This panel aims to provide an insight to the degree of Mental Health Literacy (MHL) across institutions and discuss the impact this is having on disclosure and help-seeking for mental health concerns. We aim to present the complexities of understanding and assessing MHL and use current research to suggest ways of improving it across higher education. 
 
Good MHL is key to recognising, managing and preventing mental illness. By sharing our knowledge, we can empower students to improve their own MHL and feel confident in supporting themselves and their peers should they be suffering with a mental health concern.

Meet the Speakers

Prof Tony Jorm is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne and NHMRC Leadership Fellow. His research focuses on building the community’s capacity for prevention and early intervention with mental disorders. He is Editor-in-Chief of Mental Health & Prevention and an Associate Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr Denise Meyer C. Psychol has worked in university support services since 1995, and is currently Head of Wellbeing at the University of Portsmouth. She has advisory positions with national mental health charities Student Minds and the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust (CWMT), and has published and spoken at numerous HE sector conferences on a range of student mental health topics. Denise has a longstanding interest in innovation in student support, especially through integration with learning, and in the development of empowering discourses related to psychological health. Her doctoral research, which included collaborative action research with students, investigated practical applications of empowering discourses around depression and resulted in CWMT’s award-winning Students Against Depression website, which has supported millions of users nationally and internationally. Denise’s latest publication is ‘The Student Lifecycle: Pressure points and transitions’ in Barden & Caleb (2019) Student Mental Health & Wellbeing in Higher Education: A practical guide. Sage. Her innovative Welcome Ambassadors project was promoted by the Department of Education as an example of good practice in supporting student transitions. Denise’s current interest is the integration of compassion-focused psychoeducation into the curriculum.

Katherine Caffrey is a counsellor, supervisor and mental health trainer in private practice and works as a mental health trainer for Charlie Waller Trust. Additionally, she delivers specialist workshops for BACP to support counsellors working with risk. She has produced university guides, through Charlie Waller, to support student mental health, including a recent guide to transitioning to university. Her counselling specialism is in working with children and young people, and she has many years of experience of working with students in a university setting. 

Julia Hass is a Student Wellbeing & Welfare Manager at King's College London Student's Union. She has 8 years of experience in university health promotion, peer support and student wellbeing and welfare in the USA and UK. At King’s College London Students’ Union, she has built a sector-leading student wellbeing service through the student union
that focuses on empowering students to create communities of good wellbeing. The service focuses on embedding positive wellbeing in student communities through health promotion activities and peer
support.