Time to Talk: Why mental health matters in the movement!

What is happening in our sector, and what do leaders need to consider?

Student officers discussing mental health at the recent Coole Insight living well event.

Today is Time to Talk Day, an annual event to get people talking about mental health to raise awareness, tackle stigma and create change led by the charity Mind. Here at Coole Insight, we thought it was a good idea to mark this day and talk about mental health in our sector and what we can do together to improve it.

It is hard to imagine a single week within a Students’ Union without discussing wellbeing or mental health at all organisational levels. The impact is fundamental for members and colleagues, and we have been discussing it for a long time. Now is the time to stop talking and act holistically and proactively to ensure we realise our high-performing, healthy, sustainable and impactful organisational ambitions.

From the 2024 sector staff engagement survey run by Agenda Consulting, the medium scores for wellbeing and mental health questions showed that up to 20% of colleagues didn’t agree that the organisation was doing enough to support their wellbeing.

Over 20% of students in the 2024 National Student Survey (NSS) reported that they disagreed that university mental health services communication was done well and, therefore, this would question the awareness of such vital services.

The Student Minds and Alterline ‘Being Well, Doing Well’ survey conducted in November 2022 showed that over a third of students surveyed had poor mental health, and 30% reported that their mental health had declined since they began University.

Within the SU benchmarking survey 2024 conducted by Nina & Co. and Greenhouse, in partnership with NUS Charity, Mental Health was ranked as the second main priority for today's students (92% of CEOs agreed) only behind financial concerns and hardship (95% of CEOs agreed), which arguably is a key contributing factor to a students mental health.

Data from December 2024 taken from the Coole Insight Student Officer Support Programme (SOSP) survey gives us an understanding of how sabbatical officers are doing, and it's not good reading for those who support officers and shows the impact on the demands of the role as the following graphs help demonstrate.

Here at Coole Insight, we are action-focused, and below, we have put together a collection of actions and considerations you can undertake within your organisation to help improve sabbatical officer, staff and student mental health.

Five Actions Leaders Should Consider

1. Although it is essential to continue with the sector awareness campaigns and campaigning for increased resources and provision of mental health services, it is also time to start tackling the contributing factors that lend the need for these though considering a holistic approach to the student lifestyle and start to put interventions and lobby/secure changes that create barriers within the student lifecycle.

   
   

2. We must challenge ourselves to think more profoundly about staff and student mental health and be honest about our service delivery models, working methods, and expectations we place on sabbatical officers and the problematic positions our structures and processes put upon them. A good place to start would be the Student Minds ‘Student Union Mental Health Framework’ as a diagnostic tool to drive change and think differently.

   
   

3. We need to invest more in learning and development so our colleagues and the student leaders they support can effectively support each other. How many trained ‘Mental Health First Aiders’ does your organisation have? How many qualified ‘Look After your Mate’ instructors does your organisation have, and how many student leaders are being trained and supported to fulfil this pivotal role? Does your people strategy have robust and impactful actions to the level required to deliver meaningful change, and does your risk register include mental health and wellbeing, and if so, are the control measures sufficient and holistic?

   
   

4. Are we doing enough to challenge the University on their participation in and progress towards the ‘University Mental Health Charter’, which acts as a key framework of what the University should be considering and actioning? Are we doing enough to ensure that the work surrounding the framework will deliver meaningful and impactful change rather than simply receiving the kitemark it enables? A key question is whether it includes university-wide transformational change and whether the right people are involved and held accountable for their actions at the right level.

   
   

5. Do you have the proper insight approach and strategy to identify the drivers and circumstances for declining well-being and mental health? Have you determined what inequalities exist, and is this embedded and considered in the Union’s liberation priorities, campaigns and actions? To improve mental health in your union, you cannot just rely on national surveys and data; you need to do more to understand your members and colleagues and the changes and support mechanisms required.

Looking After your Mental Health

Indeed, you cannot support others unless you are in a good place yourself, and a good way to work towards this is to consider how you could embrace the National Health Service (NHS) ‘Five Steps to mental wellbeing’. Below, we have outlined some sector-specific considerations/actions for you.

1. Connect with other people: Do you have an established peer support network with others from the sector? Are you part of a productive action learning set? Are you leaving the office/home working environment and visiting other Students’ Unions? Do you allow/schedule time for staff members to connect during the working day? Do you attend conferences and events away from the office? Do you ensure a balanced work/life approach to enable sufficient connection outside the sector?

   
   

2. Be physically active: Are access to on-campus gyms and facilities free or affordable? Are you participating in and encouraging walk-and-talk meetings? Have you entered your team into a local league or internal sporting competition? Are you encouraging and being a role model when walking between sites where possible? Are you promoting the use of stairs where possible? Do you have a programme for disability sports / physical activity that is accessible to all?

   
   

3. Learn new skills: Is your continued professional development budget sufficient? Are you ensuring equality in learning and development resources? Are you encouraging staff to show and tell unknown skills or knowledge? Are you flexible in the type of activity/learning for which continued professional budgets can be used? Do you think outside the box for learning and development and put innovative opportunities into practice?

   
   

4. Give to others: Do you plan and execute staff volunteer opportunities within the local community? Do you happen to regularly check in with others and practice active listening during these? Do you practice meaningful and impactful recognition and gratification with the whole team? Do you seek opportunities to support student leaders and activities regardless of your role directly? Do you actively contact and support other teams during high workloads, such as elections and the welcome period?

   
   

5. Pay attention to the present moment: Do you actively schedule time to undertake personal reflection and identify what you are thankful for? Have you created an environment where reflection and review are commonplace and embraced within the moment? Do you arrange mindfulness activities for staff, such as crafting, meditation or yoga sessions? Do you promote the benefit of mindfulness and encourage others to participate in mindfulness activities?

Your Next Three Steps

1. Talk about this blog internally, decide your key focus areas, and use that to develop an action plan and ensure it is tracked and monitored at the trustee board level to ensure it is given the priority it deserves and needs.

   
   

2. Identify and appoint a mental health champion within the organisation to lead the completion of your action plan and communicate its importance and the completion and impact it has delivered. This champion must be given the time, resources and development to fulfil the role.

   
   

3. You can use your networks and communities of practice to discuss your action plan, share exchange areas of best practice, and use these conversations to improve and update your action plan.

Get in Touch

Need further support for developing real action and change within your organisation? We are here to help whether it be through our established programmes or developing bespoke work based on your needs.