Stepchange: Mentally Healthy Universities 2 Stepchange: Mentally Healthy Universities
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STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES 2 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES Our shared vision is for UK universities to be places that promote mental health and wellbeing, enabling all students and all staff to thrive and succeed to their best potential. 3 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES We will achieve our vision by all universities adopting mental health as a strategic priority and implementing a whole university approach. 4 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES It calls on universities to adopt mental Stepchange: health as a strategic priority, to see it as mentally healthy foundational to all aspects of university life, for all students and all staff. universities forms This whole university framework, part of a refreshed co-developed with Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter, call to action provides a shared framework for universities. for change. 5 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES MENTALLY HEALTHY ALIGNED ADAPTABLE UNIVERSITIES Recognising that working together to a Inviting adaptation to local contexts FRAMEWORK shared vision and approach is essential; and the needs of your population collaborating rather than competing, or institution. exchanging learning and celebrating To achieve our vision of each other’s successes. mentally healthy universities, this framework is: STRATEGIC SHARED EVOLVING Understanding that sustained effort Not belonging to any agency Developing in response to new is needed, now and in the long-term, or group, but is an agreed evidence, emerging practice and across sectors and with multiple approach to realise the changing policy conditions. agencies and perspectives. shared vision of mentally healthy universities. 6 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES HOW DID WE GET HERE? 2016 In 2016 UUK convened a proactive programme of work to develop and implement a whole university approach to mental health. The approach was informed by whole school and workplace initiatives as well as by the UK Healthy Universities Network. Direction was provided by the Mental Health in Higher Education Advisory Group. 2017 Stepchange was published in 2017 alongside Not by Degrees, an independent review of mental health in higher education by the Institute for Public Policy Research. The University of the West of England, the University of York and Cardiff University piloted the strategic framework in partnership with UUK and Student Minds, supported by funding from the Office for Students (OfS). At the same time, many universities have used the framework to develop their own mental health and wellbeing strategies. 7 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES In 2018 additional, aligned frameworks were developed on suicide prevention (Suicide-Safer Universities) and the necessary partnerships between universities and the NHS (Minding our Future). The latter provided the basis for the commitment to student mental health in the NHS Long Term Plan (2019). Stepchange: mentally healthy universities is a refreshed framework. It builds on learning from the university pilots, from the development 2018 process of the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter and from additional focus groups on leadership and staff mental health. The thinking on strategy and leadership was tested further at the UUK Mental Health Leadership Learning Collaborative. 8 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES High wellbeing High wellbeing living with OPTIMAL WELLBEING and no mental mental illness illness HOW SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS NO MENTAL ILLNESS MENTAL HEALTH? We all have mental health. Mental No mental Within the student and staff illness with illness but community, different levels of need low wellbeing low wellbeing indicate different interventions. Discussions on mental health tend to focus on those experiencing mental illness who need care or LOW WELLBEING support. Universities have a responsibility towards those students and staff as well as an opportunity to identify those at risk and intervene early. Mental health Mental health refers to a spectrum of and wellbeing: experience, from good mental health But we also have the opportunity to promote good dual continuum to mental illness and distress. mental health for the whole university population, improving the lives and outcomes of 2.3 million Wellbeing includes wider physical, students and 400,000 staff. social and economic experience. 9 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES ULTURAL AND E MIC, C NVIRO ONO NME EC NTA CIO L C SO ON AL DI ER TIO N SING NUTR N E HOU ITION S G T EN L YM IV LO IN P OMMUNIT G M ND C Y NE CO NE A TW N U IAL O D C RK IT O S IO S N S K UNIVERSITIES R LIFESTYL O UAL E FA W ID CT DIV OR AS HEALTH IN S N S O I HEREDIT A T D AR N A N Y A F I SETTINGS C A T X A U E C T T D S O I , O E E R G S N A E R S A E C C I H T V L R A E E S H Mental health is determined by a range of individual, interpersonal, community, environmental and structural factors. Whether we like it or not, universities are ‘Health is created and lived by health settings, with positive and negative people within the settings of their effects on all students and staff. Let’s make everyday life; where they learn, them healthy settings. work, play and love.’ A health setting is a place or social context in which people engage in daily activities where environmental, organisational, and personal factors interact to affect health and wellbeing WHO, Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986 (Health Promotion Glossary, 1998). 10 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES CASE FOR There is a compelling case for universities to position mental ACTION health as a strategic priority. ATTAINMENT There is strong evidence that good mental health has a positive impact on a person’s learning, creativity, ability to concentrate and overall performance levels. The link between health and learning gain continues into employability. Just as employees expect healthy workplaces, employers want graduates who are health and wellbeing literate. THRIVING AT WORK Employers who invest in employee wellbeing see enhanced performance, reduced costs from sickness absence, lower staff turnover and higher levels of creativity. 11 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES CASE FOR ACTION RESPONSIBILITY IMPACT OF MENTAL ILLNESS Universities have a responsibility Poor mental health has negative to the health and safety of students, consequences for the learning, work staff and visitors and a duty of and lives of students and staff. care to their students and staff. This is set out in health and safety, Suicide and serious mental illness have employment and consumer legislation. a devastating impact on families, friends and university communities. This responsibility should inform the risk profile of every institution. Students experiencing mental illness are more likely to withdraw from courses, or to underachieve, and are less likely to progress. The direct and hidden costs of staff experiencing poor mental health are less documented in universities but are likely to be substantial. 12 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES ‘Leaders of schools, colleges, universities and community organisations [to] take a whole organisation approach to the mental health of their students, young people and staff, so that it permeates every aspect of their work and is embedded across WHOLE all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.’ UNIVERSITY 2035 Vision, Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition APPROACH Good mental health enables learning, Improving outcomes for students Universities cannot do this alone. work and community. It is fundamental to and staff experiencing mental illness They must continue to develop local the core mission of universities. The whole or mental health difficulties requires and national partnerships with the health university approach recommends that a whole university approach. and care system to improve access to and all aspects of university life promote and coordination of care. Equally, they need support student and staff mental health. This approach balances the opportunity to work with parents, schools, colleges for prevention and early intervention and employers to mitigate the risks The whole university approach: and the importance of open conversations of transitions. about mental health with the need for — recognises the effect of culture and appropriately resourced and effective environment, and specific inequalities, support services. on mental health and wellbeing — seeks to transform the university into a healthy setting. — empowers students and staff to take responsibility for their own wellbeing 13 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES WHOLE UNIVERSITY APPROACH Learn Support The Stepchange: mentally healthy universities model is formed of four domains. Work Live 14 STEPCHANGE: MENTALLY HEALTHY UNIVERSITIES DOMAIN LEARN Universities transform — Curriculum and pedagogy: review the — Academic staff: clarify the role of lives through learning. design and delivery of the curriculum, academic staff in student mental Higher learning involves teaching and learning to position health health through appropriate training gain alongside learning gain. and development. challenge and new ways of thinking: it can have a — Learning communities and environments: — Assessment: make sure that develop collaborative, safe and assessments stretch and test learning positive impact on a person’s supportive environments – including without imposing unnecessary stress. mental health and wellbeing digital environments – that have — Fitness