Conclusion

Considering how to improve students’ mental health can bolster student wellbeing and success. This course drew on the findings from a study of tutors and students to consider how to provide support. The approaches suggested are practices that all students would find beneficial, not just those with mental health conditions. Therefore, adopting an institution-wide approach to providing support and promoting student mental wellbeing is useful.

The Open University has developed Student and Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (The Open University, 2020) in line with the Universities UK’s Stepchange framework for mental health in higher education (UUK 2023) and is working to support tutors with regular in-house training.

You can also find further resources in OpenLearn’s Wellbeing and mental health collection.

If you are an educator you might also find the free OpenLearn course Teaching and learning tricky topics useful.