LISTEN! – Living Interconnected Student Engagement

Project Duration: 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2024

Since the beginning of the pandemic, phases of intensive online teaching have dominated students' everyday lives. In addition to the difficulties caused by the pandemic, this leads to a lack of analogue Social Work with fellow students and lecturers, a lack of or unsuitable spatial and social learning environments, as well as additional material requirements. The resulting negative effects on the psychosocial health of young people have already been widely discussed in the media. This can also be seen in the use of counselling appointments with the psychological student counselling service, which are sold out in a very short space of time. Furthermore, in the student survey conducted by Hochschule Campus Wien (2020), the desire for more networking opportunities between students was expressed - by both first-semester and higher-semester students. It is clear that there is a great need for quick and uncomplicated support for students.

The LISTEN! project stands for strengthened cooperation, mutual support, listening and being heard and works on three levels:

1. A low-threshold counselling service for students is created by training students as peer councilors.
2. A structural framework for social networking opportunities for students will be created within the university.
3. A training programme will be designed for people who are in direct contact with students (lecturers, administration, etc.) in order to raise awareness of student health in this group and to familiarise them with possible options for action in crisis situations.

The training and programmes offered by LISTEN! are planned and implemented in participatory cooperation with students based on their needs. Through the connection to the Rectorate and the Workplace Health Management Campus Vital, the results of the project are established as a sustainable health promotion programme for students at Hochschule Campus Wien.

• Peer counselling provides students with a suitable offer of support in situations that are stressful for them.
• Future peer councilors receive a qualifying and practice-relevant range of courses to promote self, social and counselling skills.
• Students have a positive attitude towards the topic of mental health.
• Students express a higher level of satisfaction with the extent of cross-degree programme contacts.
• Students make use of the peer counselling services.
• LISTEN! is known to the target group.
• Lecturers are aware of didactic methods to promote social cohesion among students.
• Lecturers, heads of degree programs and employees in administrative organisational units recognise signs of psychological stress in students and can refer them to suitable support services.
• LISTEN! is structurally anchored at the university in order to ensure a sustainable programme and thus take a first step towards student health promotion in accordance with the Okanagan Charter (2015).
• Structures (media and personnel resources) for reaching the target group are available on a sustainable basis.