Project | Student mental health project

Here, you’ll get a taste of the Student Panel involvement in the creation of the hub, and discover more about their first-hand experiences and reflections.

Working with an advisory Student Panel throughout our student mental health project, we gained valuable insights into how students experience current support systems in higher education. It was important to us to let that perspective inform the development of this project to avoid making assumptions about the student experience.

The Student Panel included students from various backgrounds, courses and higher education providers, all with a keen interest in promoting student mental health.

We want to thank all the students involved in the Student Panel, as their dedication and engagement in this project were central to keeping the Student Mental Health project focused on those it was designed to help: the students.

Read an in-depth conversation with Sandra Binns, the HE Student Support Champion Project Manager, about work of the HE Student Support Champion (Professor Edward Peck).

Read insights from Jasmine Neesam, a third-year psychology student at the University of Leeds and student panel member for the project, on enhancing the university experience through empathy, diversity, and proactive mental health initiatives.

Our journey with the Student Panel

Early consultation with the Student Panel

Initially, the students consulted on our key terms and glossary. In those first discussions about the kind of language we should use to talk about student mental health, the students asked us what mental health models we relied on. Their questioning prompted us to look at  our rationale behind using non-clinical language and to clarify when exceptions could be useful. In this way, the students’ input helped to focus our communications about the project.

Conversations in our preliminary workshops focused our attention to the way students view the stigmatisation of mental health and the way this is manifested in language. We were then able to apply this learning to elements of our research, particularly the qualitative sector engagement work where we could compare the way practitioners and stakeholders viewed mental health stigma to that of the students.

Student panel focus groups

We also asked the students to participate in focus groups in which we asked them to imagine a newly built university with good mental health at the core of its design. In the focus groups, we asked them to describe how this institution would feel and how it would look before mapping out the kinds of communities of care that would be involved in building and maintaining this ideal hypothetical higher education provider.

We identified three key themes out of the focus group discussions: student definitions of good mental health, the kinds of institutional practices that would promote good mental health and the relationships that would promote good mental health.

From our Student Panel, we learned that good mental health is inextricably tied to safety and empowerment. There was a keen awareness from the students that what they need to succeed is a nurturing environment where student voice is taken seriously. There is a call for HEPs to build holistic systems of care much like the whole university approach where students are seen as a whole person rather than a statistic or a problem.

Stakeholder engagement

In the final Student Panel meetings, we discussed how to involve students and student networks in disseminating the Student Mental Health Evidence Hub. The Student Panel has contributed to blogs, a video and other media outputs to help inform the sector about the project.

We also hosted a conversation with Sandra Binns, the Student Support Champion Project Manager. The students posed questions about current practices at different universities and common issues and solutions in student mental health. You can read more about the conversation between our Student Panel and Sandra Binns here.

Feedback from the Student Panel

When asked for feedback, the Student Panel overwhelmingly agreed that they enjoyed networking with fellow students and exchanging ideas and experiences around a topic close to everyone’s hearts. They also mentioned the importance of feeling part of a bigger project that could make a difference to many students in the future.

Our feedback session also taught us that the students have had many positive experiences of support services in their universities, particularly from dedicated individuals working in those services. They also acknowledged the flexibility of universities after COVID-19 and the increasing availability of online support groups.

The Student Panel emphasised the need for universities to take a more proactive approach towards mental health. For the students, a proactive approach means looking at each point at which a student interacts with their institution and examining how it might affect the individual. They gave a variety of suggestions for areas of improvement based on their own experiences, from implementing support programmes transitioning into university to personalising letters regarding extenuating circumstances rather than automating them. The students concluded that such changes should be made through consultation with student representatives.

TASO’s thoughts

Student mental health is a continually changing landscape, and working with the Student Panel gave us insight into students’ current experiences. Engaging the student voice throughout the project ensured that the Student Mental Health Hub is relevant and valuable to the students in higher education now. We found working with a panel of students extremely valuable, and we are keen to continue working collaboratively with student representatives.

Our panel members actively contribute to the Student Mental Health Evidence Hub. Read a little about the panel below and see what the panel were getting up to at their recent panel meeting.

Ana Lazic

Ana is a psychology student in her final year of studies at Bath. She has previous experience working in mental health services using CBT, Acceptance & Compassion Therapy and counselling. Her involvement in this project aims to bridge together knowledge from her studies and work experience on a policy level to ignite change.

Molly Anderton

Molly has been studying medicine at Edge Hill University and is currently on a year out. She is part of the disabled students panel at Edge Hill and has had a lot of involvement with projects run by Common Room, which aims to understand and improve the experiences of young people in psychiatric inpatient wards.

