Co-Creating a Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Students and Staff

This paper reports on the application of culture change methodology to co-design a whole-of-university health and wellbeing strategy. We outline considerations that necessitate a change in the way higher education contributes to student and staff mental health and wellbeing. We provide an overview o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Berni Cooper, Nicole Border, Felicity Couperthwaite
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Queensland University of Technology 2023-12-01
Series:Student Success
Subjects:
Online Access:https://studentsuccessjournal.org/article/view/2781
Description
Summary:This paper reports on the application of culture change methodology to co-design a whole-of-university health and wellbeing strategy. We outline considerations that necessitate a change in the way higher education contributes to student and staff mental health and wellbeing. We provide an overview of an Appreciative Inquiry culture change methodology; a map of the process followed; the benefits of applying Appreciative Inquiry principles; and a description of outcomes, which include funding for a new health and wellbeing strategy implementation team. We argue that by co-designing a strategy, with representatives of the whole system taking a strengths-based perspective, we enabled self-determined change. We also argue that the process of co-designing and co-developing a strategy can be a wellbeing intervention in and of itself.
ISSN:2205-0795