Beyond Stigma - Designing mental health support that reaches the next generation of diverse learners

Uwill’s poster highlights a key challenge facing institutions: Although student mental health needs are rising, utilisation of traditional services remains low, in particular among Black and Minority Ethnic, international, and LGBT+ students. For support services to create impact, it is vital that students actually use them. When utilisation is low, institutions face not only increased risks around student safety and wellbeing, but also greater pressure to demonstrate value amid tightening resources.

Traditionally stigma was primarily used to explain low help seeking behaviour in diverse students. However research shows there are other barriers that prevent diverse students from seeking help. This poster outlines research-informed best practices to help design solutions that reach the next generation of diverse learners.

The poster highlights key global best practices that institutions can incorporate into support solutions to ensure services align with modern student expectations and diverse needs to significantly improve utilisation, outcomes, and equity in mental health support. The poster also showcases a case study that highlights how using solutions that incorporate these best practices can help institutions enhance diverse utilisation, satisfaction and impact.