Debbie Smith

Debbie graduated from SOAS, University of London with an MA in the Anthropology of Food and from the University of Sussex and a BA in Social Anthropology. With an academic background specialising in medical anthropology and mental health across a global and cross-cultural context, she is particularly passionate about advocating mental health awareness among the BAME and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Kayla Campbell

Kayla is a third-year Psychology and Criminology student at Edgehill University. She is involved in a student panel at university as well as being a student guide.

Nishat Chowdhury

Nishat is a second-year BSc Psychology with Counselling undergraduate at Nottingham Trent University. She is also a SHOUT UK crisis texter, where she engages with people in distress and tries to provide immediate mental health support. She has previously worked with the British Psychological Society as a student ambassador and helped them launch a project by promoting their events to current Psychology undergraduates.

Diya Sharma

Diya is currently studying a specialist BSc(hons) degree in Tourism Management at Canterbury Christ Church University. She also holds a Level 3 National Diploma in Health & Social Care and has worked on numerous projects including the CCBS Closing Our Gap Strategy.

Mack Marshall

Mack is the Education Officer at Newcastle University Students’ Union. He studied Politics during his undergraduate studies at Newcastle University. His focus is on how we can ensure higher education and the student experience is supportive, inclusive, and accessible for all students.

Joshua Borokinni

Joshua has experience in community development, mental health, policy influencing, awareness raising and youth leadership. He has a master in Clinical Psychology from the University of Plymouth and now serves as Vice President, Wellbeing and Diversity at the University of Plymouth Student Union. He has worked on a number of different social impact projects.

Ioana Brehuescu

Ioana is a Psychology student whose current interests focus on child and adolescent mental health and research. She is aware of the breadth of her field and is interested in its development in other areas, such as higher education and student mental health.

Pedram Bani-Asadi

Pedram has a Bachelors and Masters in Law and has recently completed his LPC LLM.  He currently works as the Co-President of the University of Law Student Union and has extensive experience supporting his university and Student Union’s well-being initiatives.

Lauren King

Lauren is a student at Edge Hill University, currently studying an MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy – Contemporary Creative Approaches. Her previous and current work includes mentoring young people with Wigan Council, volunteering at Alder Hey hospital, and working as a Health Care Assistant in a residential care home. Previous projects she has worked on include being part of the Widening Access panel at Edge Hill University. She is also part of Edge Hill University’s board as the elected Student Governor across 2022 and 2023.

Ricardo Pereira Carvalho

Ricardo is studying Psychology with Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London. During the Summer 2022, he worked as a qualitative Research Assistant on different projects concerning community engagement in the social integration and urban regeneration strategies of London’s local authorities.

Oyinda Adeniyi

Oyinda is a medical student at the Hull York Medical School and a Co-Founder and Director at the Black Excellence Network, a social enterprise designed to support black students in their professional and academic development. She is also Strategic Communications Officer at Melanin Medics. Oyinda was recognised as joint 5th in the top 150 Future Leaders Powerlist Magazine 2021. She has an avid interest in social mobility, education, mental health and health inequalities.

Jasmin Neesam

Jasmin is a second year psychology student at the University of Leeds, aspiring to work within educational and health psychology. She is currently a Leeds Hospital Charity volunteer and has previously had work experience in a day care nursery supporting pre-school children with their learning and development.

Reejah Farooq

Reejah is working as an SEND teaching assistant and has recently completed her Masters in Psychology and Mental Health Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London. She holds another Masters in Psychology of Education from the University of Manchester and a double Bachelors degree in Psychology and Education.

Our advisory student panel had an in-depth conversation with Sandra Binns, the Higher Education Student Support Champion Project Manager, about work of the Higher Education Student Support Champion as part of the Student Mental Health Project.

Tatjana Damjanovic, TASO’s research officer, and our advisory student panel had an in-depth conversation with Sandra Binns, the Higher Education Student Support Champion Project Manager, about work of the Higher Education Student Support Champion (Professor Edward Peck) Champion is doing with the sector to reconsider student support from a student needs perspective, leading to the development of the Student Needs Framework.

Sandra talked to the panel about the work the Student Support Champion is doing with the sector to reconsider student support from a student needs perspective, leading to the development of the Student Needs Framework.

The student panel led this conversation and posed questions based on their interests and experiences.

This conversation took place whilst we were developing our Student Mental Health Evidence Hub. The hub aims to provide information that the higher education sector can use to improve the efficacy of their mental health interventions and evaluation practices and respond to diverse student mental health needs. We synthesised evidence of research and evaluation activities designed to support improvements in student mental health to develop evaluation guidance which will help assess the impact of student mental health support.

