Listen to Izzy and her guest host Ted chat with LGBT+ identifying students about their experiences in Cambridge, as well as the work they and others are doing in various spaces around Cambridge to make the university and the city all the more accepting!

Izzy and her guest host Inika Murumbi take a look at the impact of the Indian Covid Crisis for Cambridge and its students, and how we have been doing what we can to support those suffering most in this time...

Izzy and her guest host Nora Redmond discuss spirituality and faith both inside and outside the Cambridge bubble. From the Christian Union to Mindfulness, the duo discuss the different experiences of students either finding religion at university or feeling more detached from it.

As it's Mental Health Awareness Week, Izzy and her guest host Libby Warr take stock of mental health in the last year. With interviews from students, researchers and Cambridge helplines, the episode reflects on the past and looks forward to the future.

Special thanks to the interviewed guests: Alicia, Jessica, Natalie and Cat!

All resources mentioned in the episode are linked below:

University Counselling Service: https://www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/

Nightline: https://cambridge.nightline.ac.uk/

Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/

Hopeline: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/hopelineuk/

SANE: http://www.sane.org.uk/what_we_do/support/helpline/

Disability Resource Centre: https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/

In our first new episode of the series, new host Izzy and her guest host Theola discuss the highs and lows of this year's Lent term. We spoke to Ashlan, an Executive officer and soon-to-be president of Cambridge RAG, who spoke to us about organising virtual events and the incredible ways that the Cambridge community were helping others while also struggling themselves. 

Next, we spoke to fellow fresher Colin about love, lockdown and living back with your family. He discussed his experiences maintaining a new relationship over the term, as well as the return to sharing a study space and his excitement to cook with friends once again...

Finally, we round off by chatting to Zara, a Homerton student who was unfortunately denied the chance to return to Cambridge on mental health grounds, and how she found the term in a space she did not plan to be in...

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Send in a voice message for next week's episode: https://anchor.fm/switchboard/message

In our final episode of Season 6, we reflected on the last year and our hopes for the roadmap. We were grateful to have Alex, a member of the Switchboard Team, share an honest account of her recent experiences, which presented their own challenges independent of the impact of Covid-19. We hope this highlights that the past year has been difficult for all but non-Covid struggles are still equally present. 

Eliza offered her own view on a perfectionism pandemic, highlighting how social isolation exacerbates our desperation to meet self-set-standards. She hopes this encourages students to connect with one another to remind us that the kindest we show to others should be shown to ourselves. Looking forward, Amber shared her apprehension for the 'roadmap' out of lockdown. She highlighted that the end of lockdown brings its own uncertainty: we need to appreciate that the end of the pandemic will present its own challenges. Finally, we spoke with Rebekah King, the writer of 'In A Cave, A Voice', the winner of the Pembroke Players Script Writing Competition. Not only did we hear about what promises to be an exciting, experimental play but we heard a charming mix of adaptation during the present and optimism for the lessons Covid might have taught theatre.

Our music this week from New Music Cambridge is the demo 'Archangel' from Eliza Pepper. 

Inspired by our own quarter-life-crises, we searched out current Cambridge post-graduates. We wanted to ask them what they were doing when they were our age and how they chose their post-graduate studies.

This episode has lots of helpful advice on how to think about post-graduate education from funding to life plans.

Thanks to Ellie Bladon, Grayson Pallen and Charlotte Husnjak.

Our music for this episode is a wonderful choral piece from Lucy Walker.

This week's episode celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month! 

We chatted to Cam FM Queer Hour, a student talk-show covering topics across all corners of the LGBT+ community. They've produced episodes on lesbian motherhood in the 70s, the Lavender Scare and the Canadian fruit machine this month!

We chatted with Elliot, Medwards Trans and Non-binary Officer, about his experiences. 

Last but certainly not least, we were treated to a drag brunch by the cast of Just About Coping. You've got 24 hours to grab your tickets to their virtual drag show on the 27th of February. It promises to be a grand finale to LGBTQ+ History Month!

Our music for this episode is Aidan Tulloch's Milk and Orange Juice from his album Somewhere Without Lights.

Click here for some more resources on LGBTQ+ history and the celebration of this month.

Love in lockdown 

We must confess.. we've spent far too long scrolling through Facebook. But is this really such a waste of time? In this week's episode, Amber and Eliza explore the goods and ills of Cambridge confession pages and consider how their role has changed during Covid-19. 

We chatted with the anonymous admins of Kindbridge, Worldbridge and ADCbridge (who were kept so through some hilarious voice modulation). We also heard some favourite Camfess-es and George Garrity's observation of these pages, based off of his Varsity article.

Next week, we're looking for love. So if you want to share your love (or lack there of) for the people, culture and place that is Cambridge send it in on Anchor FM or our Facebook!

Our music this week is Soul Boat by 2 Non Men, brought to you by New Music Cambridge.