Life Hack’s Programme

Main idea

Outline

Life Hack’s Programme was born out of conversations with UCD Student Services who had raised concerns around the huge waitlist for counselling and wanted to put supports in place to either alleviate the waitlist or think of other supports to help students manage their mental health. It was also acknowledged that perhaps not all students on the waitlist would require 1 to 1 counselling and that there could be other support put in place to assist them. The Chaplaincy Service were tasked with developing an initiative, they researched what was in place in other universities and from that piloted the Life Hack’s course. The goal is to harness the expertise and wisdom of the UCD community and offer it to groups of students who are pursuing positive mental health.

The Life Hacks course uses an assets-based approach, the hope is that students will begin to recognise their own strengths, learn from the strengths of others and build relationships and connections that give them a space to be open about the challenges that they face.

Detailed description of the supports offered/initiative delivered.

The LifeHacks Course is a free course open to all students that offers one session a week for four weeks covering the following areas:

1. Hacking Your Mind
2. Hacking Your Body
3. Hacking Your Narrative
4. Hacking Your Relationships

The sessions last an hour and a half including taught content, small group discussion and Q&A before students can enjoy pizza together and have an opportunity to socialise. 

The course taps into the expertise from around UCD campus and guest speakers share their knowledge with students to help empower them to make good decisions about their mental health and to build a community where talking about stuff is possible. 

The sessions also have a social element to them and students can come early and enjoy tea/coffee together and they can stay after and have pizza together and it can be a catalyst to help students develop friendships. This social interaction can have a really positive impact on students’ mental health. 

It is open to all students and is coordinated by one of the UCD Chaplain’s and student services.

Goals

To empower students to build positive mental health.

Obstacles targetted:

• Social obstacles
• Health problems

Students involvement

Students were not involved in the design of the initiative but lots of feedback for the first pilot and recommendations have been taken on board from that.

Inspiration and evidence

Life Hacks was inspired and developed from looking at similar initiatives in other Irish Universities like ‘Le Cheile’ in University College Cork https://www.ucc.ie/en/chaplaincy/what/  and the Seas Suas Programme in University College Galway: https://socs.nuigalway.ie/societies/seassuas 

From this and other research Life Hack’s was designed and a proposal was submitted for funding and backing.

Success criteria

Some of the success criteria:

• Attendance
• Positive Feedback
• Demand for a follow on programme

Points of attention

It is also important to have 

• Good branding with video content
• Good social media presence 
• The courses are strengths based

Effectiveness

70 students participated in the first pilot and a second course will run in semester 2, along with a sequel Programme called Level up, which focuses on the following topics; confidence, boundaries, social media use and active listening.

We can track follows and likes on social media as well.

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

strongly agree

Evaluation

There was a feedback form gathered after every session and 1 overall feedback form was also given to all students who participated to complete.

From these recommendations were taken on board for the Life Hack’s programme and a follow on Programme called Level up has also been developed and will be piloted in the second semester. 

Following each session, an email was sent to each student to ask for feedback and a final email at the end of the course to get their impressions of the course overall.

Here are some highlights from the individual sessions:

Mind: 100% of respondents would be likely or very likely to recommend it to a friend. “It changed my perspective on life and the way I approach my day-to- day. I feel inspired to change my life for the better now that I am more equipped to make changes and have the necessary information I need not just to survive, but to thrive. I wish that everyone could be exposed to the wisdom and knowledge that I’ve gained from LifeHacks.” “It’s an informative talk that helps you understand *how* stuff works (like your brain) so you can make choices that will more likely directly cause the outcome you want. I already have used what I learned to stay calmer in tense situations and make more thoughtful decisions. Plus I met some other cool people, and it’s a fun, relaxed atmosphere.”

Body: 75% of students responded that this session was either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ helpful.

“One of the most well-structured talks I’ve ever been to. Rab managed to cover so much content in a way that didn’t leave you at all overwhelmed but instead eager to learn more about these four key areas of our bodies.

Would strongly recommend this to anyone and everyone, including people with some prior knowledge as Rab has so much insight to give.” “This session was truly helpful in learning small tips and tricks to improve the body in terms of nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc. Most importantly, it allowed me to get understanding of other perspectives, and provided an opportunity to get my questions answered (and have those pizza slices without guilt!)”

Narrative: 70% of students responded that this session was either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ helpful and 100% said they would be likely or very likely to recommend it to a friend. “This session gave me a valuable, positive, healthy change-focused perspective on my life and on my life experiences. I gained awareness of the ways in which I respond to my past experiences, in the present. And now I understand how I can achieve my goals for the future because I know where I’m coming from and where I am now in my life. The session was essential for me to gain clarity and awareness of myself and how my life and my choices have carried me to the present. Now I feel better equipped to make positive changes in my life without the change being negatively motivated by my own self-perception, but motivated by hope for myself and my future.”

Relationships: 45% of students described this session as ‘very helpful’ or ‘extremely helpful’ and most students would recommend it to a friend. (Due to an error in the survey, there was no box for highlights of this session.

Overall: Overall, students gave the LifeHacks Course a rating of 4.6 out of 5 and reported that they would like to see more of these kinds of events in the future with more topics and chances for discussion with other students.

Communication

• UCD social media channels 
• In person 
• Students’ Union/Student Centre/Library 
• Hot chocolate stand at Orientation with IPAD raffle at orientation – Life Hacks was promoted at this stand

Timing

The programme is run during term time but during a quieter period when students are not under pressure with exams or assignments. The timing is important to consider within the context of each educational institution. It runs at 3p.m. on a Wednesday from the Student Centre.

Resources

• Staff to coordinate and deliver the service. 
• Space 
• Promotional material 
• Refreshments 
• Funded by UCD Student Services

Extra information

• Life Hacks website

Transferability

We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.

The initiative is very easily transferable and Maynooth University and Dundalk IT are both considering running a similar initiative. 

It would be important to get backing to drive the initiative, to have good branding and a good communication strategy to get this initiative set up and running.