Supporting students to build up positive mental health and resilience

John Bostock, Hazel Devereux, Liz Diamond

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

"If within an organisation people are falling into the stream up-river and the Counselling Service finds they are pulling them out down-river, then there is a duty to go up-river, find out what is happening and stop them falling in the first place" Egan and Cowan. Mental health research is multi-disciplinary by definition; it is predicated on an understanding of the societal, psychological and physical backgrounds. Mental health, as an indivisible component of general health, is a broad concept including psychological well-being (positive mental health) as well as mental disorders and problems. It is principally a feature of the individual, and it is influenced by individual biological and psychological factors, social interactions, societal structures and cultural values. Societal development, for instance, has continued at an accelerating pace, especially in recent decades. We are now experiencing the new era of the postmodern society, characterised by mass media, the internet, information overload and globalisation. Characteristics of the information society, such as virtual realities, can also significantly influence our perception of time and space. As a consequence, there has had to be a change to our ways of expressing identity and of working and studying (Bostock and Wood, 2014). Of particular importance are the transitions encountered in tertiary and higher education: leaving school/college, entering university and transiting through years 1-3 or 4 now bring more challenges than ever before in terms of mental health. Therefore, it is important to explore how transitional phases and educational factors affect mental health. This workshop and discussion opportunity will focus on the sharing of your expertise, knowledge and experiences so that together the challenges and possibilities in supporting students to build up positive mental health and resilience around the following points can be discussed: • Identifying the key transition and risk points especially unrealistic student expectations • Exploring practical ways to work preventively around them especially in the first term.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2014
EventSOLSTICE & Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLT) Conference - Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom
Duration: 5 Jun 20146 Jun 2014

Conference

ConferenceSOLSTICE & Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLT) Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityOrmskirk
Period5/06/146/06/14

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