Interim leadership and a sharper approach to student mental health engagement

Keeping a national programme moving through change

Think Positive is a programme supporting the mental health of students across Scotland’s colleges and universities, helping institutions improve the support they offer and championing the voice of students themselves. A central strand of its work is Student Mental Health Agreements, the commitments that colleges and universities make, with their students, to improve mental health on campus.

Challenges

The programme lost its project lead partway through the year, at a point when it was also moving to a new home organisation. It needed someone to step in and hold the work through to the end of the academic year, keeping institutions engaged and the programme steady through a double transition, a leadership gap and a change of host. The need was for an interim who could carry the programme safely, and who understood both post-secondary mental health and the kind of engagement the work depends on.

What we did

We were brought in for our mental health and engagement expertise and our evaluation skills, and we stepped in to lead the programme through the transition.

Interim leadership through a double transition. We held the programme steady to the end of the academic year, providing continuity while the leadership gap was filled and the work moved to its new home. We kept institutions engaged and the work on track, including regular reporting and updates and one-to-one consultations with college and university leads.

Reimagining how the programme engages. Coming in fresh let us see the programme with new eyes. We reviewed Think Positive’s materials and processes and streamlined them, creating new documents that made the project easier to understand and engage with, and gave the constantly changing college and university leads a clearer journey to follow.

A different way of engaging students. We brought our engagement expertise to help colleges and universities think differently about how they involve students, moving towards genuinely co-developing and co-creating their Student Mental Health Agreements with students, rather than for them.

Embedding evaluation through the year. We helped the programme build a greater focus on evaluation throughout the year, rather than only at the end, supporting institutions to use self-evaluation to understand and improve their own work.

How we made a difference

What began as interim cover became a longer relationship, because the programme valued what we added beyond holding the fort. Our experience across Scotland and internationally brought fresh insight, and the changes we made had a measurable effect: self-evaluation submissions rose by 46% on the previous year, giving the programme far more evidence to learn from and act on.

Results

• Self-evaluation submissions up 46% following changes we made to the self-evaluation process, a session at the programme forum, and direct encouragement to institutions

• End-of-year survey responses rose 2% on the previous year

• Continuity of a national programme maintained through a leadership gap and a change of host organisation

• Streamlined materials and new documents that made the programme clearer and easier for institutions to engage with

• A stronger, more genuine approach to co-creating Student Mental Health Agreements with students and institutions

• Evaluation embedded through the year, with self-evaluation used to drive improvement

Katie Gilbert, Think Positive Project Manager: "This gives us real evidence and tangible things to make a difference in the year ahead. The extra work Habitus put in, the changes to the self-evaluation, the forum session, the nudges, was totally worth it, and you can see it in the response from institutions."

Habitus has extensive experience supporting national programmes, colleges, and universities to strengthen post-secondary mental health through genuine engagement and evaluation. For more information on how Habitus can support your organisation or network to strengthen student mental health through engagement and evaluation, contact us.