The landscape of mental health in higher education: the current state and where to next?

Since the early 2010s there has been an escalation of mental health concerns in academic staff internationally with increasing stress, burnout, and attrition of staff in the academic arena. Literature has highlighted that this problem is complex and multi-layered, with challenges across most workplace psychosocial risk factors. Despite the large body of research indicating the extent of the problem, studies have only explored preliminary solutions and possible interventions for supporting the mental health of academic staff. Health initiatives to date have predominately focused on student mental health and tend to be reactive. Therefore, further work using a whole-of-university and multi-level, systems approach is required. This chapter will explore solutions, highlighting the importance of using evidence-based frameworks, co-design, effective communication and tailoring of interventions to provide a targeted approach for mental health initiatives in higher education.