The Princess of Wales to visit Nottingham Trent University to mark World Mental Health Day

The Princess of Wales will visit NTU to hear how we, and the University of Nottingham (UoN), ensure students have the right mental health support around them as they begin the new university year.

At NTU, we encourage proactive mental health management by focusing on participation and helping students to develop a sense of belonging and connectivity to their community. We work together with UoN to share best practice on this and many other issues, as part of our ‘Universities for Nottingham’ approach to positive collaboration.

During the visit, Her Royal Highness will meet with students and colleagues who go above and beyond to help students with their mental health, before taking part in wellbeing activities.

The first session will see The Princess learn how students are supporting each other at the University of Nottingham through a discussion with three students about peer-to-peer mentoring. She will then participate in an activity that is being used as part of a broader induction for new NTU students. The ‘step in circle’ is part of our ‘Welcome Workshop’ which encourages students to share experiences to help them build confidence, to proactively manage their wellbeing and raises awareness of the wide range of support networks available to them.

Finally, Her Royal Highness will learn about how we use data derived from student behaviour to identify those who may not be thriving through our ‘dashboard’ which uses learning analytics to measure a student’s engagement. When a student stops engaging, this can indicate issues with their wellbeing and prompts us to proactively reach out to understand the student’s reason for disengagement and help navigate them to appropriate support. The information is also given directly to the students to help them manage their own learning and is used for personalised support and tutorial discussions with colleagues.

The Princess is passionate about ensuring young people have the right tools in place to take care of their mental wellbeing, especially in relation to understanding and managing their own emotions. She is also focused on encouraging young people to build key protective factors such as healthy relationships and communities around them which will help them to lay stronger foundations as they move through life.