This is a conceptual paper that examines the emergence of the 'therapeutic university' and considers its potential implications for policy and practice in Higher Education (HE). Concern over the well-being and mental health of university students both in the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally has recently intensified in media, academic and…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion of wellbeing within the university education system by outlining the key issues and benefits and recognising future research on digital well-being for students. The JISC Digital wellbeing paper highlights the many positive and negative impacts associated with digital wellbeing. This…

While student loneliness is increasingly visible on the research agenda, the relationship between gender and loneliness among students remains unclear. This article employs a feminist perspective on loneliness to interrogate the role of masculinity in shaping male students' experiences of loneliness at a UK Russell Group university. We argue that…

During crisis times, what children are playing and what grown-ups think their games signify can become a focus of adult anxiety. The Play Observatory, a COVID-19 research project, drew on folklore studies and cultural histories of childhood to collect, document and understand what children were playing and doing during extraordinary times, in ways…

Neil Humphrey's intention in writing "Are the Kids Alright? Examining the Intersection between Education and Mental Health" (EJ1247696) was to provoke discussion and debate in relation to six key questions that are central to the intersection between education and mental health. Humphrey received six responses to his article in this…

The author provides a critique of the current campaign promoting well-being and mental health in UK schools. The paper focuses on the unintended consequences of aligning with a medical model of understanding mental health which include concerns about ignoring ecological factors and, to some extent the social construction of individual mental…

Many people with mental health issues are workless; despite this, good quality work is often promoted as beneficial for wellbeing. In this article, I explore my personal reflections about managing my experiences of mental distress in the workplace, whilst working as a senior lecturer in social work in the UK. The potential of Acceptance and…

In 2017, the Departments of Health and Education in the United Kingdom initiated a national mental health agenda that includes new curriculum interventions and mandatory training courses for teachers. While the stated goal is to support children and young people with mental health difficulties, there are deeper economic and political forces…

The concepts of decent work, inclusion and supporting individuals to find pathways to learning and work opportunities present new opportunities and real challenges. Job security, roles and labour markets are changing rapidly. We focus on how the UK careers support landscape in each of the four home nations is changing in response to the pandemic.…

This report explores the experiences of trans and non-binary students across UK higher education. It compiles new and existing data, alongside interviews with students and academics, to outline the journey from application, through study, to post-graduation. It highlights the unique combination of challenges trans and non-binary students face,…

The current agenda for mental health in schools is considered in relation to the concept of mental health and how it has been iterated in schools in the UK. Key contributions from education pioneers are outlined, providing a time line for the first half of the twentieth century particularly informed by psychoanalysis. Mid twentieth century the…

Using the UK as an example, students attending higher education providers (HEPs) increasingly suffer mental ill-health due to new stress factors. Relationships between stress, frequently co-occurring chronic medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) and mental health are explored as the basis for proposing The BodyMind Approach® (TBMA) as an innovative…

Much of Western media has promoted the idea that we are facing an epidemic of mental illness and psychiatric emergencies in contemporary Western society and worldwide, and that young people are a particularly vulnerable group. Schools have become a prominent site of concern and focus for this discourse as mental health problems are said to start…

The period between 1980 and 2022 has seen the most radical reforms of education in England since the 1944 Education Act. This article explores those changes and their impact upon the conception and execution of pastoral care in schools. The argument is that these reforms have narrowed the thinking and practice and that what is needed now is a…

In this article the authors reflect on their work together on 'Sharing Stories', a project involving British and Ugandan partners using theatre to explore issues around mental ill health. They argue that while working through theatre in this intercultural project created spaces of equality, wider factors limited the extent to which an equal…