Project Pitch

9 views·Updated Nov 4, 2021
Create your own

Chapters

Audio TranscriptAuto-generated

  1. university students are a vulnerable population in our society,
  2. with the current lack of support that students feel is appropriate for them.
  3. Mental health concerns are being swept under the carpet
  4. Open Mind Association empower students to seek the support they need
  5. to build the future they want.
  6. In Australia,
  7. 250,000 university students aged 18 to
  8. 24 are experiencing psychological distress.
  9. This represents more than half of that young age group in universities.
  10. University is a stage in life that signifies independence. For many young people,
  11. it is meant to be enriching and, as many people say,
  12. the best days of your life.
  13. However,
  14. many young people are choosing to discontinue their studies
  15. due to the insurmountable stress that it can bring.
  16. This is due to the high and often
  17. unexpected workload that many people are unprepared for
  18. in America. Only 41% of students said that they felt prepared for their studies.
  19. This is an extremely concerning amount and shows a real lack
  20. of support around the significant life changes that university can bring.
  21. So
  22. how many of these students will actually seek professional help?
  23. Old universities provide counselling services for
  24. students to access if they wish.
  25. This support is meant to enhance students wellbeing,
  26. minimise negative emotions,
  27. promote a sense of belonging and increased self efficacy.
  28. This sounds great, right?
  29. Well,
  30. only 34% of students experiencing psychological
  31. distress will seek professional help.
  32. Why is this number so low?
  33. The demand for services severely outweighs the current capacity.
  34. At Curtin University,
  35. the standard wait time for an appointment is 1 to 2 weeks.
  36. However,
  37. during peak periods,
  38. this can increase to up to six weeks.
  39. How is this beneficial to students?
  40. Yeah,
  41. another factor making the number so low is that there is no online access to services
  42. what our students meant to do if they are completing their studies online.
  43. What about in the event of a covid 19 lockdown?
  44. A student's meant to endure their stress alone.
  45. So
  46. what do the students think of this?
  47. We spoke to many students to find out what is going on
  48. and to find out what changes they would like to see.
  49. To feel better supported,
  50. please pause the video and click on the link to hear
  51. from Rita and find out a little bit about her story.
  52. Reach a story. Details what many students experience when attempting to seek help.
  53. Many students are concerned about being stigmatised
  54. if they voiced their mental health concerns.
  55. It brings about thoughts such as What will others think of me?
  56. Or will people still like me?
  57. Males also tend to view mental health struggles as a sign of weakness.
  58. Students also commonly feel like they will
  59. be misunderstood by their tutors and peers.
  60. If they voiced their struggles,
  61. They often feel as though people will think that they are
  62. making excuses for not attending class or for poor academic performance.
  63. A recurring theme that was suggested by our students
  64. was that seeking peer support is deemed as acceptable.
  65. This type of support is viewed as being more approachable,
  66. spontaneous and informal,
  67. therefore more accepting of any issues that may arise.
  68. Where does this lead US?
  69. Open Mind Association is a branch of Curtains Student Guild.
  70. Our mission is inspiring to be.
  71. We want to empower students with coping strategies to support them,
  72. to become whatever they want to be,
  73. live their lives to the fullest and participate in meaningful occupations
  74. through successful academic completion.
  75. We do this through showing compassion, inclusion,
  76. empowerment and sustainability.
  77. While upholding the universal values of humanity.
  78. With our new project Open book, Open Mind Open Feelings, we have two main goals.
  79. The first is to support and connect curtain students to manage their mental health.
  80. The second is to build a sustainable peer network.
  81. We acknowledge these as two vital components of university life
  82. and we will make university life better for all students.
  83. Our project is comprised of three components.
  84. The first will be mentoring.
  85. We will be delivering one on one mentoring for up
  86. to 300 university students aged between 18 and 24.
  87. First year mentoring has been shown to be beneficial at Curtin University,
  88. so this programme has been designed with the same principles in mind.
  89. Mentees are able to join the programme at any time of the semester
  90. as we understand
  91. that stress can occur at any time.
  92. To support these mentees, we will have 100 trained mentors.
  93. All mentors will have knowledge about mental health conditions and triggers
  94. how to deal with the crisis and foundational counselling skills.
  95. Mentors will complete a mental health literacy questionnaire,
  96. pre and post training to determine that they have
  97. the knowledge and skills to participate in this programme.
  98. We also aim to have mentees
  99. that have graduated the programme become mentors in the future.
  100. The second component is group workshops.
  101. These will run into six week blocks each
  102. semester with the topics listed on the screen.
  103. Each workshop caters for 30 students and due to the demand,
  104. we expect we will be running workshops three times per week.
  105. Any student in the university can attend these workshops as
  106. we believe they provide skills and knowledge that benefits everyone.
  107. The number of attendees and handouts provided in each
  108. workshop will be recorded and used to identify if more
  109. workshops will need to be run at varying times
  110. throughout the day when the pilot programme is over.
  111. Although we have received information from students about
  112. the topics that they would like to see,
  113. we will continue to gather information about what students want
  114. and if what we are providing them with is useful.
  115. Participants will be required to complete questionnaires
  116. at the end of the blocks of workshops
  117. to determine if they have reduced their unhealthy coping strategies,
  118. reduced the amount of assessment extensions applied for,
  119. been able to use healthy coping strategies and have
  120. had less absent days relating to mental health.
  121. The final component is the online portal.
  122. It brings all of the elements together into one easy place for easy access
  123. as can be seen. It will be accessible through Elsie
  124. the Curtin University app.
  125. It can also be accessed from the home screen of Oasis.
  126. This portal will provide registration forms and details about the programme
  127. short,
  128. informative videos relating to group workshops so that people who
  129. can't attend workshops can still have access to the information
  130. information about the Candu Challenge, which is shown on the screen now,
  131. and links to any external website which
  132. people should require further information and support.
  133. We will be tracking how many people access the online
  134. portal and each individual feature to further refine this component
  135. as this is used for mental and group workshop registration.
  136. We will also be looking at the numbers of how many people view these
  137. compared to how many people actually sign up and attend
  138. impact 100
  139. wa
  140. students are crying out for help.
  141. Together we can make an extraordinary impact.
  142. Thank you