This session will explore research on clinical, and non-clinical intervention methods, in an effort to improve the effectiveness of support for higher education students.
 
It is important to ensure a multi-faceted evaluation of “what works”, reflecting the complexity of mental health. We will be looking at the needs of different student groups, as well as the impact of interventions shifting to an online platform. The session will also discuss new ideas by presenting current research.

Meet the Speakers

Emilie Wielezynski is completing an undergraduate in Biomedical Science at King’s College London. The prevalence of stigma and misunderstanding surrounding student mental health is an obstacle I am very motivated to overcome. I strongly believe in the strength of candor as a tool for creating open and honest discussions about mental health. As these years are ripe with uncertainty and unpredictability, it is important to develop a healthy relationship with oneself and find the right methods to deal with our mental health challenges. Indeed, my own experiences of this arduous process known as growing up is what initially attracted me to the opportunity to be part of the Smarten research team. I am thrilled to begin working with other students on this project and even more so because I know we all share the same opinion: your mental health is important, and we want to help support it.

Leigh Spanner works in partnership with students, staff and organisations across the sector to deliver programmes which aim to enhance approaches to university mental health. She currently leads on Student Minds’ two major sector enhancement programmes: the University Mental Health Charter and the Students’ Union Support Programme.

​Leigh loves being surrounded by nature and is always on the lookout for new music, gigs and festivals.

Research and Publications

• The University Mental Health Charter

Dr Joanne Worsley was funded from our first funding call, 'What is distinctive bout student mental health’. In this  12-minute interview, she talks in depth about her research project. Previous research has shown that the first year of university can be a particularly lonely time for undergraduate students. Building on our previous research (McIntyre, Worsley, Corcoran, Harrison-Woods, & Bentall, 2018) and recent qualitative findings from Jopling and Valtorta (2019), she aims to explore the unique transition period from school or college into university with a specific focus on the role of accommodation in student mental health and students’ expectations of university living versus their actual experiences.

Publications and Research

• What interventions improve college and university students’ mental health and wellbeing?  A review of review-level evidence

Elizabeth James is a third year doctoral student of counselling psychology at Teesside University. She has a research interest in undergraduate mental health, the life phase of emerging adulthood and episodic future thinking. She is a member of the 2020 student research team and Early Career Researcher network at SMaRteN, and she also has an interest in bringing research evidence to bear on effective policy in higher education. 
Twitter handle: @eaj24

Dr Jason Arday is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Durham University in the Department of Sociology and the Deputy Executive Dean for People and Culture in the Faculty of Social Science and Health. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at The Ohio State University in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, an Adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela University in the Centre for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation and a Trustee of the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading Race Equality Thinktank. Jason is also a Trustee of the British Sociological Association (BSA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). He sits on the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) National Advisory Panel and is a School Governor at Shaftesbury Park Primary School in London.