The increasing prevalence of student mental health concerns has placed growing pressure on universities to develop effective and sustainable wellbeing support. Absence of a shared sectoral language for wellbeing makes it challenging to implement a cohesive, institution-wide approach. This practitioner case study outlines Newcastle University's Student Health and Wellbeing Service's (SHWS) Impact Measurement Scale (IMS), a simple, non-clinical tool designed to categorise student wellbeing concerns and assess their functional impact using a 0-4 scale. Initially developed and implemented within SHWS, IMS uses assessments of need to improve access to appropriate support and provide practitioners with a clearer understanding of student needs. Early narrative findings suggest that IMS has facilitated the emergence of a common language within SHWS, streamlined resource allocation and challenged the crisis narrative in student mental health. Further validation is underway alongside wider embedding with students and academic colleagues, enabling a truly whole-institution approach to student wellbeing..
Hutchinson et al. (Fri,) studied this question.