Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Leeds Beckett University to benefit from new Mind and Goldman Sachs Mental Health programme
In the first partnership of its kind, the Mentally Healthy Universities programme will be delivered by Mind and will reach over 6,000 students and colleagues at Leeds Beckett University and nine other universities in its first two years.
The programme will provide support and specialist training to equip these communities with the knowledge, skills and confidence to support their own mental health and that of others. This includes development opportunities to build their resilience, workplace wellbeing workshops for final year students who are about to graduate and transition into the workplace and peer support for our colleagues in the workplace.
The programme will be run jointly by the university’s People team and Student Services, and partly delivered by Leeds Mind.
Sarah Moore, Wellbeing & Engagement Manager in the People team said: “We're delighted to be successful for the programme for academic year 2020-21.This support will contribute to university colleagues being better supported to stay well at work and being more likely to seek specialist help early if needed.”
Sarah Tomlinson, Head of Student Wellbeing in Student Services said: “The funding will help students to become equipped to manage the potential impact of university life on their mental health, to build and maintain emotional resilience, and seek specialist help early if needed.
“It will also help to better equip students to manage the transition into the workplace, seek support from future employers if needed, and stay well at work.
There is a growing recognition of the mental health challenges faced by the UK’s higher education sector. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency the number of students who disclosed a mental health condition almost doubled between 2012 and 2015 to nearly 45,000. However, national figures suggest that mental health difficulties within higher education are currently underreported as just 1 in 125 students (0.8%) and around 1 in 500 staff (0.2%) have disclosed a mental health condition to their university.
The programme is funded nationally by Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised fund for Goldman Sachs’ current and retired senior employees to recommend grants to qualifying non-profit organizations.
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said: “We are really excited to be working with Goldman Sachs to better support thousands of university students and staff across England and Wales. We know that both students and staff face many pressures unique to the university environment. This timely opportunity allows us to deliver a programme that responds to the needs of university communities, building on good practice within the sector, to ensure everyone with a mental health problem receives support and respect.”
More information about the project is available on the MIND website.