Acknowledgements

This free course was compiled by Sarah Mander and Neill Boddington. The authors of individual weeks are credited in the Acknowledgements for the relevant week.

Sarah and Neill would like to thank all those who have contributed content, critical reading and editing for this course as well as the Open University’s OpenLearn team who have brought it to fruition, especially the editor, Hannah Parish; Ana Collins, who designed the unique trigger warning icon; and Catherine Halliwell who assisted with quiz questions.

They are grateful to Charlotte Minton, an OU learner, for allowing the reproduction of her impressive artwork in Week 3. Thanks also to Michael Priestley and his colleagues at the Charlie Waller Trust; the authors appreciated your input and are honoured to have the Trust’s endorsement for this course.

Editors

Neill Boddington

Sarah Mander

Jacqueline Young

Authors

Jonathan Baldwin

Tania Barnett

Neill Boddington

Simone Bol

Craig Clancy

Alison Craig

Ben Hughes

Ian Macdonald

Sarah Mander

Linzi Morris

Jitka Vseteckova

Jacqueline Young

Critical readers

Kate Breeze

Catherine Carden

Julie Castleman

Sue Creed

Carolyn Cooke

Ola Fadoju

Helen Lee

Mychelle Pride

Michael Priestley

James Roy

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below (and/or reference in the course) is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Introduction and guidance

Images

Course badge: © The Open University

Charlie Waller Trust logo: courtesy Charlie Waller Trust https://www.charliewaller.org/

Week 1

Images

Introduction image: Pexels

Section 1 image: luizclas/Pexels

Section 1.2 image: canva/Pixabay

Section 2 image: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Section 2.1 image: Tim Gouw/Pexels

Figure 2: adapted from Dahlgren and Whitehead (1991) in Review Paper The Dahlgren-Whitehead model of health determinants: 30 years on and still chasing rainbows Goran Dahlgren, Margaret Whitehead, Department of Public Health, Policy, and Systems, University of Liverpool

Section 2.2 image: Vie Studio/Pexels

Figure 3: Charlie Waller Trust & Bank Workers Charity, 2022. Copyright © 2025 The Charlie Waller Trust https://www.charliewaller.org/

Figure 4: from: Supporting a child with anxiety. A guide for parents and carers https://www.charliewaller.org/resources/supporting-a-child-with-anxiety https://www.charliewaller.org

Section 3 image: Pixabay/Pexels

Section 3.2 image: Ono Kosuki/Pexels

Presenteeism section image: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Withdrawal section image: Tome Louro/Pexels

Section 4 image: Yan Krukau/Pexels

Figure 5: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/ 2023 BrandStencil - Version 3.1.3 https://brandstencil.com/ All rights reserved 2023

Section 4.2 image: Gratisography/Pexels

Section 4.3 image: Lisa Fotios/Pexels

Section 4.3 image: Alena Darmel/Pexels

Section 4.4 image: Kampus Production/Pexels

Section 4.5 image: nappy/Pexels

Section 5 image: canva/Pixabay

Week 2

Images

Section 1 image: canva/Pixabay

Section 2 image: Finn/Unsplash

Section 3 image: Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels

Section 3 image: Mike Erskine/Unsplash

Section 4 images: Icons8 Team/Unsplash (left); Wes Hicks/Unsplash (right)

Section 4.1 image: krakenimages/Unsplash

Section 4.2 image: Breana Panaguiton/Unsplash

Section 4.3 image: Angel Ceballos/Unsplash

Section 5 image: James Wheeler/Pexels

Section 5.2 image: Christina Morillo/Pexels

Section 6 image: artsysolomon/Pixabay

Audio/Video

Section 7 video: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mNBmG24djoY courtesy Med School Insiders https://medschoolinsiders.com/

Week 3

Images

Introduction image: Courtesy: Charlotte Minton

Section 2 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 3 image: smrm1977/iStock/Getty Images

Section 3.1 image: fauxels/Pexels

Section 5 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 6 image: Luke, Young Minds (Young Minds, 2022)

Section 6 image: Mental Health America (MHA)/Pexels

Audio/Video

Section 3.2 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWe_ogA5YCU&ab_channel=spunout courtesy: Spunout https://spunout.ie/

Section 5 video: Reproduced with kind permission of the RSA: www.theRSA.org

Week 4

Images

Introduction image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 1 image: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Section 1.1 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 1.2 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 1.3 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 1.3 image: Katerina Holmes/Pexels

Section 1.3 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 2 image: Pexels

Section 2.1 image: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Section 2.2 image: Christina Morillo/Pexels

Talking therapies section image: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Social prescribing section images: Canva/Pixabay (top left); Canva/Pixabay (bottom left); Yan Krukau/Pexels (right)

Online tools section image: Marcus Aurelius/Pexels

Online tools section image: Mustata Silva/Pexels

Section 3 image: Lucas Souza/Pexels

Section 4 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 4.3 image: Canva/Pixabay

Section 4.4 image: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Section 4.6 image: srini/Pexels

Section 5 image: Aleksandar Spasojevic/Pexels

Audio/Video

Talking therapies section video: NHS Talking Therapies: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/overview/ NHS England and NHS Improvement 

Social prescribing section video: Social Prescribing: https://www.transformationpartners.nhs.uk/programmes/personalised_care/social-prescribing/ https://www.transformationpartners.nhs.uk/

Week 5

Images

Section 1 image: Ahmed Nishaath/Unsplash

Section 1 image: Keira Burton/Pexels

Section 1.1 image: AbsolutVision/Unsplash

Section 1.2 image: lascot studio/Pexels

Section 1.2 image: Summary of social media posts (2021) (X) as part of Mental Health Awareness Month https://x.com/BPTwellbeing/status/1396768167092006912

Section 2 image: Sincerely Media/Unsplash

Section 2.1 image: akitada31/Pixabay

Section 2.1 image: Lukas/Pexels

Section 3 image: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Audio/Video

Section 4 video: Education for Mental Health: enhancing student mental health through curriculum and pedagogy: https://youtu.be/VqApjDwxUOY courtesy © 2022 Advance HE. All rights reserved.

