02 November 2026
Psychological support can change people's lives. But knowing that support is available is not the same as being able to access it. Accessing support often depends on recognising that something is wrong, feeling able to ask for help and knowing where to turn.
Some people worry that their difficulties are not serious enough to warrant support; others feel ashamed about struggling or fear being judged. Some may not recognise their experiences as signs of a mental health difficulty at all. Even when people do seek help, practical barriers such as cost, transport, concerns about confidentiality and waiting times can stand in the way.
Professional psychological support remains essential, but it cannot be the only part of the response. Could more be done to help people understand their mental health before difficulties escalate, rather than relying solely on people recognising a problem and seeking support themselves?
Looking beyond treatment
A public health approach broadens the way we think about mental health support. Alongside providing effective treatment, it considers how mental health can be supported across populations, how difficulties might be prevented or addressed earlier, and how people can be helped to access appropriate support.
Mental health education is one part of this approach. It can help people recognise signs of distress, challenge misconceptions and learn strategies for responding to common mental health difficulties. Crucially, education can also help people recognise when self-help is not enough and professional support is needed.
This approach is not about expecting people to manage serious difficulties alone, nor is education a substitute for adequately funded services. Rather, it offers another way for psychological knowledge to reach people, including those who might not otherwise engage with mental health support.
The benefits may also be wider. Better understanding could make it easier for people to talk openly about mental health, recognise difficulties in others, and respond with understanding rather than judgement. If education reaches whole communities, it could help challenge stigma beyond the individual, influencing how mental health is discussed and understood.
These are important possibilities, but they should not be taken for granted. Does education change how people respond when difficulties arise? Can it help people seek appropriate support earlier? And how might it complement existing psychological services?
The potential of Mental Health Education
My research explores these questions through Prevail, a low-intensity mental health education and stigma-reduction programme, originally developed and evaluated in workplace settings. Prevail covers common difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and stress, exploring their signs and symptoms, ways of responding and when further support may be needed. Previous research in the workplace found reductions in self-stigma and sickness absence.
I am exploring whether Prevail can also support university students. The transition into higher education brings changes in academic demands, relationships, and independence. Although many students navigate this transition successfully, others experience difficulties with their mental health and well-being as they adjust to university life. Universities already provide counselling, well-being services, and routes into professional support. Mental health education could complement these services by helping students understand their experiences, challenge stigma, and identify appropriate sources of help before difficulties become more severe.
My research evaluating Prevail has produced encouraging findings. Students who received Prevail showed reductions in self-stigma and improvements in help-seeking intentions following the training. However, help-seeking intentions can include turning to friends and family as well as professionals. These findings do not establish that the programme increases actual service use, nor do they tell us whether students go on to seek help when they need it.
That distinction matters. Improving knowledge and attitudes is worthwhile, but these changes do not automatically translate into behaviour. Further research needs to establish whether students respond differently when difficulties arise, whether they seek support from appropriate sources, and whether the programme affects their use of university or external services.
My experience has also highlighted practical challenges. A full day of mental health education can be difficult to accommodate alongside academic commitments. Students may also struggle to see its relevance when it sits outside their course or everyday experience. This presents an important challenge for prevention: people may support the idea of better mental health education in principle but not necessarily recognise its value for themselves.
Shorter sessions spread over time may be more practical, while embedding education into existing teaching could help it reach more students. These approaches still need evaluation, but they illustrate why the delivery of an intervention matters alongside its content.
Three practical recommendations from Prevail
For mental health education to be useful, students need to be able to apply what they learn when difficulties arise. Drawing on the techniques taught in Prevail, three practical recommendations illustrate how this might look for students starting university. Take small steps to tackle problems: Break down large or overwhelming problems, such as falling behind with assignments, into manageable steps and focus on what you can change. Small actions, such as reading the guidance or writing one paragraph, can build towards meaningful change.
Talk to someone: Sharing your difficulties with a trusted friend, family member or tutor can help you feel less alone, see things differently and identify possible solutions.
Seek help when you need it: Not every difficulty can be resolved through self-help. Recognising when you need additional support, whether through practical adjustments or professional help, is an important part of looking after your mental health.
Where psychological expertise can contribute
Turning principles, such as these, into effective mental health education requires an understanding of both the evidence on mental health and the experiences of the people an intervention is intended to reach. Psychologists' clinical, research and applied expertise may be valuable in developing and evaluating education that reflects both.
Psychologists experience of working with people experiencing depression or anxiety can help identify common misconceptions, fears, and barriers to seeking support. Research can help establish which messages and strategies are supported by evidence, while work with different populations can highlight where educational content needs to be adapted. The issues most relevant to university students may not be the same as those facing employees, school pupils, or people in other community settings.
Psychological expertise can also help ensure that education offers realistic guidance. This means explaining coping strategies while acknowledging their limitations, making clear when professional support may be necessary, and helping people understand where to find appropriate services. Education should provide more than general encouragement to look after one's mental health; it should give people useful information they can apply to their own circumstances.
Just as importantly, psychologists' involvement in research and evaluation can help establish whether these programmes make a meaningful difference. Do changes in knowledge and stigma persist? Do they influence coping and appropriate help-seeking? Who benefits, and who might be missed? Answering these questions can help determine how programmes should be developed and delivered.
The relationship with psychological services deserves particular attention. It may be tempting to assume that helping people earlier will reduce demand for professional support. That could happen if some people are better equipped to manage certain difficulties or access appropriate help sooner. However, education could also encourage people who previously avoided seeking support to come forward. An increase in service use would not necessarily indicate failure; it might reflect previously unmet need. What matters is understanding whether people are accessing appropriate support, how their needs change and what the implications are for services. Mental health education should not be presented as a quick fix for stretched psychological services, but its relationship with service use is an important question to investigate.
Reaching people earlier
Prevail has given me an opportunity to explore the potential of mental health education, while highlighting how much remains to be understood. Stronger evidence is needed about who benefits, which approaches work best, whether changes in knowledge translate into meaningful outcomes, and how education relates to the use of professional support.
Universities provide a useful setting in which to investigate these questions, particularly because students are navigating a significant life transition. But the underlying principle is not limited to higher education. Schools, workplaces, and other community settings may also offer opportunities to help people understand their mental health earlier.
Education alone cannot address financial insecurity, discrimination, difficult working conditions, or inadequate service provision. Nor should responsibility for mental health be shifted onto individuals. Mental health education must complement, rather than replace, efforts to address the circumstances that affect well-being and ensure access to effective psychological care.
The aim is not to replace treatment, or to suggest that everyone can manage their difficulties without professional help. It is to explore whether psychological knowledge can reach people earlier, help them make sense of their experiences and enable them to recognise when further support is needed.
If mental health education can achieve these things, it could become a valuable complement to existing services. The challenge now is to establish how, for whom and under what conditions it works.
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