Sunmentors project coming to a close
This Erasmus+ funded two-year project will be ending shortly. There were four universities, a curriculum design company and a Moodle platform/website developer specialist company contributing. We met in the UK, Greece and Italy forming strong connections between each partner organisation. All had an interest is student mental health, some had been involved with Erasmus+ projects before, others newly arriving to this funding opportunity.
The meetings were constructive and shaped by the group collaboratively. There were obstacles to overcome, not least in the different systems and language used for HEI structures and processes. However, once there was a shared understanding of the elements in the various HEIs involved, group cohesion became easier, and our common purpose could be realised.
Purpose of the project
Student mental health concerns (mostly depression and anxiety) are rising, across HEIs worldwide. It often affects retention, and staff are the first point of contact for struggling students as there is already a relationship. However, research shows staff are finding it difficult to know how to signpost, support and engage struggling students.
The Sunmentors project is a response to the many alarms around the increase in student mental health concerns and the calls for training teaching staff. This project aims to play a part in a whole university approach to student mental health.
Outcomes of the project
The handbook and online platform for training teaching staff in HEIs across Europe to more effectively support student mental wellbeing has been piloted in each of the four HEIs over the last two weeks. Subsequently, the feedback received from participants piloting the e-learning modules will help to perfect the training before it goes live to be freely available to all HEIs from December 2025. It will be available in several European languages.
The project will have an online information-sharing event in English at UH on 5th December 10-11.30am (see email below to apply to attend). We will showcase the platform providing aspects of the five modules (Mental Health Awareness/Basic Mental Health Knowledge/Communication/Putting it into Practice/Crisis Management). We will invite comments and questions. The event will include UK HEI policymakers, students, teaching staff, student wellbeing services and any others who are interested to hear about the e-training programme. We anticipate an enriching discussion.
The process of producing the e-training has been inspiring. Colleagues from Germany, Greece, Italy and Belgium have all made superb contributions to the discussions around the content of the curriculum, the curriculum designers offered helpful structures and presentation of the training and the Moodle development company provided social media support and developed the platform itself.
Summary of the process
To summarise, the kick off meeting of the team took place at the University of Hertfordshire in February 2024 with Gareth Hughes from Student Minds about the launching of the University Mental Health Charter (UMHC) in 2020. Hard work, dedication, and time goes into this process from each individual university involved, the number gaining the UMHC award to date is 23. Over 90 Universities have committed to creating cultural change in this year’s Programme. The Charter Award demonstrates the genuine commitment and investment of many staff and students to reach this milestone. Applications for the Award are assessed by a team of peer assessors with expertise and extensive experience of working and studying in the sector. Each assessment team contains qualified clinicians, higher education academics, professionals, and students. The UMHC Award Assessment is a robust process of evaluation. The training of teaching staff is one of the tick boxes for universities to fulfil on applying for the award.
Following this presentation for the next two days the Sunmentors team began in earnest to discuss the first phase of the project outlined in the Erasmus+ application. Actions were allocated to team members and the needs analysis commenced in the Spring of 2024. To help us to determine the content for the training, as well as knowing the published recommendations in this area, several focus groups in each of the four universities from the team were delivered. Questions were asked of students and staff volunteers about their ideas for the content of an e-training for teaching staff to support students with their mental wellbeing, without having to become counsellors.
We analysed this data carefully to arrive at suggested aspects for turning into content for learning. The next stage was to meet in Rome in the Autumn of 2024 to discuss the structure of the e-training, the number of modules required to cover the content and the plan for the last phase of the project. In the Spring of 2025, we all met in Athens. As well as visiting the amazing museum and the Acropolis (where I had my purse stolen, only to be kindly replaced by a new one from the team later!), we worked hard to devise the final content for modules we had all created. Each pair from the universities delivered content for their allocated modules together with quizzes to enhance learning. Reflection questions were inserted at various points throughout the training to provide for contexts, such as consideration of cultural differences.
Throughout the process of the project the team met online regularly. Each meeting was around one to two hours. Minutes were circulated with actions as appropriate for all members. The targets identified in each work package have been met by the team apart from a few technical issues delaying the piloting of the e-training programme. These are now fixed, and the pilot takes place this month!
We hope to see some of you at the event being held on 5th December 2025 to share more about the project and showcase the actual e-training, hopefully amended by then. Please email Professor Helen Payne to apply to attend the event.
Onwards and upwards towards the closure of this important project!
Author
Professor in Psychotherapy, Helen Payne