Boost to Health and Wellbeing Support of Students and Staff

The University of Greenwich is working with Goldman Sachs and the mental health charity Mind to boost the health and wellbeing support it provides to students and staff.

The university is one of ten institutes across the country who are part of a new £1.5 million partnership which has launched  in London.

The innovative scheme called the Mentally Healthy Universities Programme will reach over 8,000 students and staff across all the universities involved in its first two years.

Providing support and specialist training, it will equip university communities with knowledge, skills and confidence to support their own mental health and that of others. It will include resilience training for students and workplace wellbeing workshops for final year students who are about to graduate.

Professor David Maguire, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greenwich, said: “We’re really pleased to be part of this exciting new initiative and look forward to working with Mind and Goldman Sachs to support our university community.

“The mental health and wellbeing of our students and staff is already a priority for us in Greenwich. Providing further tools and knowledge to support their mental health and wellbeing will help to ensure they have the best possible university and work experience, and that our students are also equipped with vital skills for after they graduate.”

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 has almost doubled between 2012 and 2015 to nearly 45,000.

The University of Greenwich works closely with Greenwich Students’ Union to deliver a range of support to students, encompassing students’ physical and mental health as well as their financial circumstances and personal relationships.

The university has already signed up to the Big White Wall 24/7 support service and also delivers mental health first aid and awareness training to staff.

With a focus on students in their first and final years of study, the new programme with Mind will address transitional moments in students’ lives that can bring added challenges and pressures.

Richard Gnodde, CEO of Goldman Sachs International, said: “The transition through higher education and into the workforce is often a challenging and pressurised time in young people’s lives.

“We believe employers have an important role to play in changing attitudes towards mental health through providing support, resources and open conversation around an often stigmatized subject. We look forward to supporting Mind and Universities across the UK in establishing this critical programme.”

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, added: “We are really excited to be working with Goldman Sachs to better support thousands of university students and staff across England and Wales. 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.”

The 10 participating universities, are:

• University of Bath
• University of Cambridge
• University of Greenwich
• University of Bristol
• Teeside University
• The London School of Economics and Political Science
• Leeds Beckett University
• University of Sheffield
• University of Central Lancashire
• Oxford Brookes

Find out more about University of Greenwich’s Wellbeing Hub.