Utilising a Collaborative Approach Between the Counselling and Health Clinics Teams for a Student Intern-Led Wellbeing Check-In Service: A Program Evaluation

Abstract

The demand for mental health support in universities is on the rise and university services are struggling to keep up. Being able to provide appropriate support and counselling services in a timely manner is crucial to support students in engaging with and managing their university studies. The Griffith University Student Health, Counselling and Wellbeing team, in collaboration with Griffith Health Clinics, has implemented a student intern-led, interdisciplinary, cross-departmental, and iterative program to support students’ wellbeing while awaiting formal counselling services. Universities are increasingly recognising the need to capture the student voice, contextualising students as both end users and stakeholders in services. Moreover, the student-led approach is a student partnership methodology that brings multifaceted benefits. An evaluation of the Wellbeing Check-In (WCI) program was conducted through qualitative and quantitative data analyses. Important insights were revealed into the benefits and challenges that counselling and social work interns faced in supporting students. Findings include opportunities within the program for professional development, benefits to both student interns and clients, challenges for service improvement, and logistical feedback to improve the program. Further, the ability to drive the student-led approach and the satisfaction of providing altruistic peer support were found to be memorable experiences for the interns. The WCI program has proven to be valuable in the timely support of students’ wellbeing as they await their counselling appointment, whilst also supporting the skill development of interns. --- Utilising a collaborative approach between the counselling and health clinics teams for a student intern-led wellbeing check-in service: A program evaluation by Lisa Chiang, Mary-Anne Wallwork, and Lauren D. Terzis is licensed under CC BY 4.0