Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) is taking a significant step towards promoting the well-being and mental health of its students with the launch of UCP2 Mental Health. This initiative, which covers the headquarters and the three regional centres of the UCP - Lisbon, Viseu, Porto and Braga - aims to create an integrated mental health promotion system, through which there will be new mental health promotion resources for students and where existing services will be articulated and enhanced.
“UCP2 Mental Health is the embryo of what will be the Universidade Católica’s integrated mental health promotion system, and it should be stabilised within two years, in 2026”, says Luísa Campos, faculty member of Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP-UCP) and coordinator of this pioneering project at the UCP, whose team includes psychologists, faculty members and researchers in the field of psychology from the different regional centres and the UCP headquarters.
This system aims to respond to the mental health needs of students at the university's four campuses, ranging from mental health promotion to early detection and intervention in so-called “common mental disorders” such as depression and anxiety.
Students will be able to access a digital platform that will act as a “single gateway” to all mental health responses at UCP. The platform, inspired by international projects such as Australia's BeyondBlue, will offer mental health resources and information to students, as well as psychological screening, assessment and intervention. This integrated system also provides for the referral of students with moderate or severe mental disorders to specialised health services, as established in the guidelines of the mental health promotion programme launched by DGES.
Luísa Campos emphasises: “We are starting to consolidate agreements and protocols with the SNS and public and private health institutions for the referral of students with mental disorders who need very specific responses and who, in essence, fall outside the scope of psychological intervention in the context of higher education.”
“Building the system will not be possible without the participation of students and mental health professionals who already carry out psychological intervention in various departments/faculties at UCP”, she says.
The team will have two panels of consultants - students and psychologists - who will be invited to monitor the entire construction of the system. UCP2 Mental Health also includes monitoring and evaluating the system.
An ambitious challenge and a great opportunity
The implementation of UCP2 Mental Health represents an ambitious challenge, but also a great opportunity for UCP. For Catarina Ribeiro, faculty member of FEP-UCP and a member of the project team, “this system is extremely pertinent and is an excellent opportunity for the University to continue prioritising the comprehensive training of students and their adaptive and successful development”.
Sandra Sousa, a member of the team in Lisbon, emphasises the importance of creating this system so that there is an integrated and unique response from the university to the mental health problems of the academic community: “The articulation between all the campuses will allow for networking and a global response from the UCP to mental health issues, promoting positive mental health through various initiatives, in a culture that is intended to promote health.”
Célia Ribeiro, from the Viseu Regional Centre, says that the UCP's integrated mental health system aims to promote an environment of well-being.
Increasing mental health responses at Universidade Católica
Débora Passos, a junior psychologist at the Portuguese Psychologists' Association and a member of the team, says that UCP2 Mental Health will make it possible to reorganise the services that already exist at UCP, ensuring consistency and communication between them. In addition, “it will be possible to meet the needs of students with greater complementarity”, she says.
In order to respond to this complex system, with several fronts of action, several sub-teams have been created, as Ana Rita Pontes points out. The psychologist explains that there will be a team responsible for promoting and preventing mental health problems and developing competences, and another for screening, assessment, psychological intervention and referrals. There will also be a team dedicated to monitoring and evaluating the system and another for coordination.
The importance of promotion and prevention
The promotion and prevention aspects are crucial to the integrated mental health promotion system that the University is building. Luísa Campos believes that this system will enable the University to create much-needed responses in terms of promoting and preventing mental health problems.
Cátia Branquinho, a member of the Lisbon team, shared that these two aspects “are fundamental to creating a stronger and more resilient university community. By promoting mental health, we make it easier for students to understand their challenges and identify warning signs, both in themselves and in their peer group. This means they can act sooner, before problems get worse.”
With the launch of UCP2 Mental Health, UCP is reaffirming its commitment to the well-being of its students, in line with the objectives of the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES) regarding the promotion of mental health in this context.
UCP2 Mental Health is funded under the DGES Programme for the Promotion of Mental Health in Higher Education.
The system's kick-off meeting took place on 16 September 2024, marking the beginning of a new era in mental health promotion at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
