needs, and for me being a part of that is a privilege.”
Natalia Crisanti
For Canterbury support services, email us at KentSSW@kent.ac.uk, and for Medway support services, email us at MedwaySSW@kent.ac.uk.
For more information take a look at our Student Support and Wellbeing website.