To recognise innovative approaches to improving teaching quality, the Medical University of Graz awards an annual special grant totalling 50,000 euros. One of the projects to receive this award is “Health of Students – Peer2Peer: Analog & Digital”.
Not least due to the crises of recent years, students’ health has deteriorated noticeably. With a low-threshold and wide-ranging programme comprising workshops, lectures, social media presence, three elective modules and one-to-one counselling, “Health of Students – Peer2Peer” positions itself as a specialised point of contact for promoting and strengthening student wellbeing. Students are to be supported quickly and easily, whether they are facing stress or crises due to excessive demands or academic failure, personal problems in their private lives or illness, or when developing solutions and fostering personal development. At the same time, this aims to lay the foundations early on for health-promoting strategies for the future professional careers of health professionals and scientists alike.
Experienced team
The delivery of content and support during one-to-one sessions is provided by specially trained peers (senior students) under the motto ‘helping people to help themselves’. Specialist support (e.g. psychiatric or psychotherapeutic expertise) is provided by a team of lecturers and specialists from the Clinical Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy. This team of experts also oversees the supervision and training of the peers.
Core objectives of Health of Students – Peer2Peer
- To support students at the Medical University of Graz in psychosocial crises and to strengthen their own resources
- To raise students’ awareness of the importance of addressing psychosocial crises and health issues for their professional careers, and to develop their skills and techniques – for themselves as well as their patients – through teaching programmes and knowledge transfer
- To support the specially trained tutors (peers) in their personal development and to encourage them in learning new skills (e.g. organisational aspects, using digital tools, counselling in crises)
- To raise awareness within the higher education sector of the importance of the topic of ‘student health’, to establish potential ‘best practice examples’ and to share experiences with interested partners (including national and international collaborations, research projects and dissertations).
