2025 Siyaphumelela Mental Health Webinar
Kudayja Parker
Siyaphumelela Mental Health Webinar
Youtube recording: https://youtu.be/YLuxObJvwaA
Presentation PDF: https://siyaphumelela.org.za/documents/67ecfe5c45d98.pdf
On 6 February 2025, the Siyaphumelela Mental Health workstream hosted a webinar titled Mental Health and Wellbeing at South African Higher Education Institutions. The event featured participation from eight universities and was structured in alignment with the Siyaphumelela Theory of Change (Knowing – Doing – Transforming). The University of the Western Cape and the University of the Witwatersrand, co-leaders of the Mental Health workstream, provided a comprehensive overview of the mental health landscape across South African universities. They also presented the work undertaken by the workstream, including the development of a Mental Health Framework for Higher Education Institutions in South Africa.
The presentations and discussions that followed explored various institutional approaches to implementing mental health support initiatives and addressing mental health challenges on university campuses. The webinar served as a valuable learning platform, with several institutions expressing an interest in benchmarking their mental health strategies against those of other universities within the network.
The webinar was attended by 45 participants, including one representative from a university in Ghana, and received positive evaluations. The majority of attendees held roles related to student support, with 57% possessing more than four years of experience in these positions. While 86% of respondents indicated that their institutions currently implement mental health initiatives to support students and staff, they expressed a desire to enhance existing efforts or acquire new strategies for implementing mental health interventions within their institutions.
Participants highlighted the webinar as a valuable platform for interaction, idea exchange, and discussion of practical initiatives addressing student mental health challenges. In particular, the breakaway sessions were highly appreciated, as they facilitated meaningful engagement and knowledge-sharing. The structure and pacing of the webinar were well received, with participants reporting that the session duration was appropriate, and the pace was balanced. Many attendees stated that the webinar provided them with new insights, equipping them with the knowledge necessary to develop and implement more effective institutional policies and interventions for student mental health.
As a follow-up to the webinar, the Mental Health Workstream will develop a short learning programme, which will be made available as an open resource on the Siyaphumelela website.
