“And this is where my mind is”: space, place, and “student mental health and wellbeing” (SMHWB) in the UK

Worsening ‘Student Mental Health and Wellbeing’ (SMHWB) remains a concern in UK Higher Education (UKHE). Space(s) and place(s) as connected with SMHWB remain under-explored. This underappreciation in large part is fuelled by persisting sectoral neoliberal emphases and methodological imbalances that foreground individualizing conceptualisations of SMHWB. Obscured remain valuable qualitative insight(s); there is limited examination of students' own voices in reference to space/place-related perspectives and relationships in connection with their SMHWB. This article discusses spatial aspects arising from a qualitative project exploring SMHWB experiences. Informed by a research lens comprising of perspectives drawn from The Power Threat Meaning Framework, the sociology of emotions and emotional geographies, (as well as a living experience of the researcher), Free Association Narrative interviews, fronted by a Social Media Elicitation (SME) reflection task, were conducted with 21 UK undergraduates. Within the generated data, mental health emotional associations/labels were relayed; meanings of/needs to ‘feel at home’ were described; desires for personal spatial control were declared, and meaningfulness in/of university support-space experiences was recounted. Such qualitative insight(s) provide important contextual information, enriching our understanding of (the spatial (narrative and framing) emotionalities of current) SMHWB and urging of re-evaluation of/renewed focus on this oft under-considered aspect of students' lives.