This complex challenge is profoundly impacting institutional life as we reconsider our approaches to pedagogy, assessment of competencies, roles and responsibilities while simultaneously seeking to define reasonable and proportionate levels of student support within our education contexts. The University Mental Health Charter raises a much-needed whole-institution lens to the phenomena, focusing attention on the broad social, economic, environmental, political and relational determinants of mental wellbeing. The Mental Health Implementation Taskforce is similarly pursuing a close examination of the principles and practices informing our approach.
The symposium, jointly organised by Advance HE, the University of Oxford, the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Group, the Association for University & College Counselling Center Directors (AUCCCD) and Togetherall, will introduce recent research from clinical and social psychology, the history of medicine, psychiatry, medical sociology, education, cultural theory and rhetoric alongside contemporary USA and UK university student service data.
Ready to book?
This is a hybrid event on 5 December 2024. Online and at The Rhodes Institute, University of Oxford.
Engagement and learning outcomes
This event will progress our understanding of these wider contextual factors, engaging with causality as we ask:
- Is the prevailing mental health crisis narrative and associated awareness-raising fostering negative effects?
- Are wider cultural changes in the meaning and usage of mental-health-related language significantly impacting our campus cultures and communities?
- Could our current approach to student support configuration and communication be causing unintended harm to the emerging identities and life chances of the students we are seeking to enable? If so, how might we progress our understanding?
- As we consider our next steps, how do we best balance the paradox that human distress is universal and that universal messaging holds the potential to amplify, rather than reduce, distress?
Through constructive dialogue our objective is to critically assess whether current approaches and policies are truly effective in meeting the needs of our students, or if they might be unintentionally creating additional challenges.
How do we redefine and maintain sustainable student services?
To redefine and maintain sustainable student services, do we first need to review our understanding of the needs of the student population and our approach to wellbeing service provision and communications? Do we yet have a sector-wide, evidence-informed understanding of the conditions that support long-term personal development and growth, ensuring interventions promote student agency, build capability and foster confidence?
Key Principles:
- Prevalence and Impact: Multi-causal understanding of rising rates of student distress, possible and probable mental health difficulties, and how this impacts academic communities – students, staff, communities, governance.
- Access and Support: Addressing systemic challenges; sensitively stratifying the needs of students presenting to university psychological, counselling and mental health services.
- Sustainable Student Support Services: Defining proportionality and sustainability in student services, clarifying boundaries of student, university staff and health service professionals’ roles and responsibilities.
- Population based wellness: adopting population based approaches to wellness to mitigate pressure on specialist services.
- Campaigns and Communications: Reconsidering our approach to awareness raising; responsible use of mental-health related language, reduced use of diagnostic, pathologizing and medicalised terminology.
- Research and Evidence-Base: Utilising data-informed research and innovative tools to reconceptualise our approach to mental well-being in academic environments.
- Policy Responses: Discussing the implementation and enhancement of government and NHS initiatives within HE institutions.
Who should attend?
This event is for senior strategic and clinical leaders and research academics in North America, Canada and UK Higher Education including Deputy and Pro Vice Chancellors, University Registrars, Directors of Student Services and allied clinical consultants.
Symposium speakers include:
Dr Sarah Crook
Director of GENCAS (the Centre for Research into Gender and Culture in Society)
,
Swansea University
Marcus Hotaling
President
,
Association for University & College Counselling Center Directors (AUCCCD)
Jane Harris
Co-Director of Student Welfare and Support Services and Head of Counselling
,
University of Oxford
