Building bridges: how university students and staff partner to enhance wellbeing

The Teaching Excellence Academy support the Student/Staff Partnerships Scheme at the University and its yearly activity and array of fabulous projects. This blog stem from a 2024 Student/Staff Partnership (SSP) project led by Jenna Ellis and Clare Killingback, respectively undergraduate student and lecturer in Physiotherapy, and Kelly Robson, Associate Director, Mental Health Academic Services, Student Wellbeing. Their project aimed to understand how compassionate learning and teaching environments might promote student wellbeing at the University of Hull.
Enjoy reading it! Queries should be directed to SSP.

During my three years at university, I have made some amazing memories, met some brilliant people and have been very proud of my achievements. Now that sounds great, doesn’t it? But just let me dig a little deeper. During my three years at university, I have felt more stress and anxiety then I ever have before, I have had sleepless nights worrying about exams and assignments.

Over the last three years, I have always had a passion for student’s mental wellbeing and ways the university could help support students with this difficult topic. Through one of my research assignments, I identified that around 60% of the cohort have been close to quitting the course due to the physiotherapy degree negatively affecting their mental wellbeing. To me, this highlighted the scale of the problem that I became passionate about solving. To learn more about this problem I completed a literature review on “it’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it”. The key takeaways for me were the lack of understanding and teaching on this topic for all university students which led me to develop a possible solution.

To help me contribute to this topic of supporting student wellbeing, I have been fortunate enough to work in partnership with Dr Clare Killingback, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy who has guided and supported me with every step of this journey. Together, we have developed and delivered a workshop to aid the mental wellbeing of students in the university, created an infographic poster regarding compassionate communications and delved deeper in understanding what a more compassionate university looks like and how we can achieve this.

Throughout university there is always that aspect of the lecturers’ views vs the students’ views. As a student I have always felt supported by lecturers and close enough to disclose any concerns I had by forming professional relationships with them. However, through no fault of anyone there was still that power dynamic of a lecturer and a student. By working in this partnership, I found that it stripped away that power dynamic to just two like-minded individuals with a passion for changing the university for the better.

For me, one of the most interesting parts of the partnership between me and Clare has been the sharing of views and opinions between a lecturer and a student. It has been so beneficial for each of us to learn more about what it’s like from each other’s perspectives. Through our discussions we were able to draw on each other’s strengths to enhance our teamwork and ensure we reached the best outcome.

I have also received the help and support of Kelly Robson, Associate Director, Mental Health Academic Services, Student Wellbeing. Kelly provided me with the incredibly valuable insight into the topic of student mental health and wellbeing including education and signposting information used in my workshops. Kelly also provided me with support with what to add to my infographic poster on compassionate communication to further develop the resource.

The aim of the workshop was to provide students with the tools they need to improve their own mental wellbeing. Before this, we spent time discussing the workshop content and how to ensure it draws on up-to-date evidence. The workshop consisted of:

• Introduction and welcome games
• Education on what mental wellbeing is, what coping strategies can look like and how they can help your mental wellbeing
• Opportunities to try out a range of wellbeing strategies.
• Group debrief and discussions
• Signposting.

The workshop itself resulted in a very enjoyable afternoon for all who attended with some brilliant feedback:

“It showed me it was important to take time for myself to do something I wouldn’t have even thought about”

“I thought it was very upbeat but interesting at the same time”

“It has been a really positive experience, and everything covered was thorough”

“This would be helpful to learn about in year one of courses to help students feel more prepared for exams, assignments and placements”

One of my main takeaways from this experience, which you may find odd, was my newfound respect for lecturers booking rooms at university and how difficult it was. Trust me, to the students reading this, never complain to the lecturers about the room booking again!

I was also tasked with reviewing and identifying how email communications from the university could be made more compassionate for students. Now this was something I identified fairly quickly after realising it wasn’t the content of the email but the opening line that changed my perception of the email. I found that many emails felt impersonal and almost came across as robotic due to the opening line (or lack of!). Most emails either just started with a “Hi” or didn’t even have an opening line and went straight into the information. By using openings such as “Hope you are well”, “Happy Mondays” drastically change how me as a student would receive and react to an email. We are still people even if the means of communication is digital rather than face to face.

The student-staff partnership has provided me with the opportunity to develop and practice different skills. These areas include the ability to plan and run a workshop, how to market and increase awareness of my workshop as well as developing my public speaking which is an important skill in my profession as a future physiotherapist. I have never been much of an extrovert who enjoyed speaking to large groups of people, however by presenting this workshop I was able to see the progress I had made in this area throughout university. Before this partnership I had also never written a blog or an infographic before (to be truthful I didn’t really know what each one should include!).

If you would have told first year me that I would be doing this, I would have laughed and said “I wouldn’t be able to do that” so to see how far I have come is something I am very proud of. Now to be truthful this partnership was something I felt very excited but also very nervous to do. I wasn’t very confident in my abilities to do it justice and to keep up with Clare and Kelly. However, looking back on this journey, I am so happy with what we have accomplished as a team and the valuable skills this opportunity has provided me to aid my development in the future.
I have always been a student who has done the work they needed to do to the best of my ability but would always keep my head down and try to blend in with the crowd. By working with Clare for this partnership I felt seen, which I was so thankful for.

Note from TEA: As this blog is being published, Jenna is away on a well-deserved holiday before graduating in a few weeks' time. Wishing you all the very best in your career!