How to create a university mental health strategy that works

A Whole-University Strategy

More and more universities are looking to (re)design effective evidence-based policies to promote mental health as part of a whole university strategy consistent with the University Mental Health Charter.

The CREATE Mental Health Strategy Toolkit

The Charlie Waller Trust has developed a toolkit on what, why, how, and who needs to be considered when designing effective mental health policies and/or practices as part of a whole university strategy. Grounded in extensive review of existing evidence and resources – and with input from specialists across the sector - this toolkit provides practical, proven, and accessible guidance for universities to CREATE an effective evidence-based mental health strategy and associated policies through the evidence-informed principles of:

• Coproduction
• Risk assessment
• Evaluation
• Accessibility
• Togetherness
• Embeddedness

These principles can help to ensure that the strategy is aligned to the needs, experiences, and expertise of diverse students, staff, and stakeholders in order to improve outcomes in practice.

Creating a Whole University Strategy That Works

This toolkit contains content to help a range of university staff to:

• Understand the principles and processes for creating a mental health strategy as part of a whole university approach.
• Find and evaluate the research evidence for different mental health strategies and initiatives available to your university, aligned with the University Mental Health Charter Principles of Good Practice if appropriate.
• Structure and write a mental health strategy suitable for your institutional context and develop supporting policies
• Plan effective and coordinated implementation of your mental health strategy.
• Develop skills and techniques to effectively coproduce a mental health strategy at your university.
• Identify ways that the Charlie Waller Trust can provide ongoing and bespoke support to achieve your university’s mental health strategy aspirations.
• Implement effective and theory-based evaluation informed by complexity theory to develop and demonstrate a whole university strategy that works at your institution.

Additional free bespoke consultation to help you apply the toolkit at your university is available from us. Find out more or make an enquiry.

Download the resource to CREATE an evidence-based mental health strategy that works at your university.

Download the toolkit