Student Mental Health: Building Cultures of Wellbeing in Schools and Universities

Setting the Scene
There is growing recognition that the way schools and universities nurture the wellbeing of their pupils and students is just as important as the knowledge they impart. At their best, educational institutions are not only places of academic achievement but also communities where young people learn how to live, work, and thrive together. This brings both opportunity and challenge. Mental health concerns among learners have risen sharply, but so too has awareness of what can be done to address them. With momentum building internationally, we now have a chance to create schools and universities where wellbeing is woven into the fabric of daily life, places where learners, staff, and leaders all flourish.

The need could not be clearer. UNESCO reports that in some countries up to half of higher education students experience mental health problems, with 20 per cent experiencing depression, 15 per cent reporting suicidal thoughts, and 2-3 per cent attempting suicide. In the United States, the American College Health Association’s 2024 survey of more than 33,000 students revealed that 78 per cent reported moderate or high stress in the past month, nearly half felt lonely, and more than a quarter had contemplated suicide. In Australia, the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing (2020–2022) found that 38.8 per cent of Australians aged 16-24 had experienced a mental disorder in the past year, while more than a quarter reported severe psychological distress in the previous month. Around one in four university students (27%) report needing professional help for mental health concerns (Healthy Minds Network, 2023). Among graduate students, more than 40% report moderate to severe anxiety, and nearly 40% report moderate to severe depression (Evans et al., 2018).

Despite this, professional support remains underused: only about 18% of students with a diagnosed mental health condition accessed treatment within the past year (Blanco et al., 2008). Access is even less likely for international students, who face additional barriers such as stigma, financial pressures, and unfamiliarity with services (Cogan et al., 2023). School pupils also encounter obstacles, particularly those from disadvantaged or marginalised backgrounds, where provision is patchy and stigma entrenched. These challenges cannot be separated from the wider “polycrisis” facing younger generations. Alongside academic pressures, children and young people are navigating climate change, biodiversity loss, and social uncertainty.  all of which are fuelling new forms of anxiety and distress (Cousquer et al., 2025; Bednarek, 2024). Yet this very awareness is also spurring calls for systemic change, with schools and universities increasingly seen as critical sites for building resilience, agency, and hope.

Beyond Counselling Services
Historically, support for student and pupil mental health has been reactive and piecemeal, often centred on counselling services that, while essential, cannot meet the scale or complexity of demand. Our scoping review of 25 international studies (Feeny et al., 2025) found that even where universities adopt “whole-campus” or “health-promoting” models, definitions and implementation are inconsistent. Ongoing research is also mapping the broader landscape to identify trends, gaps, and priorities in higher education student mental health (Cogan et al., 2025). Such work is vital in showing where current provision falls short and where innovation is most needed.

The same fragmentation is visible in schools. Some develop holistic positive school climate frameworks, while others rely on isolated wellbeing programmes. Yet examples of success are increasingly visible. Education Today has showcased inspiring initiatives such as Positive School Climate (Education Today, 2023a), Bridges to Success (Education Today, 2023b), Embracing Student Agency (Education Today, 2023d), and approaches that rediscover the joy of learning (Education Today, 2023c). These remind us that when mental health is viewed as everyone’s responsibility, schools and universities can become powerful engines of personal and social growth.

The key lesson is that wellbeing must be embedded across multiple levels: curriculum design, organisational policies, the design of physical and social spaces, and the everyday relationships that shape experience. Whether it’s a university library doubling as a sanctuary, or a school playground designed for inclusion and belonging, the environment itself can become an ally in fostering mental health (Li et al., 2024). Peer-led initiatives also play a vital role in both settings, providing accessible, non-stigmatising forms of support and helping to normalise conversations about wellbeing (Cole & Reid, 2024).

Students and Staff: A Shared Story
Wellbeing cannot be siloed. Students and staff, whether pupils and teachers, or undergraduates and academics, share the same ecosystems, and their wellbeing is tightly intertwined. A stressed teacher cannot provide an optimal classroom environment, just as exhausted academics struggle to mentor students effectively. As Worthen and Berry (2006) put it, “our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions.”

This reality has often been overlooked, with student and staff wellbeing treated as parallel but separate concerns. Yet movements such as tuition fee protests and staff strikes have shown the strength of solidarity when students and staff come together to highlight shared struggles. Empowering both pupils and teachers can shift cultures towards greater health, equity, and engagement, while also strengthening trust in institutions.

From Ideas to Action
A public health approach reframes student mental health as a collective responsibility rather than an individual burden (Baber & Bate, 2021). It requires embedding wellbeing into the everyday structures of schools and universities, not treating it as an add-on. Practical steps include wellbeing committees involving pupils/students, staff, and leadership; wellbeing impact assessments for new policies or curricula; and systemic supports for those at risk of disengagement (Zając et al., 2024). Training in psychological safety, trauma-informed practice, and inclusive pedagogy ensures that classrooms, from primary to postgraduate, are spaces where learners feel safe to take risks and grow (Edmondson et al., 2016). The physical environment also matters: quiet rooms, restorative green spaces, and inclusive cultural areas promote belonging.

Another shift is recognising children and young people as citizens with rights and entitlements. Schools and universities must ask whether learners can realistically access safe housing, financial security, supportive relationships, and equitable opportunities to participate fully in their communities (Cogan et al., 2021; 2022). Equally important is acknowledging that for many, spirituality and faith play a vital role in wellbeing. Access to chaplaincy, faith-based groups, or quiet spaces for reflection can provide meaning, belonging, and resilience. Institutions that make space for this dimension, while respecting diversity and inclusivity, give learners additional pathways to support.

Digital tools, when thoughtfully integrated, can widen access to support by offering preventative resources and “in-the-moment” strategies for stress. But these work best when embedded in wider wellbeing ecosystems, alongside strong partnerships with external services that extend the safety net (Smith et al., 2024).

Leadership, Culture, and Dialogue
Leadership is critical. When head teachers, principals, and university leaders treat wellbeing as a genuine strategic priority, initiatives gain legitimacy and sustainability. Values-led leadership is emotionally literate, modelling compassion, building trust, and fostering cultures where openness and authenticity are rewarded. Such cultures are grounded in psychological safety - the assurance that pupils, students, and staff alike can voice concerns, admit difficulties, or propose new ideas without fear of ridicule or punishment.

Equally important, schools and universities must be places where difference is respected and dialogue encouraged. The opportunity for discourse and disagreement without fear is central to both mental health and democratic education. Spaces where young people can test ideas, listen to diverse views, and learn tolerance are essential for resilience, identity development, and civic responsibility. In this sense, safeguarding mental health is inseparable from safeguarding the democratic role of education. Values-led leadership also means recognising that wellbeing takes many forms, including cultural, spiritual, and religious dimensions. Ensuring equitable access to spiritual support and spaces for reflection strengthens belonging and respects the diverse identities that learners bring with them. Trauma-informed practices further reinforce this by embedding choice, empowerment, and compassion into daily life.

Measuring the Impact and Looking Forward
Measuring progress requires more than tracking service uptake. Schools and universities should monitor both quantitative indicators (attendance, exclusion rates, attainment, sickness absence, staff turnover) and qualitative ones (sense of belonging, lived experience accounts, case studies). Assessing levels of psychological safety, wellbeing literacy, and help-seeking behaviours can reveal cultural change. Network mapping can show how effectively institutions are working with external partners. Longitudinal data, following cohorts over time, provides evidence of sustainability and helps ensure progress is reaching diverse and marginalised groups. These measures do more than satisfy accountability requirements: they signal sincerity, demonstrating that wellbeing is valued as a core educational mission rather than a compliance exercise.

The statistics are stark, but they need not define the future. Around the world, schools and universities are recognising that student mental health is central to learning, equity, and sustainability. Increasingly, wellbeing is being reframed not as a side issue but as part of the wider challenges of our age, ecological, social, and civic. A One Health perspective reminds us that human wellbeing is inseparable from the health of ecosystems, while public and occupational health frameworks emphasise the need to address both individuals and the environments in which they live and work (Cousquer et al., 2025). Taken together, these perspectives provide a roadmap for moving from crisis response to cultures of flourishing.

A public health approach calls for embedding wellbeing into the policies, curricula, and daily practices of education (Cogan et al., 2022). It envisions schools and universities as safe, inclusive communities where openness is encouraged, differences respected, dialogue valued, and spirituality acknowledged. In such places, students and staff do not simply endure: they are given the chance to flourish, to discover new possibilities, and to carry forward a vision of education that is both humane and hopeful.

Correspondence: [email protected]

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