Speakers
Beth Allender
Presentation
The session presents the progress in Wales and Newcastle with the development of a standardised data set for student mental health with all Student Services departments from universities in Wales and a whole institutional approach in Newcastle.
In Wales this is known as the Severity Index and reason Codes progress or ‘SevRes’. This has been designed and co-produced with the Welsh higher education providers since 2021 and is now in place in all universities. This year sees the first year of all higher education providers collecting with the same version, with the ability to upload to a new National Dashboard. The Dashboard prototype, built by Cardiff University’s Digital Transformation and Innovation Institute, is currently onboarding the first universities, with the aspiration of all higher education providers uploading ready for the start of the 2025/26 academic year.
On a similar note, Newcastle University has developed the Impact Measurement Scale (IMS) which launched in 2022, a holistic, needs-led measure to capture insights into student mental health, welfare and disability presentations across all Student Services teams. The IMS is used as a practitioner tool to support pathway management, information sharing and early identification of risk, and as a culture change initiative in the bid for a whole-institution approach to wellbeing.
The session will discuss the combined learning, parallels and impact from both models and the opportunities for this to be considered as a National data set.
Beth was recruited by Cardiff University in January 2021 to support the development and delivery of a pilot to improve understanding, access and support to NHS Mental Health Services for university students in Cardiff, particularly those with moderate to severe, complex or long term mental health symptoms. This has expanded into a national programme of work involving all further and higher institutes and their regional NHS Health Boards.
Prior to the current role, Beth has been a programme and project manager for over fifteen years. Working in universities in Wales, within Student Services, Strategic Programmes and IT Services, in particular with cultural and student experience transformation programmes. She has supported managing aspects of planning and design for the £450 million Bay Campus development for Swansea University. Starting her career in the NHS, Beth also has experience in hospital administration and Welsh National IT Programmes.
Kirsty has held the position of Manager of Welfare and Counselling Services at Newcastle University since 2021. As a strategic and compassionate leader, with vast experience in student mental health, counselling, and wellbeing services across higher and secondary education, Kirsty has a proven track record in leading system-level change, building psychologically safe teams and collaborative cultures. Kirsty is a new member of the HUCS specialist interest group executive committee.
Alongside the day job, Kirsty has an interest in practice-based research and is currently completing an MSc in Strategic Leadership, where her research focuses on embedding student wellbeing as a strategic priority in UK HEIs, work which aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly around reducing inequalities and promoting education for life.
Kirsty has won recent sector awards for innovation, specifically in relation to the Impact Measurement Scale, a non clinical tool designed to capture data and insights into student wellbeing presentations, and supports a whole institution approach. IMS is an ongoing initiative to work to a sector standard of wellbeing data collection, which is currently undergoing validity testing to enable wider use.