Introducing ‘Learn, grow, connect’: a group intervention to support students with mental health needs

Chrissie Farley and Harminder Kaur, The Open University

Email: chrissie.farley@open.ac.uk, harminder.kaur@open.ac.uk                 

Session recording

Presentation

Click to download the presentation Introducing ‘Learn, grow, connect’: a group intervention to support students with mental health needs (.pptx)

Abstract

This seminar will feature a short presentation on a 2022-23 group workshop programme with the Personal Learning Advisor (PLA) Service at the Open University (OU).  The PLA Service is a specialist coaching and mentoring service set up to deliver individual and group support to students from priority cohorts in the Access and Participation Plan.

In October 2022, the service launched a group workshop programme entitled ‘Learn, Grow, Connect,’ which was written specifically for c.1500 UK-domiciled distance-learning students studying in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with declared mental health needs.  The programme was designed using principles from a ‘coaching for learning’ pedagogy (Wang, 2012) and learning from the wider literature on belonging and shared identities (Advance HE, 2022).

In this presentation, practitioners from the PLA Service will aim to share learning on building inclusion for students with mental health needs in a live session and invite attendees to reflect on their own good practice in this area. The presentation will start by providing an overview of Learn, Grow, Connect,’ the rationale for offering virtual, group interventions and explore how ‘co-creation’ with students was embedded in the programme. Personal Learning Advisors delivering the sessions will share some of the good practice learned from facilitating sessions for students with (some very complex) mental health needs. There will also be an analysis of student feedback to-date and how this has been used to inform ongoing improvements in the programme and the incorporation of a student ‘voice.’ Finally, it will also share some of the challenges with encouraging student participation in a live session and how we addressed these.

The session will be of interest to those involved in teaching and learning, as well as practitioners in student support roles. 

Chrissie Farley

Personal Learning Advisor, The Open University 

Chrissie Farley is a Personal Learning Advisor (coach/mentor) at the Open University, with 17 years’ Higher Education/Widening Participation experience. She has previously worked as an outreach lead on numerous primary, secondary and tertiary projects across London and the South East, including the development of student ambassador training programmes. Chrissie has also led on the planning and delivery of whole student lifecycle programmes, supporting the transition and progression of care leavers, young carers, forced migrants and estranged learners into and through higher education. She has also worked as a student caseworker/advocate and been an NADP accredited student disability caseworker.

Harminder Kaur

Personal Learning Advisor, The Open University 

Harminder Kaur is a Personal Learning Advisor (PLA) at the Open University. She has a degree and MA in literature and has several publications in the field of mental health and cultural theory. She was Associate Editor of the Journal of Gender Studies for four years. She has worked as a lecturer, graduate teaching assistant, coach and mentor with students including marginalised and disadvantaged students, international students, postgraduates, and students with disabilities.