Panel
Our panel of higher education sector leaders and Birmingham-based students explores student mental health: the big challenges, the hidden nuances, and how we can all work together to make a difference. Hear the perspectives of students and their perceptions of support services, and learn how these intersect with national initiatives to support good mental health in higher education.
Dr Dominique Thompson is a multi-award winning former GP, young people's mental health expert, TEDx speaker, author and educator, with over two decades of NHS clinical experience.
Dom now works as an independent mental health consultant and speaker, whilst holding roles including; President of the Student Health Association, membership of the UK government’s Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce, and Clinical Advisor to NICE and Student Minds.
She is author of The Student Wellbeing Series (Trigger Press) for young people, and co-author of How to Grow a Grown Up (PenguinRandomHouse) for parents.
Dom has done two TEDx talks; ‘What I learnt from 78000 GP consultations with university students’ and ‘Understanding Why’.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
For information about Dom’s work as a consultant and speaker see www.buzzconsulting.co.uk and check out www.growingagrownup.com for free parenting blogs and resources.
Jane is Co-Director of Student Welfare and Support Services and Head of Counselling at the University of Oxford, prior to this she was the Head of Student Counselling and Wellbeing at the University of Leeds. Jane is a UKCP accredited psychotherapeutic counsellor (Mst, University of Oxford) and an organisational Reflective Practice group convenor (Diploma, IGA). Jane is the Outgoing Chair elect of HUCS (Heads of University Counselling Services), Co-chair of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Group, hosted by Advance HE, a member of the Department for Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce and the Governance Group for Student Space.
Rowan Ivy Hawthorne was born in Edinburgh and completed her BSc Bioinformatics at the University of Dundee. After gaining graduate experience in clinical trials within the NHS, Rowan pursued an MSc in Applied Neuroscience sparking her interest in neuroscience and leading to her current PhD research in neuroscience at Aston University, Birmingham. Her doctoral work focuses on neurodegeneration in the clinical context using a range of neuronal models to investigate DNA damage responses and neuron loss. Alongside laboratory research, Rowan works as a Senior Resident Advisor supporting student wellbeing, mentoring and managing student communities in collaboration with Aston University Welfare and Wellbeing teams. As an advocate for disability visibility within postgraduate research, Rowan is committed to promoting inclusion and support for neurodivergent and disabled researchers in academia.