The conversation

Have you encountered universities with standout systems of student support, perhaps resembling an idealised version?

Sandra Binns: Universities have various student support systems and offer lots of support to their students. Some that we have spoken to over the past year are considering how to redesign their student support to be more efficient, evidence led and coordinated across their institutions. Most universities are at a different stage on this journey. Some are delving deep into service redesign, while others are just at the beginning, recognising the impetus for change.

Regarding student analytics, the Higher Education (HE) Student Support Champion has collaborated with Jisc to produce the ‘Student analytics core data specification’  which identifies 11 key data points that can be used to predict student wellbeing. These data points act as a proxy to gauge if students may be at risk of non-continuation or poor wellbeing. This approach has been tested at the University of Northumbria, and it has shown promise.

The future will be about predictive analytics, which will become increasingly sophisticated. Additionally, many universities are leveraging AI, like chatbots, to guide students and alleviate the load on staff.

What is the most common problem that hinders universities from sharing information effectively?

Sandra Binns: The main challenge is the sheer volume of data held by Higher Education Providers (HEPs) and that it may be held in several places, across many departments. Universities often juggle multiple data systems, and this diversity can create complexity.

While many institutions have Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, these platforms often evolve to serve purposes beyond their initial intent. It’s hard to pinpoint a single system as the ultimate solution. Instead, the HEPs should reflect on the essential information needed to support students, who need to know that information and consider how to streamline the information flow process.

The HE Student Support Champion is exploring ways to share such insights through the student support redesign project. This includes considering the tools HEPs are using to manage data as well as the culture shift required to ensure staff know how to interpret and act on the picture these data insights provide. It is important to not underestimate the role that human judgement plays in this too. Streamlining years of ever expanding data systems will be a significant endeavour but we have seen positive reactions from the sector willing to make these changes.

What are the viable solutions to this issue, and what roles are regulatory bodies like the Office for Students (OfS) and the HE Student Support Champion playing?

Sandra Binns: The OfS does sometimes provide funding for OfS priority issues (In fact, OfS provided funding for the University of Northumbria project) and disseminate evaluations of these programmes, but they do not direct universities to adopt any specific interventions.  Sector bodies like Universities UK often publish guidance on good practice which universities are encouraged to adopt.

The HE Student Support Champion was appointed to identify and promote good practice among the sector and he does this through things like the publication of the Core Specification of Student Analytics and continued sector engagement.

What measures are in place to support a mentally healthy transition from university to the professional realm?

Sandra Binns: One of the primary focuses is refining and clarifying the systems to ensure students are adequately prepared for the transition. Suppose a proactive approach is adopted and students’ needs are identified early on. In that case, we can address potential issues before they escalate, contributing to a good mental health which supports a positive transition into the working world.

What do you perceive to be the biggest challenge or barrier currently? What’s hindering improvements?

Sandra Binns: Personally, I think the biggest challenge is meeting the increased demand for mental health support, getting the right systems in place to try to be proactive in identifying risks and having a strong evidence base about what works to support students.  With growing needs, universities are under pressure to adapt and it is a big job for universities to develop new ways to meet these needs.

That said, there is a sense of goodwill, collaboration and desire to share best practices and tackle these issues across universities.

How do ‘top’ universities compare to others in implementing mental health guidelines, such as the Mental Health Charter or Suicide Safer Universities?

Sandra Binns: I don’t have specific data comparing ‘top’ universities to others. However, most universities will review these guidelines and identify areas for improvement. The new HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce is being established to improve mental health across the sector. One of its initiatives will encourage more universities to commit to the Student Minds Mental Health Charter. The goal is to encourage a more consistent approach across the sector, providing a more level playing field for all institutions.

When you engage with universities and their stakeholders, do the ideas and group discussions we had today resonate with what you’ve observed in these institutions?

Sandra Binns: Indeed, there have been dialogues around co-creation, such as peer support models and efforts in implementing them. There have been examples where universities have actively involved students to guide and shape the projects they initiate, and they have mechanisms in place to evaluate the effectiveness of these models and projects.

From your perspective, are universities prepared to alter how they provide mental health support significantly?

Sandra Binns: Universities are doing commendably well, striving to improve their support structures. Their dedication to ensuring robust support is palpable. But the magnitude of needs, especially those tied to complex mental health challenges, is significant. The keen interest I’ve observed in universities revolves around enhancing student support in diverse and effective ways, and exploring innovative approaches to achieve that.

Read more about the Student Needs Framework on the AdvanceHE website.