1. What’s the problem and why are we here?1

2. The scale of mental health problems
1 in 4 adults will experience a mental health problem each year
1 in 10 children will experience a mental health problem
Approximately half of all lifetime mental illness starts by mid-teens and three quarters by the mid-20s.
ONS – part of normal human experience.
Aims are to change attitudes AND behaviour – a world first in aiming for and evaluating this.
Empowerment of people with mental health problems and bringing people with and without mental health problems together are vital.
Hybrid approach:
National noise to reach significant numbers of the public (enough to achieve population wide change)
Local activity to back this up, engage people directly and create social contact
Targeted work aimed at key areas/groups that have a significant impact 2

3. Mental health on campus
66 per cent (559) of students say they have a mental health problem despite only 0.3 per cent of students declaring a mental health disability on their application form nationwide
93 per cent (781) of students said they have felt unusually stressed out while at university
76 per cent (593) put the stress down to personal problems on top of their university work and nearly 50 per cent (380) said the stress came from financial worries.
(Mind 2010)
Survey conducted by Time to Change and The University Mental Health Advisors Network in 2012
UMHANs concerns – increase in those presenting with the more severe end of mental health problems.
Rise in student suicides
Royal college of psychiatrists report 2011 calling for improved services - Social changes such as the withdrawal of financial support, higher rates of family breakdown and, more recently, economic recession all have an impact on the mental health and well-being of students as has increase in numbers placing a high demand on services some of which cannot keep up. As such, many counsellors and mental health advisors in universities are reporting increased demand from students for their services. 3

4. Mental health in the workplace
MH will affect 1 in 6 British workers each year (ONS)
1 in 5 had called in sick due to unmanageable stress..
…but 93% lied about the reason for their absence
(Mind 2010) 4

5. Why focus on stigma and discrimination?
Stigma and discrimination can be life-threatening and life-limiting
60% of people said that stigma and discrimination are as damaging or more damaging than the symptoms of their mental health problem
35% of respondents said that stigma had made them give up on their ambitions, hopes and dreams for their life
“People’s lack of understanding and unfounded fears can be just as destructive as the mental health problem itself.”
Time to Change Facebook fan
Source: survey of 2,700 TTC supporters

6. Innovation in anti-stigma work: social contact
Evidence shows that knowing or having met someone who is open about having a mental health problem is one of the most powerful indicators that someone will have more favourable attitudes
Making this happen…
Grants fund for community projects that drive social contact
Roadshows 2011 – over 600 volunteers trained and supported to speak out
Online social contact – blogs, stories and videos

7. Key New Plans ( )
Programme to address stigma amongst children and young people (2 regional pilots)
£2.7m grant fund for up to 70 community-led projects to deliver social contact.
Strategic work with employers to secure changes to organisational policy and practice
Media Engagement - strategic work with media, advice service, online training film
Priority BME audience is the African Caribbean community MB 7

8. Organisational pledge
An aspirational statement with meaning, indicating to employees, service users and the public that an organisation wants to take action to tackle the stigma and discrimination around mental health

9. Work with Organisations/Employers
200 organisations to have pledged and delivering activity
Strategic work to secure changes to organisational policy and practice (50 user-led health-checks of policy and practice) MB 9

10. Your pledge action plan
Background research – what needs to change?
Internal communications campaign
Incorporate mental health and anti-stigma training into induction
Engage your institution
Running anti stigma events
Review your policies and procedures
Measure the impact
difficult to know what to change without evidence of the challenges students and staff are facing on your campus. You might find it useful to run a short survey aimed at either students, staff or both to find out what they feel the key issues are so that you can begin to consider how you might go about addressing them.
to get students and staff talking about mental health. You could link activity to significant dates in the calendar such as World Mental Health Day, or to Time to Change’s national advertising campaigns. Your campaign could include posters in communal areas, including articles and blogs in publications and websites, or featuring Time to Change’s films on your websites, intranet or social media pages.
Make this ongoing
you have the opportunity to not only sign up your students’ union but to also encourage and lobby your institution to sign up to the pledge to ensure that this is a joint effort. Developing a joint pledge action plan together can be a great way of reaching all parts of the university community and making real change. Alternatively you can use your pledge as a springboard to start the conversation with your insitution – UWE – Uni pledged one year on from the SU.
Students’ unions have run flash mobs, lectures and reception evenings where senior representatives have talked openly about their own lived experience; and the Time to Change website has information on how to support volunteers to talk about their own experiences at events, including training videos.
implement changes to ensure your organisation sets a standard for others in challenging discrimination and promoting wellbeing at work. For example, this area of work could involve developing a joint mental health policy, ensuring bullying and harassment policies cover mental health or that mitigating circumstances procedures support students with mental health problems.
Aside from specific mental health and welfare policies, you may also want to consider a joint review of academic policies which can also have a significant impact on mental health (particularly if your institution has implemented a Fit to Sit policy) or working together to assess whether access to support services such as counselling and disability support could be improved.
evaluate whether the activity you have run has had an impact, whether it be on attitudes and behaviour or on the experiences of people who have mental health problems. 10

