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Home » Toolkit » What are the benefits of a knowledge exchange focussed partnership

Benefits for the organisations

  • Access to world-class knowledge, research, and expertise in academia
  • Ability to reach new audiences e.g. increased community engagement, generate significant cultural and economic outcomes, schools across the region
  • Enhanced social, cultural and economic outcomes through reaching 29 schools and over 2200 children and young people across the region
  • Increased the number of students working on Tackling the Blues to offer the programme to more schools

Benefits to higher education institutions

  • Increased institutional KE activity, research and impact
  • Working collaboratively with local community sports and arts organisations to deliver a place-based programme
  • Increased opportunities for research and dissemination
  • Enhanced understanding of student mental health and how mental health work-related learning can impact students’ mental health
  • Working collaboratively and sharing expertise within the institution across departments and faculties

Benefits to higher education students

  • Enhanced student experience and increased opportunities to secure highly skilled work upon graduation
  • Experience of working collaboratively with diverse sports and arts organisations on a real-world sport and arts mental health programme with children and young people
  • Improved internal collaborations and working with institutional academic and support staff
  • Opportunities to engage with research and dissemination for their own research projects and other curricular work
  • Engaging with various stakeholders, including school staff, curators, community sports coaches, programme coordinators, research staff, academics, marketing and communications teams
  • Increased mental health literacy and coping strategies to manage their own mental health and wellbeing during their time as students and beyond
  • Development of skills to use sport and art-based approaches to address mental health concerns with the wider community

Benefits to children and young people, schools and their communities

  • More schools offering the Tackling the Blues programme, tailored to identified mental health concerns and need
  • New approaches to community and school-based programmes to address mental health through sport and the arts
  • Improved children and young people’s mental health literacy and knowledge of where to seek further support when needed
  • Enhancing teacher’s mental health literacy and knowledge of referral systems
  • Increased number of student mentors delivering and facilitating each session to provide more support
  • Support for schools in their whole school approach to mental health
  • Improved engagement with the local community

Tackling the Blues

Tackling the Blues, an award-winning sport and arts-based education programme targeting young people aged 6-16 who are experiencing, or are at risk of, developing mental illness.