Yhteys – Competence for Psychologically Safe Student Support

The YHTEYS Project strengthens the capacities of higher education teaching, guidance and student welfare staff, as well as student union professionals, to identify, approach and support students experiencing mental health challenges. The project responds to an urgent and growing need to develop new, community-based and accessible ways to promote student mental wellbeing and study ability in a situation where loneliness, anxiety and study dropouts have increased significantly.

Project activities focus on enhancing professional competence in early identification and support, psychologically safe group facilitation, and community-oriented practices. At the same time, the project develops and pilots new social innovations that combine nature-based methods and transmedia content (image, sound, video, and online interaction). These approaches enable reaching students who have become socially withdrawn or isolated, and who may not be able to participate in traditional group activities due to, for example, social anxiety.

The project designs and pilots the Virta Training Model, providing higher education personnel and student organisation professionals with concrete tools for supporting students with mental health difficulties and for facilitating psychologically safe group processes. In addition, the project develops a peer support model that strengthens student organisations’ ability to train and guide peer supporters as part of everyday campus life.Both models are built through co-creation, engaging professionals and experience students (students with lived experience of mental health challenges) in all phases of development.

The YHTEYS project addresses the need to support the mental health of higher education students, prevent study dropout, and strengthen the sense of community within higher education institutions. Research and reports indicate a concerning increase in students’ mental health challenges, loneliness, burnout, and study discontinuation.

Educational institutions do not always identify or adequately support students who would benefit from low-threshold support services. At the same time, the work of guidance, teaching, and student welfare staff has become increasingly demanding, while resources have diminished and experiences of workload and inadequacy have grown.

1. To strengthen the capacities of higher education guidance, teaching and student welfare staff, as well as student organisation professionals, identify, engage with and guide students experiencing mental health challenges, and to support them in accessing further assistance and support.

2. To co-create and pilot new social innovations based on psychological safety, nature-based methods and transmedia content, to reach and support students experiencing mental health challenges, particularly those who have become isolated in their homes.

3. To strengthen the competence of higher education guidance, teaching and student welfare staff, as well as student organisation professionals, in designing and facilitating psychologically safe groups and implementing interventions in natural environments with transmedia support.

4. To enhance staff members’ sense of meaningfulness at work and their occupational wellbeing by strengthening practical interaction and guidance skills that facilitate their daily work and their encounters with students experiencing mental health challenges.

5. To strengthen student organisation professionals’ competence in coordinating and providing training for peer support activities, including through nature-based and transmedia approaches.

6. To embed the nature-based and transmedia models developed in the project as permanent regional practices and raise awareness of them nationally.

In the long term, the project will contribute to structural change in wellbeing support within higher education by integrating psychological safety, nature-based approaches and transmedia methods into the established practices of teaching, guidance and student welfare services. The enhanced competence of higher education teaching, guidance and student welfare staff, as well as student organisation professionals, in identifying and supporting students experiencing mental health challenges will lead to lasting improvements in the quality of learning environments and student wellbeing.

The peer support model developed for student organisations will be disseminated across the higher education sector, fostering a new culture of inclusion in which even the most vulnerable students can experience a sense of belonging to the community.

In the long term, the project will reduce study dropouts and the risk of social exclusion and facilitate the transition from higher education to working life, particularly among students experiencing mental health challenges. Increased wellbeing within higher education communities will strengthen their resilience, thereby enhancing their capacity to adapt to change and enhancing their attractiveness as places to study and work.

Co-funded by the European Union