The U-Flourish Centre is seeking a £7 million grant to advance research on early intervention for worsening mental health, positioning itself as a global competitor.
Originally starting as a research project launched by the Department of Psychiatry, the centre began with a $30,000 grant in 2018 and has since received ongoing donations. Last year, the centre received a $2.875 million donation from the Rossy Family Foundation to enhance the mental health literacy curriculum at Queen’s and formally establish the centre. Now, U-Flourish is seeking an additional grant to enable the University to work on accelerating early intervention of worsening mental health and developing digital resources for students.
Dr. Anne Duffy, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with specialized training in mood disorders, is a full-time member of the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Student Mental Health at Queen’s. Her research focuses on the onset of common mental illnesses and is the U-Flourish Centre Director. Her position involves overseeing and facilitating both national and international research initiatives.
“We’re becoming the lead around the world in university student well-being in mental health now. We would really like to move forward,” Duffy said in an interview with The Journal.
An initial U-Flourish survey, beginning with the 2017-18 cohort, used rigorous research methodology and was designed as a “digital conversation” with students to translate their needs into evidence-based resources. The survey was taken by 60 per cent of all first-year students.
“We had about 3,029 [total] students who started a conversation with us, and we followed up with them at the end of the year,” Duffy said. “Ever since then, we’ve continued this longitudinal survey, following up, continuing to follow those students to graduation, and continuing to engage a new cohort of incoming students to Queens.”
The study was eventually emulated in five United Kingdom Universities, including the University of Oxford where Duffy was invited as a visiting professor to enact the study there.
Given its global engagement and connection with United Kingdom academic institutions, U-Flourish is competing with other overseas institutions for the highest bid on the grant.
Duffy describes the U-Flourish Centre as “a seamless journey for any student who needed any level of from education to health promotion to seeing a family doctor for a mental health concern to seeing a psychiatrist.”
While most students will not experience serious mental health issues, it’s common for students to experience stress inducive to difficulty in their academic lives, Duffy explained.
Queen’s, through the 2023 release of U-Flourish, was able to release a wellbeing platform that includes a student well-being calculator where you can enter your information and receive immediate on your mental health and how you can improve it.
“[Students] told us that they love the [IDIS99] mental health literacy course. They love the fact that they can get credit for taking this as an interdisciplinary elective, and they found it very practical, student tailored and interesting,” Duffy said.
Duffy emphasized student participation was key to the initial and future U-Flourish investments and none of this would be possible without collaboration with students and the University.
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