Impact of the Be Well Plan on university students' wellbeing and mental health

The Be Well Plan is a 5-session program that helps individuals to identify and master easy-to-use evidence-based skills to build mental health and wellbeing. The 5 sessions focus on: 1. Getting on the same page: Participants explore the reasons for participating in the program, their personal drivers and acquire basic knowledge on mental health and its malleability. They explore the evidence for different psychological interventions and start creating their first Be Well Plan. 2. Using your mental health profile: Participants reflect on week 1. They get introduced to the concept of self-compassion (as opposed to self-criticism) and how it can be used to learn from failure and shape our thinking patterns. They practice a self-compassion activity. They subsequently pick another activity from the activity bank to add to their Be Well Plan and will set new goals for the week. 3. Your resources and challenges: Participants reflect on week 2. They work with (and are reminded of) existing resources to their own mental health via two practical activities. They are introduced to a second activity finder that maps evidence-based activities to each of the challenges and resources. They pick a new activity from the activity bank to add to the Be Well Plan. 4. Stress, coping and resilience: Participants reflect on week 3. This session focuses on stressful times and effective ways to cope (e.g., avoidance-focused coping versus more helpful ways, e.g. problem-focused coping). They are asked to identify social support for when times get tough and are reminded of various professional services. 5. Future-proofing your Be Well Plan: Participants reflect on the past 4 weeks. Participants will build their final Be Well Plan, which aims to summarise key learnings from the previous weeks into a standalone plan. They summarise what their best possible mental health looks like, highlight their unique drivers and motivations, and existing resources and challenges in their life. They identify their key supporters and reflect on what support services they need in case of emergency. Weekly 2-hour online sessions are delivered by trained facilitators via Zoom in a group format (up to 20 participants per group). Facilitators have undergone extensive training in delivering psychological skills training; the program was specifically designed to be facilitated by up-skilled trainers from the community. Attendance of participants will be monitored with session attendance checklists.