(208g) Supporting Engineering Students through Targeted Mental Health Workshops

Engineering students experience high rates of mental health concerns, but low rates of professional help-seeking for those concerns. Without timely intervention, those issues can escalate, underscoring the necessity for engineering students to get help when they need it. Efforts to address this treatment gap have resulted in the development of a self-report survey instrument, the Undergraduate Engineering Mental Health Help-Seeking Instrument (UE-MH-HSI) to identify key beliefs influencing help-seeking intention. In fall 2023, the instrument was administered to engineering students at a large public university in the southeastern U.S. and the data was analyzed for first-year students. Identified beliefs primarily focused on students’ perceptions of engineering culture regarding mental health, the efficacy of treatment, and knowledge of available resources.

Building off these findings, a series of six workshops was implemented throughout the 2024-25 academic year in partnership with the university’s Engineering Living Learning Program (ELLP) for the First Year Engineering (FYE) program. The first workshop “Mental Health Matters,” was created to inform students about the need for and efficacy of professional mental health treatment and enumerate the resources available to them on campus. “Midterm Success and Self-Care, hosted around the time of student midterms, focused on teaching effective study habits and time management skills as an important aspect of maintaining well-being. The “Peer Panel Q&A” gave FYE students the opportunity to hear higher level engineering students share their experiences with managing their mental health and seeking support to begin to help normalize conversations about mental health and well-being in engineering. The final workshop of the semester, “Breaking Barriers and Building Confidence,” helped students learn to manage and overcome feelings of self-doubt and shame in a roundtable-style discussion, guided by the graduate student facilitator. In spring 2025, “Breaking the Stigma with Mental Health Professionals” provided a low-stakes opportunity to speak to Counseling Psychology graduate students who helped answer questions, debunk common myths, and share insights into the help-seeking process. Finally, the interactive workshop “Reflect, Recognize, and Grow” engaged students in guided reflection and equipped them with tools to help them sustain their mental well-being throughout their academic journey. Through this talk, we will present the content for each workshop and provide faculty with resources to support the mental health of engineering students within their own institutions.