• Welfare Drop-ins - all three of us each hold an hour-long drop-in session every week. Generally these are on Sunday (George, 10am-11am), Wednesday (Jessica, 5-6pm) and Friday (Sarah, 2-3pm) although times may vary so look out for posters or check on the website. These are times when you can come and chat with us about anything that's bothering you, whether it's personal, academic, financial, health related or anything else. We are here to listen, provide support and information and can put you into contact with the relevant people to help you further (if necessary). We are not trained counsellors; however we are a point of peer contact and will do our best to help you sort through your problem(s) and point you in the right direction. Drop-ins are usually held in our rooms; however if you'd rather meet us elsewhere or at a different time we can arrange to do that. As well as these drop-in times we have ensured that as a team, one of us will be around college and accessible during the day as much as possible so that if our drop in times do not suit you, you can visit for an informal chat and a sympathetic ear when is convenient for you.

• Welfare Donuts - Every other week we give out free food in the form of Welfare Donuts. These are usually on Thursdays at 7pm in the JCR (see posters, newsletter and website for details and locations). They are a great time to chill out, socialise, maybe take a break from work and let us feed you with all sorts of yummy goodness! Once a term Donuts will take place in the Waynflete. All three of us are usually at Donuts and so you can also use the time to grab one of us for a quick chat.

• Welfare 5th week focus - this is another new idea we've introduced this year to help ease the pain of the 5th week blues. We will be focusing our attention on you during this week so look out for some little surprises during the course of the week. There will also be a Wine Down session to chill out and chat to us and friends with some chill out music.

• Welfare Retreat – at least once a term we will run a trip to place of interest near to Oxford to allow you to escape the stress of the city and study for a morning or afternoon.

• Welfare Family Events – we will also be organizing varied ‘family events’ every term which you can come along to with your own welfare family, extended family or even other families! A day or night of fun open to everyone!

• Welfare Feel Good Films – now an institutional part of Magdalen Welfare and yet another opportunity for us to give you free food! Every other Sunday night we put on a feel-good movie in the JCR and fill you with pizza. The film usually starts at 8pm; if you have any suggestions for films then email us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , use our facebook page to make suggestions on the wall.

Welfare Services

Another facet of Magdalen Welfare is to provide you with services and information to make your life easier. If you can't see what you need or would like something to be added, please free to email us, put a suggestion in the feedback box, or just drop by and see one of us.

• Welfare Condoms - there are currently two FREE condom machines; one in the laundry room in the Waynflete and one in the laundry room in Swithuns VI. They are operated by tokens, which should be in a box next to the machine. If the machine is not working or the tokens or condoms have run out, then please email us. If you'd prefer, then you can email us (in confidence) and we can pidge you some condoms (discreetly) - or just come and see us. We also supply free pregnancy tests, lubricant, dental dams, ‘Drink Detectives’ (which test for some date rape drugs) and Chlamydia tests which are discretely pidged if you request them.

• Yellow Pages and Contact sheet - This is a list of useful numbers and helplines that you can ring for help with various problems that was set up by James, Jonny and Lulu a couple of years ago. We will be regularly updating it, taking off services no longer in use and added some others we think might be useful. Along with this is a contact sheet with details of people you can contact in college to help with any problems you might have.

• Contact Cards - Along with the contact details and yellow pages, we will provide every JCR member with a contact card with a few numbers that we have selected that you might find handy to have in one place. These will shortly be put in your pidge and can send you replacement cards if you lose it.

• Welfare Feedback Box and facebook page- . If you have any suggestions for films you want to see, things to be added to the Yellow Pages, or anything you'd like to see Welfare do or improve on then this is the place to tell us. You can of course email us or come and see us - we can't check the box everyday so if you have an urgent issue or problem then it's better to come and see us or contact us directly but the facebook page will be checked regularly each day by one of us. You can use this facebook page as an alternative to emailing us to make requests to us such as for condoms or to remove something incriminating from the bogsheet! It is also a good place to chat on the wall and make suggestions together about welfare.

We recognise that we are not trained counsellors or social workers and that we cannot immediately solve every problem, but we will be there to support you. Feel free to approach us any time and we hope you have a fantastic 2008!

We can be contacted via e-mail at: . This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it.

You can also contact any of us individually:
Jessica Bradford – St. Swithuns VI, room 5- This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ext: 25651
Sarah Davies – St. Swithuns VI, room 7 - This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ext: 25653
George Verghese – St. Swithuns IV, room 8 - This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ext: 25635