General objective: Use partner expertise to co-design and pilot methods and cooperation for mental health promotion, awareness-raising and resilience-building for trauma prevention and support in HE through culturally sensitive, digitally relevant and community based approaches following the Okanagan Charter and Core Competencies. S.O.1 Increase the quality of mental health promotion for trauma prevention and support of students and staff. WP4 S.O.2 Address needs among HEIs for trauma support based on the Okanagan Charter and Core Competencies for Health Promotion. WP3 S.O.3 Promote inclusion of students and staff more susceptible to traumatic experiences, including disabilities, migrant background, refugees/asylum seekers, people fleeing war, victims of violence and those facing gender or socio-economic inequalities. WP2-WP5 S.O.4 Contribute to inclusive learning environments fostering equity through culturally sensitive and community oriented understanding of trauma. WP3 S.O.5 Build HEI capacity to cooperate transnationally on trauma support for students and staff. WP4 S.O.6 Enable change through ECTS recognised training and resources to mainstream promotion and resilience building for trauma prevention and support. WP2-WP5
University communities face growing exposure to traumatic phenomena: rising youth suicide rates (Eurostat: intentional self-harm accounts for 16.9% of deaths aged 15-19, 19.5% aged 20-24 and 18.2% aged 25-29), forced displacement, the COVID-19 pandemic, gender violence and the war in Ukraine. HEIs are ideal settings for health promotion, yet this requires broad institutional vision and transnational collaboration. A preliminary survey with 93 students and staff revealed critical gaps: responses averaged below 3.5/5 for resource-related items, dropping to 2.8/5 for trauma prevention, while "mental health is very important" scored 4.8/5 and "experiencing trauma can feel stigmatising" 4.4/5, confirming a gap between perceived importance and institutional response. Three core needs were identified: N1, exposure to good practices including the Okanagan Charter and IUHPE Core Competencies; N2, training in trauma prevention, identification and peer referral; N3, awareness-raising and destigmatisation of trauma and grief from an intercultural perspective. HEARTS addressed these through an innovative, culturally sensitive, community-based approach aligned with these frameworks. Evidence: Project Application; Needs Assessment