CVC Mental Health Program: A Holistic Approach to Raising Awareness in Teaching, Research, and Technology Transfer Environments

CVC has concluded the project “Promotion of Mental Health in Research Centres: A Holistic Approach to Raising Awareness in Teaching, Research, and Technology Transfer Environments”, an initiative aimed at fostering emotional well-being and mental health across its entire academic and professional community.

The programme’s main objective has been to promote an organisational culture that recognises mental health as a key component of collective well-being. The initiative has reached undergraduate, master’s and PhD students, research staff, research support technicians and administrative and management staff.

The project has been developed through an integrated approach combining awareness-raising activities, training, group support, and individualised guidance. This approach has enabled the transformation of mental health awareness into real and sustainable changes in participants’ daily lives.

This project has been funded by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), under the 2023 call for proposals to promote and improve emotional well-being and mental health (BENESTAR programme).

Seminars and workshops for well-being promotion

Between January and May 2025, monthly theoretical seminars and practical workshops were delivered by psychologists from the Coaching and Academic Support Unit of the UAB Psychology Service (UCAA-UAB). The sessions covered key areas such as stress management, time management, and emotional resilience, providing continuous learning spaces focused on personal and professional well-being.

Throughout the programme, participants worked on skills such as emotional regulation, self-awareness, coping strategies, boundary setting, communication, self-care, mindfulness practices, and motivation in research careers. This training block has been particularly relevant, as it provided a solid foundation of knowledge and practical tools that supported the rest of the project activities, enabling their application in real-life situations within the CVC community.

Improvement Circles: turning reflection into action

The Improvement Circles have been one of the core elements of the project. Designed as group reflection and follow-up spaces, they have enabled participants to translate learning from workshops into everyday practice.

In these sessions, participants shared experiences, identified common challenges and explored concrete strategies to improve their well-being in academic and professional environments. Through this collaborative work, skills such as stress management, communication, and mindfulness were connected with real research-related situations, helping to identify sources of strain and define actionable improvements with a direct impact on community well-being.

Awareness and well-being dissemination campaign

Throughout the project, several awareness-raising activities were carried out to increase understanding of the importance of emotional well-being and mental health in academic and research environments, using both internal and external communication channels at CVC.

As a final and symbolic continuity action, an open web repository of mental health resources was created for the entire CVC community. This space gathers tools, practices and materials developed during the programme, designed to support daily application.

The initiative was complemented by the distribution of a Mediterranean pine seed to every member of the centre, accompanied by a QR code linking to the project resources. This action had a dual purpose: to reinforce the dissemination of the project’s key messages and to symbolise values such as resilience, growth, and regeneration, inviting each individual to continue nurturing their emotional well-being.