Round-up: Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

To highlight our ongoing commitment to mental health as an organisation, we dedicated a week of coverage to mental health and wellbeing concerns within Higher Education for Mental Health Awareness Week (10-16 May); this included peer support, employee wellbeing, and how to effectively support Chinese students’ mental health. You can find all of our Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 coverage below.

• How our ambassadors brought students together in a pandemic : Students Alex and Brian share their experiences of being student ambassadors during Covid, the support they offer to their peers, and the wellbeing benefits they’ve gained through participating in the ambassador scheme.
• Supporting employee wellbeing at Unite Students : Victoria Simmons, Area Manager for Birmingham, shares her reflections on the importance of wellbeing, and shares the steps taken both by her team individually and across the business to improve employee wellbeing.
• How to support Chinese students’ mental health : Chinese students are the largest international cohort of students in the UK – so what factors how can we best support their mental health? Bernadette Cochonat, Senior International Sales and Marketing Manager, shares her insights into this little-covered topic.
• Does student accommodation meet the needs of Black students? : The effects of exclusion and racial inequality can cause or exacerbate wellbeing issues, including in student accommodation – so we’re commissioning a major report into the Black student experience. Jenny Shaw, Student Experience Director, shares more.
• What next? Supporting student mental health through the summer : Responding to the mental health implications of the past year are a key priority for all of us in the Higher Education sector. We share how we’re supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing, both this term and beyond.

By all working together to share insights, best practice and research, we can move the entire Higher Education sector forward – so if you find any of our Mental Health Awareness Week content to be valuable, please do circulate it with your colleagues, teams and social media networks.

Further historic content on our website about mental health and wellbeing is available here; you can additionally head here for more details about our Black student experience research.

We’ll continue to cover mental health and wellbeing issues throughout the year – follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter to get all our latest Higher Education insight.

Additionally, with remaining students now formally allowed to return to campuses across England and Scotland, please find details of our most recent safety and wellbeing update here.