Database on mental health issues affecting students to tailor counselling to needs to launch next year

The new policy, 'Folláine le Chéile', places more of a focus on mental health promotion and student wellbeing, while still recognising the importance of student-facing mental health support services. File picture

A new national database documenting the issues for which students seek support from college counselling services is to launch next year. 

Once operational, it is hoped this database will help ensure an evidence-informed approach to the policy decisions relating to student mental health.

The detail is included in a new national framework for higher education institutions around student mental health and suicide prevention launched on Tuesday by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

The new framework adopts a “whole-campus approach” that designates student wellbeing as a shared responsibility across all areas. 

According to the HEA, the policy has been “designed to embed wellbeing within institutional culture, policies, teaching and learning, support services and external partnerships”.

It also places a strong focus on mental health promotion and prevention alongside service provision, student belonging and engagement, embedding wellbeing within the curriculum and “data-informed” decision making.

Since 2022, the HEA has provided funding to researchers in University College Dublin to work with the Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education Ireland to create and standardise a national dataset for student counselling services.

The project has now identified this set of standardised variables, established a secure database to store the data and begun transfer of HEI data to a new ‘national student counselling service database’ operational from next year.

For the first time, this will create a standardised dataset of presenting issues at counselling services across higher education institutions, allowing counselling services to produce reports to identify trends, areas that need attention or that are emerging as needs.

The first National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework was developed in 2020, and centred around nine key themes. A review last year found this policy should "streamline" implementation actions and provide more guidance to higher education institutions. 

The new policy, 'Folláine le Chéile', places more of a focus on mental health promotion and student wellbeing, while still recognising the importance of student-facing mental health support services.

A significant development within the new framework is the inclusion of a dedicated implementation and monitoring model. With this, the HEA is encouraging colleges to adopt a theory-of-change approach, undertake ongoing evaluation and report annually on their progress. 

Higher education institutions, through the HEA, now received €6m in annual recurrent and ring-fenced funding to support student mental health and wellbeing. Counselling services provided by higher education institutions are free to registered students.

Meanwhile, further and higher education minister James Lawless is to bring a memo to Government on the commencement of an independent review of doctoral education. The review will examine how Ireland can increase its number of PhD students and graduates.