When Aglaia shared her experience as part of the Student Mental Health Manifesto, she spoke with painful clarity.
“I had to fight a lonely battle not to give up on my education… I urge the adoption of a national approach to student mental health.
She wasn’t alone. As Student Minds listened to students across the country, a pattern emerged, one that challenged a narrow view of mental health as something individual or clinical.
Behind the distress were deeper structural problems. Stories of rising rents, mounting debt, and the isolation of trying to make a new life at university made it clear that mental health could not be separated from the conditions students were living and learning in.
Linlu from Bristol Students’ Union went even further, saying, “many of the challenges we face are shared across student communities nationwide, which is why it’s so important that we come together and push collectively for real changes.”
Mental health is not extracurricular
While awareness and support services are important, they don’t address the root causes of poor mental health. Mental health is shaped by our environments: housing, finances, workload, and community. If we want students to thrive, we have to change the systems that are holding them back.
This realisation marked a turning point. It challenged Student Minds to think differently about what change looks like and who leads it.
Our partnership with Citizens UK grew from some of these initial conversations. If we were going to engage with these systemic issues, we were going to need to develop a new approach. Student Minds had become reliant on a “lone wolf” approach – focused on being experts in student mental health and relying on that expertise to influence change when opportunities arose. That approach has its strengths, but it’s not enough on its own.
It is not always enough to simply “be correct,” and we experienced first hand the limitations of that approach. We offered extensive evidence, insight and clear recommendations but we often lacked stories, power and collective action.
We’ve made a conscious choice to shift away from over-relying on just being in the room and toward community organising, recognising the role we can and must play in empowering student leaders and amplifying students’ voices.
People not policy
In 2024/25, we trained over 50 students and SU staff members from eight students’ unions. We focused on building skills and equipping leaders with the tools to effectively listen to students in their communities, identifying common stories and experiences.
We began to build a picture of the everyday challenges students face, putting strain on their mental health. We also started to see that by working together, we could build strength in our movement. We found ourselves in a position with incredible potential, but agreed that timing was presenting a barrier to reaching it in full. We needed, and now have, more time, refreshed commitment, and clearer ambitions. We’re ready to bring together more students and support them to build power.
The future of student mental health will be shaped not just by policy, but by people. By student leaders building relationships, naming the pressures facing their communities, and taking action together. That work is already happening, and it’s time to grow it.
This year, Student Minds and Citizens UK are launching a new phase of our partnership rooted in the principles of broad-based community organising. We are building a national action team made up of students, SUs and staff who want to move from listening to action.
Together, we will develop leaders, build alliances both on and off campus, and campaign on the structural issues shaping student mental health, from housing and safety to financial hardship and belonging.
This is about building power with students, not just raising awareness. We are putting our time, money and energy on the table to support the growth and capacity of the student movement to do this work.
If you believe that good mental health is about more than just the absence of illness – that it’s shaped by housing, community, finances, and belonging – and want to do something about it, we need you to be part of this work too. Our first meeting is soon, and will be focused on choosing the issue we want to prioritise and making a shared plan for learning, and action.
To learn more, join us here at the Student Minds Action Team Kick-Off