Week 6

Images

Introduction image: fauxels/Pexels

Section 1 image: THIS IS ZUN/Pexels

Section 1 image: Alex Azabache/Pexels

Section 1.1 image: Keira Burton/Pexels

Section 1.1 image: Matheus Bertelli/Pexels

Section 1.2 image: Pixabay/Pexels Creative Commons Zero

Section 1.3 image: photograph cytis/Pixabay

Section 2 image: Alex Green/Pexels

Section 2.1 image: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

Figure 1: adapted from: Critical Cultural Competence Model from Cooper, et al. (2011) Developing Critical Cultural Competence: A Guide for 21st-Century Educators, Corwin Press, 2011

Section 2.2 image: Yan Krukau/Pexels

Section 2.3 image: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

Section 3 image: RDNE Stock project/Pexels

Section 3.1 image: Skyler Gerald/Unsplash

Section 3.2 image: fauxels/Pexels

Section 3.3 image: Arif Riyanto/Unsplash

Section 3.4 image: Pexels

Section 4 image: RDNE Stock project/Pexels

Section 4 image: adapted https://www.loopsofgray.com/blog/5-minute-self-care

Section 6 image: Moaid Mefleh/Pexels

Audio/Video

Section 2.2 video: © The Open University

Section 3.3 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh8Gf18eNzw. Made by Team Sass Productions BBC Ideas © BBC

Week 7

Images

Introduction image: Rita Seneca/Unsplash

Figure 1: adapted from Figure 1 The three modules and key skill sets covered in the Skills-Based Model of Personal Resilience in Baker, F.R.R., Baker, K., Burrell, J. (2021) ‘Introducing the skills-based model of personal resilience: Drawing on content and process factors to build resilience in the workplace’, Journal of Occupational and organizational Psychology, 94(6), pp. 458–481

Section 1.1 image: Brett Jordan/Unsplash

Figure 2: Taxonomic wheel of barriers and enablers to mental wellbeing in distance learning in Kate Lister, Jane Seale and Chris Douce (2023) Mental health in distance learning: a taxonomy of barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing, Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 38(2), pp. 102–116

Section 2.1 image: athree23/Pixabay

Section 2.2 image: athree23/Pixabay

Section 3 image: Anna Shvets/Pexels

Section 5 image: Schäferle/Pixabay

Figure 3: Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model for wellbeing Seligman in M. (2018) ‘PERMA and the building blocks of well-being’, Journal of Positive Psychology.

Section 6 image: Nick Fewings/Unsplash

Audio/Video

Section 4 video: from the Digital Practice Project, accessible via YouTube https://youtu.be/CkI29AD5f8M ©The Open University

Week 8

Images

Figure 1: adapted from Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development

Section 1 image: geralt/Pixabay

Section 1 image: Alexas_Fotos/Pixabay

Figure 2: Mental Health UK (2023) The Stress Bucket, originally developed by Brabban and Turkington (2002).

Section 1.2 image: johnhain/Pixabay

Section 1.3 image: geralt/Pixabay

Section 2 image: WOKANDAPIX/Pixabay

Section 2.1 image: GDJ/Pixabay

Section 3 image: Justin Paget/Getty Images

Section 3.1 image: RosZie/Pixabay

Section 3.2 image: johnhain/Pixabay

Section 3.3 image: johnhain/Pixabay

Section 4.1 image: PublicDomainArchive/Pixabay

Section 4.2 image: congerdesign/Pixabay

Section 4.3 image: cmolens/Pixabay

Section 4.3 image: fotorech/Pixabay

Section 4.4 image: adapted https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/sleep-problems/about-sleep-and-mental-health/

Section 4.4 image: Hans/Pixabay

Section 4.5 image: MoMo Productions/Getty Images

Section 4.5 image: Ben_Kerckx/Pixabay

Section 4.6 images: Mascot/Getty Images (left); Justin Paget/Getty Images (middle); d3sign/Getty Images (right)

Section 4.6 image: geralt/Pixabay

Section 4.6 image: Self care wheel: https://bestself.co/blogs/the-bestself-hub/6-areas-of-selfcare-wheel; https://bestself.co/blogs/articles/how-to-prioritize-selfcare-to-cultivate-mental-emotional-resilience-during-tough-times

Section 6 image: geralt/Pixabay

Audio/Video

Introduction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46UkXjbAqG8 Courtesy: Alice and David Kolb Experience Based Learning Systems, LLC https://learningfromexperience.com/

Section 1.1 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrfYcNFKi3A courtesy: Mindwell https://www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/

Section 2.1 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuw5_TBvEUA courtesy National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA Ireland) https://www.nala.ie/

Section 3.1 video: Kristin Neff at TEDxCentennialParkWomen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvtZBUSplr4; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en

Section 3.2 video: https://youtu.be/wfDTp2GogaQ; Every Mind Matters https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/

Section 4.2 video: Mia Nacamulli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iMGFqMmUFs

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