11. Mental health and wellbeing top ten for employers
Senior buy in
Prevention
Intervention
Good induction programme
Conduct stress risk assessments
Critical role of line managers
Training and awareness for all staff
Encouraging disclosure
WRAPS
Mental health champions network
So what can you do as an organisation to create a supportive environment and a mentally healthy workplace.
Senior buy in – the critical importance of organisational culture. CIPD research consistently identifies good-quality people management, particularly by line managers, as one of the core drivers of employee engagement and wellbeing. However , good line management cannot exist in a vacuum – only support and strategic leadership from the top will create organisational cultures where management styles based on openness and mutual respect can flourish.
Prevention - keeping people well and managing stress leads to a reduction in absenteeism and presenteeism .
Intervention – clear policies on MH and wellbeing initiatives, stress management tools – EAP programme .
Good induction programme - details of initiatives communicated clearly and effectively to ALL staff with regular updates from services.
Conduct stress risk assessments - using employee surveys or other tools. Mention TTC Healthcheck! Helping employees discover whether policy aspirations around MH match the experience of employees.
Critical role of line managers – should feel confident in having conversations about wellbeing and spotting early signs of MH problems and initiating early intervention - normalising conversations about MH. Line managers also need support.
Training and awareness raising for all staff – for example MHFA, Mind Workplace training, internal communication campaigns around TTC key messages.
Encouraging disclosure – open door culture and informed workforce at all levels. Use healthcare tools to assist in this such as...
WRAPS –simple method of facilitating constructive conversations about MH leading to agreed practical support. Makes MH disclosures easier to handle which can lead to more effective support – WRAPS identify and agree any adjustments that may be required – offer to all employees, not just those with disclosed ME problems.
Mental health champions network – in addition to line management structure can provide another confidential avenue. 11

12. Case studies - Newcastle
Pledged on the same day as planned events – aimed at encouraging students to ‘speak out’. WMHD 2012
Ongoing commitment – being accountable
Integrating into day to day work
Engaging the institution
Future plans and sustaining momentum
E.g one of most prominent –mind apple trees – students could share the things they do day to day to keep their mind healthy.
signatures – simple but effective signposting to more information, resources, issues the pledge committment is focussing on. Displaying the pledge board somewhere prominent.
Trained unions staff in MH first aid, spotting the early signs, shared understanding. Developed a programme of events called SOS (Stressed out Students) around exam periods to provide students with opportunities to relax and take time out from revision.
Working with the uni to get their wellbeing service to pledge independently with their own action plan. Using the SU pledge as leverage.
planned series of events focussing on specific MH problems, external speakers with LE, building relationships with national and local charities with a MH agenda. 12

13. Case studies - Oxford Pledged March 2012 Mind Your Head campaign
Why pledge? Na
Run events around Oxford intended for people who want to learn more about mental illness. Information based talks on specific illnesses, and talks from students about their experience of mental illness at Oxford. Website – student testimonials and information about services available in Oxford.
Integrate better with TTC at the national level and give their campaign a bit of momentum within their institution. 13

14. So far around 10 Unis and 13 SUs (post 10/10) have signed the pledge – all with tangible action plans – Jan 2014 campaign burst.
Broad variety of activity including setting up MH action groups – peer to peer support, flash mobs, running surveys to identify the pinch points in their communities so that action can be really targetted. Filmed pieces that get the conversation going and that normalise MH issues.

15. Thank you www.time-to-change.org.uk ttcpledge@time-to-change.org.uk
Now going to hear from Sophie – signed the pledge in 2012 with the uni following suite a year later.
What Sussex SU have done, how and why they did it and how they have worked in partnership effectively with their institution. 15