Student Mental Health Agreement

Glasgow Caledonian University and GCU Students' Association work together to support students throughout their studies and enable them to have outstanding student experience.

In 2017 we established a comprehensive Student Mental Health Agreement through enrolling in and participating in NUS Scotland's Think Positive about Student Mental Health’s Student Mental Health Agreement project. We continue to build on this initial plan, and annually cocreate objectives and impact measures between both parties and GCU students.

Our Student Mental Health Agreement engages with mapping current provision of services, examining trends and issues affecting students at GCU and in the wider student movement, and consulting with student and University representatives. These actions alongside the evaluation of previous objectives ensure that there is a proactive momentum each year with the overall aim of empowering positive mental health and wellbeing for all students at GCU. Our Student Mental Health Agreement sits within our whole institution ethos in which we understand that many aspects of a students experiences may interconnect and will impact upon their health and wellbeing.

The Student Mental Health Agreement has been presented at various national conferences, and is reviewed, developed, and evaluated by the Student Mental Health Agreement Working Group. You can read more about our Student Mental Health Agreements, and explore their developments through annual documentation and evaluation reports below. The Students' Association has also published the Student Mental Health Agreement at the GCU Students' Association SMHA webpages.

You can shape the work in our Student Mental Health Agreements by engaging with consultations throughout the year, providing feedback to services, volunteering to participate in the projects or working groups, or by contacting us at GCU Student Wellbeing at StudentWellbeing@GCU.ac.uk or the GCU Students’ Association Advice Centre at advice@GCUstudents.co.uk with your thoughts.

In 2020 Think Positive about Student Mental Health moved to two year project timelines, meaning our Student Mental Health Agreements now plan across two years.

In 2020 Think Positive about Student Mental Health moved to two year project timelines. This means for this two year period in 2020 - 2021 there is a mid project review, with the final evaluation due in the End of Year Report. In 2022-2024 the impact report is combined to show one final report.

The Student Mental Health Agreement Working Group

The Student Mental Health Agreement documentation is supported by the Student Mental Health Agreement Working Group. The group is made up of staff and students from both Glasgow Caledonian University and GCU Students’ Association.

The 2023/2024 working group is:

The Full Time Officer with the policy remit for Student Mental Health and Wellbeing, Jennifer Abali

The Senior Student Advisor at GCU Students' Association Advice Centre, Kirsty McGregor,

The Student Mental Health Officer at GCU Students' Association, Zain Ul Abidin Qureshi

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager at Glasgow Caledonian University, Katie Miller-Cole

The Student Mental Health Project Officer at Glasgow Caledonian University, Rachel Simpson

Think Positive about Student Mental Health Hub

Think Positive about Student Mental Health, the organisation who support the development of Student Mental Health Agreements across Scotland, have created a Hub for all things student mental health. Here you can find out more about research happening across the sector, projects GCU and GCU Students' Association are developing, support at different institutions and more.