'Be Well' at Bath

The University's approach to health and mental wellbeing, informed by our staff and students.

Have your say on wellbeing and mental health provision

A whole university approach

The University and The Students' Union are using your ideas to shape our actions. Have you had your say?

Our vision

Together with staff and students, we aspire to create a learning environment and organisational culture that enhances health and wellbeing across our community.

Learn

Deliver a rich learning experience that supports wellbeing at every stage of the student’s progression into, through, and on from their studies.

Live

Ensure our physical and virtual spaces and activities promote an inclusive community where everyone can thrive and feels they belong.

Support

Promote and support good health and wellbeing for all and empower our community to access high quality services when they need them.

Work

Create a thriving, sustainable, safe and supportive workplace that proactively enables staff to protect their health and wellbeing.

Our journey

Find out about the progress that the University and the SU have made so far.

The University of Bath, in partnership with the SU, signed the Time to Change Employer Pledge in 2014, a national campaign to tackle the stigma and prejudice associated with poor mental health in the workplace. From 2018 the Health & Wellbeing Steering Group was formed to develop and monitor an action plan based on the UUK #Stepchange mentally healthy universities campaign. This resulted in the group implementing improvements in policies and practices.

This work is not over and now sits under the Student Experience and Staff Experience Advisory Boards, sponsored by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience) and Vice-President (Community & Inclusion). The University joined the Student Minds Mental Health Charter program in summer 2021. To find out more, contact one of our theme leads.

The University of Bath Strategy 2021 to 2026 recognises the fundamental importance of staff and student wellbeing. Acknowledging the strides already made in the provision of support, training, and resources to support student and staff wellbeing, it pledges to continue to focus on this area: Fostering an outstanding and inclusive community at Bath is one of the pillars of our University Strategy.

Ongoing feedback from the whole university community is vital. Have your say on Mental Health and Wellbeing at the University.

The University Mental Health Charter

The Mental Health Charter was created by Student Minds to shape a future in which everyone in higher education can thrive.

The University submitted its application to the University Mental Health Charter in November 2022. We have used the Charter framework to shape our draft strategic action plan for the University’s approach to mental health and wellbeing, and look forward to working with Student Minds to progress this work in the future.

Supporting the commitment to the Mental Health Charter, Professor Ian White, Vice-Chancellor and President commented:

The mental health and wellbeing of our staff and students is a key priority for our institution and we hope that the Mental Health Charter programme will allow us to look critically at our own practices and provision and ensure that the University is a safe, satisfying and happy place to work and study.

Promote, Prevent, Support

We follow the Promote, Prevent, Support pathway for mental health and wellbeing:

Promote; taking a proactive approach to promote health and wellbeing
Prevent; helping people to be aware of wellbeing and prepared to take action
Support; spotting the signs and responding with appropriate support

Below are just a few examples of what we offer for staff and students.

Promoting

The University hosts a number of groups for staff and support groups for students for networking and support, including LGBTQ+, Autism, Bereavement, and more.

We post regular blogs for staff and Be Well student blogs, to help promote this topic frequently to the community.

We have groups of people on campus who are there to promote wellbeing to their peers. These are the Staff Wellbeing Champions and for students we have Wellbeing Ambassadors.

Preventing

We offer courses on mental health and wellbeing for staff and student workshops and courses, to encourage people to take a proactive approach to their mental health.

We have the Be Well app for students and the Be Mindful course for staff, to help people to stay aware of their health and wellbeing on a regular basis.

The staff Coaching programme and student Peer Mentoring schemes offer peer-to-peer support for our community.

Supporting

For staff we offer counselling via the Employee Assistance Programme, and for students we have our Wellbeing, Mental Health and Therapeutic services in Student Support. The SU also offer independent SU Advisors to give practical advice.

Students can use the 24/7 Be Well Talk Now service, and for staff there is the Education Support Partnership helpline, to speak to an adviser for support about any issues you may be facing.

All our Security staff are Mental Health First Aid trained and will support any member of our community in need 24/7.

reflections in a window of people walking on campus

Find out more

Find more information on Staff Wellbeing and Student Wellbeing.