Nicola Barden - Student Mental Health and Wellbeing in Higher Education: A practical guide

Dr Nicola Barden is a Professional Services Fellow at the University of Winchester, where from 2013 to 2018 she was the Director of Student Services. Prior to this she led counselling and mental health teams at the Universities of Portsmouth and Aston. She has over 30 years experience as a counsellor and psychotherapist, spending some time in the voluntary sector working with young people and those with alcohol problems. She has chaired the Heads of University Counselling Services group, and contributed significantly to the work of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as Chair of their Accreditation and then Professional Standards Committee before becoming Chair of the Association from 2005 to 2008. She remains a Fellow of BACP, was a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and was also registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). She has edited the BACP journal Therapy Today, been a lecturer and external examiner on several counselling programmes, and has published in the field of gender, sexuality and therapy. From 2012 to 2018 she was the Secretary of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Working Group, and from 2016 to 2018 was on the Executive Committee of AMOSSHE, the Student Services organisation.Dr Ruth Caleb MBE is a wellbeing consultant, trainer and psychotherapist, BACP member and registered with UKCP, who specialises in the mental health and wellbeing of students and staff in higher education. She is also a supervisor and tutor on the Metanoia Institute / Middlesex University Doctorates in Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology programmes. She has over 30 years experience as a counsellor and psychotherapist in a wide variety of settings, including the National Aids Helpline, ChildLine, fertility counselling and private practice. Over the last 25 years she has specialised in mental health and wellbeing support for university students and staff. She was Head of Counselling at Brunel University London from 1999 to 2017. Ruth was Chair of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education (MWBHE) Working Group from 2012 to 2018 and was a member of Universities UKs Mental Health in HE programme working group. She has worked strategically at a national level, including addressing and contributing to All-Party Parliamentary Group meetings on student health and informing Members of Parliament speaking in parliamentary debates involving student wellbeing. Previously Ruth was Chair of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapys Universities and Colleges Executive Committee (200810) and a member of the BACP International Research Committee (20036). She has published articles and book chapters on student mental health and wellbeing, ethical practice, organisational support and the role of a counselling service.

Professor Dinesh Bhugra CBE is Emeritus Professor of Mental Health and Cultural Diversity at Kings College, London. He was Dean (Lead Educational Officer) of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (20038) and then President of the Royal College (200811). He was Vice-Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges responsible for education. During this period he led on the Royal College of Psychiatrists campaign for a Fair Deal for people with mental illness. He established a strategy for public mental health and was part of the group developing policy for mental health. As President of the World Psychiatric Association he led on the development of 20 Position Statements and various other initiatives including a Bill of Rights for people with mental illness and a campaign to back this. As President of the British Medical Association (201819) he has led on a large survey on the mental health and wellbeing of medical students globally. He chaired the Board of Trustees of the Mental Health Foundation (201114) and is on the Boards of the Psychiatry Research Trust and Sane charities. Since 2014 he has been a Non-Executive Director of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.Dr Ann-Marie Houghton is Director of REAP: Researching Equity, Access and Participation, a group based in Lancaster Universitys Department of Educational Research. REAPs work contributes to the work of the departments Centres for Social Justice and Wellbeing and Higher Education, Research and Evaluation. Working in Educational Research since 1996, she currently teaches on the Doctoral Programme in Educational Research and supervises PhD students, and is an Educational Developer based in Lancasters Organisational Educational Development unit where she works with disciplinary colleagues based at Lancaster and at Lancasters International Teaching Partnerships in Malaysia, Ghana and China. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has engaged in HEA projects relating to inclusive curriculum design and embedding wellbeing in the curriculum. She led the Lancaster team on two national projects for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) including a review of support for students with mental health difficulties and models of disability. Within the institution she is a member of the Universitys Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and several networks which bring her into regular contact with academic and professional service colleagues; she has recently taken on facilitation of a university Inclusive Learning Network. She is Chair of Governors of the Loyne Specialist Special School, Lancaster.Sin Jones-Davies is an education law expert and a solicitor with Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP. She has significant experience of providing legal and strategic advice to higher education institutions and further education colleges on student-related issues, including in the area of student mental health. She advises across the wide range of student-related issues which arise for institutions, including in connection with admissions, the student contract and consumer law, student complaints (including to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education), court claims (including for discrimination and judicial review), student conduct and discipline, fitness to practise, fitness to study, duty of care, sexual misconduct, data protection and freedom of speech. Sin also drafts and reviews student regulations, policies and procedures and advises institutions on their lawful implementation. She regularly delivers public training courses in addition to in-house training events to institutions and speaks at national sector conferences on a variety of student-related topics. Sin contributed to the Universities UK and MWBHE