#UniMentalHealthDay 2025 - This is why our community matters!
Dr. Rachel Spacey, UMHAN's Head of Research and Engagement shares her reflections on the power of the UMHAN community this #UniMentalHealthDay
History
As a charity, one of our primary goals is to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions, through targeted campaigns. The inaugural University Mental Health Day was launched by UMHAN (University Mental Health Advisers Network) in 2008. Initially, it consisted of a few events organised at a limited number of universities by our members (mental health specialists working primarily in Higher Education).
The aim was to confront the stigma surrounding mental health and support seeking by enhancing the visibility of mental health support staff and facilitating activities for students that fostered wellbeing and initiated conversations about mental health within the university environment.
Since 2012, UMHAN has collaborated with the charity Student Minds, the UK’s leading student mental health charity, to jointly host this important day. Student Minds has played a crucial role in promoting the event to students and Students’ Unions, resulting in a campaign that has grown far beyond what previous UMHAN Trustees, members and staff, could have ever envisioned. This year, for example, Student Minds, are running an event with Channel 4 and CALM for University Mental Health Day to share the finale of Big Boys and raise awareness of the support available to students across the UK!
*For your enjoyment - please find some images from former #UniMentalHealthDay campaigns*
One of the originals
One of the founding universities participating in #UniMentalHealthDay was the University of Northampton (UoN) (did you know that Jo Lester, the manager of the service, is a founding member of UMHAN and more recently was awarded the Lifetime Contribution Award at our inaugural UMHAN awards!).
UoN have reflected on their experiences of running #UniMentalHealthDay since 2008 in a new blog on their service website where they recall some of their previous activities including a Food and Mood stand with popcorn and an interactive quiz, suicide awareness and prevention training, reflexology hand massages, sand mandala and frisbees amongst many, many more. Indeed, this year they have more than 40 services attending with stands and activities running throughout the day!
The number of universities taking part since 2008 has grown exponentially, participation targets are usually exceeded and the impact of the day itself just in terms of social media impact, is phenomenal – often trending in the UK on various platforms.
Campaigns
In recent years, UMHAN have focused on a number of different campaigns to compliment the day including a focus on anxiety, the long-running ‘I Chose to Disclose’ campaign which encourages students to disclose (share information about their mental health with a Higher Education Provider in order to access support), mental health and green spaces, being active for mental health and the launch of our Clinical Governance framework in 2023. This guidance leveraged the extensive expertise, training, and knowledge of UMHAN's members, spanning various professional disciplines and institutions and aimed to enhance the sector's ability to develop and improve the quality of support and interventions for student mental health.
This year
This year we are providing a space to think creatively about how universities can support student mental health and are pleased to be hosting a free webinar for all staff and students in Higher Education where Andy Cross from the University of Cumbria will be speaking about ‘Climbing for Wellbeing’.
Andy works as a Mental Health Adviser and he and his colleague Tessa Tilbe developed this programme in response to the increasing demand for mental health support among university students. It combines therapeutic interventions with bouldering and the programme aims to improve mental health and encourage participation among students who may not typically engage in this activity. If you’d like to know more about climbing therapy and the experiences of Andy and Tessa including how they have honed the programme to increase engagement, they have just written an excellent article in this month’s BACP University and College Counselling journal online.
There’s also still time to book on to the free UMHAN webinar this Thursday, March 13th at 1pm and hear from Andy.
The community
We are grateful to Andy and Tessa for their support with our webinar this Thursday. They were suggested to UMHAN by one of our members, Dave Wilson, who had worked with them at the University of Cumbria and was very excited to share with other members just how good this programme is. This says a lot about the community of mental health professional working in Higher Education, Further Education and beyond. They are always so enthusiastic about sharing good practice and ideas with each other and we at UMHAN feel proud to play a part in facilitating that. We talk about sense of belonging and community a lot in relation to students and their mental health and it is just as important for staff – as is #UniMentalHealthDay!
At UMHAN we play a part in facilitating a community for our members who work for HEPs, agencies and on a freelance basis across the UK supporting students with their mental health conditions whether that’s as a specialist mentor, a mental health adviser, a manager of a wellbeing and mental health service or working in HE, FE and beyond in direct contact with students and having a professional interest in mental health. We are pleased to publish our latest member survey report this week. This year was the first time we asked members if they feel like part of a community at UMHAN. We were thrilled to discover that over 80% of them said ‘yes’. Having started out as an information sharing network in 2001 before becoming a charity in 2003, one of our key aims is to provide the tools and support to empower our members – mental health practitioners working in education – to best support students. We do this through providing online opportunities to share best practice, to collaborate and to share information through our events and our member forum.
So, what do our members think about the UMHAN community?
A way to feel less alone doing this rather unusual job - there are lots of us out there!
The sense of community and opportunities to join training etc. even if I can't always find the time.
Hearing from and learning from others. Feels supportive and non-judgemental. This type of support is missing in my organisation, so it is fantastic to have it.
How friendly and supportive everyone is.
Being able to reach out to the community for advice.
Lovely people with lots of experience and willingness to give advice.
Challenges
Since joining UMHAN in August 2023, I have been deeply impressed by the warmth of the members I encounter online and their unwavering commitment to supporting students with mental health conditions. Our member survey reports from recent years indicate that a significant number of these members feel their teams are understaffed, even as they face an increasing number of high-risk students in their caseloads and challenges in referring students to NHS services. We addressed these concerns in two commentary pieces for Wonkhe in 2023 and again in 2024, and the findings have been reaffirmed in this year’s member survey report.
The UMHAN community is one way in which members can discuss these issues and concerns in a safe space with each other, comparing and contrasting experiences across the UK from the smallest specialist provider to the largest red brick or post-92 university while we offer a range of topics relevant to their work. Just recently we have had Lunch & Learns on:
- Supporting bereaved students
- Borderline personality disorder
- A whole institution tool to ensure all students and staff have a shared language of wellbeing to help navigate support services (the Impact Measurement Scale)
- Research providing insights from students and evidence-based practices to enhance the assessment and support of student mental health (SHARE Study).
Thanks to all our wonderful speakers for their time and contribution.
Members meetings have focused on:
- PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance)
- Supporting students who have reported an incident of sexual violence
- Students who are in paid employment and/or struggling financially
- International students and their mental health needs
- Supporting students with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)
- Working with students with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Supporting students to stay safe online and protect their mental health
- How institutions can ensure students' views are incorporated in policy and practice.
All of which meets our aim to ensure mental health support staff working in education are equipped with the tools, support, and empowerment to best support students.
Staff wellbeing
Members have also engaged in discussions about their own wellbeing at work, as well as sharing insights on how their institutions plan and implement Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for mental health and wellbeing teams. This is particularly crucial when considering a holistic approach to mental health that encompasses the wellbeing of both staff and students.
University Mental Health Day serves not only to challenge the stigma surrounding mental health for students but also for staff.
Thank you!
We celebrate the remarkable efforts of our members in supporting students to thrive at university. However, we recognize that during these times of financial uncertainty, they too are at risk. Therefore, we continue to advocate on their behalf and express our gratitude to our members and their colleagues who are dedicated to supporting students experiencing mental ill health and conditions, whether working within or alongside mental health and wellbeing services.
For more information about #UniMentalHealthDay including FAQs, resources and inspiration and much more visit the website:
To read the latest UMHAN Member Survey Report with insights into student mental health support, workload and staffing, working conditions and more:
Celebrating UMHAN members supporting student mental health. Discover the amazing nominees and winners of the first UMHAN Awards:
