Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 2.4 CASE STUDY: STUDENT MINDS Nicola Frampton Student Minds recognises the clear ways in which a student's Student Minds itself is committed to becoming a truly anti-racist Insight Manager at Student Minds race or ethnicity shapes their mental health, wellbeing, access organisation. We are working with an external consultant to develop to support and overall university experience. Taking a whole- and embed an anti-racist approach across our whole organisation university approach to mental health, our aim is to build higher and have established an Anti-Racism Council, which includes We have continued education communities where no student is held back by their representatives from the Living Black at University Commission, to “ mental health – but we know that to achieve this aim, we must scrutinise and steer us whilst ensuring ongoing accountability. to explore how be active in dismantling the barriers to good mental health which Recommendation 7 of the Living Black at University report notes we can provide exist through inequalities like racism. the importance of collaboration on mental health support. Our Our work to improve the mental health of Black students has experience has demonstrated its immense value, and has enabled tailored support developed over time. It became increasingly apparent during the us to learn, develop and importantly, improve our support for Black for Black students students. We look forward to continuing our learning journey and COVID-19 pandemic that existing inequalities were being exacerbated. further improving our approach in the years to come. In 2021, through our newly-developed digital support platform through our Student Space – supported by the O昀케ce for Students and the programmes. Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) – we launched funded partnerships with organisations that o昀昀ered tailored support for students who had been disproportionately impacted. One organisation that we collaborated with was Black People Talk, who o昀昀ered peer-support groups for Black students to come together and share their experiences. Since this partnership ended, we have continued to explore how we can provide tailored support for Black students through our programmes. We have recently committed to co-producing a new package of psychoeducational content, aimed speci昀椀cally at supporting Black students during their time at university; we plan to publish this content on Student Space in 2024. We have also actively shared the learnings of the Living Black at University research, and work of the Commission, with members of our University Mental Health Charter programme and training networks, with the hope that universities and accommodation providers will learn from this work and improve their own practices to support Black students. 26 27