[Case 03]
Understanding barriers to campus mental health support
Higher Education · Student Wellbeing
[Project Overview]
Students seeking campus mental health support often face confusing processes and barriers to accessing the help they need.
I explored the experience of an overwhelmed pre-med student seeking campus mental health support for the first time. Through two conversations with the student and a review of university counseling resources, I mapped the existing experience, identified points of friction, and remapped the journey to highlight opportunities for improving access to support.
Methods
Student Interviews
Resource Review
Journey Mapping
Journey Remapping
Role
Researcher
Interviewer
Journey Mapping
Team
Individual Academic Project
Duration
1 month
Deliverables
Current-State Journey Map
Revised Journey Map
Improvement Opportunities
What I wanted to understand
01 - When does a student recognize that they need additional support?
02 - How do students identify and navigate available campus mental health resources?
03 - What makes it difficult to follow through with seeking help?
[01] Understand
Understanding the experience behind seeking support.
Meet the student - Second year pre-med
Balancing demanding coursework, exams, and extracurricular commitments while feeling increasingly overwhelmed.
"I literally just don't know where to start…"
How I approached the research
I conducted two conversations with the student and reviewed university counseling resources to understand the experience of recognizing a need for support and navigating the process of seeking help.
[02] Identify
Mapping the experience revealed where support breaks down.
After speaking with the student and reviewing available university resources, I mapped her experience of seeking mental health support. Organizing the journey chronologically helped me identify where uncertainty, stress, and obstacles emerged between recognizing the need for help and accessing support.
Three barriers that emerged from the journey.
Recognizing the Need
The student minimized her stress and questioned whether her experience was serious enough to justify seeking support.
Finding the Right Resource
Multiple counseling options made it difficult to understand where to start or which service would meet her needs.
Following Through
Appointment steps and wait times added friction, making it harder to seek help when support felt most urgent.
[03] Remap
Revisiting the journey revealed new opportunities.
After mapping the initial experience, I returned to the student for a second conversation to clarify gaps and revisit moments of uncertainty. I used this additional insight to refine the journey map, reconsider key pain points, and identify opportunities to make the process of seeking campus mental health support more accessible.
Reframing the challenge
Identifying the barriers
The initial conversation revealed uncertainty about seeking help, confusion navigating counseling options, and friction during appointment booking.
Refining the journey
The second conversation allowed me to clarify gaps in the original map, add detail to the student's experience, and reconsider where opportunities for improving access might exist.
What the remapping revealed
Revisiting the journey reinforced that accessing mental health support involves more than finding the right resource. Students must first recognize their need for help, navigate unfamiliar options, and overcome practical barriers to following through. Each of these moments presents an opportunity to make support more accessible.
[04] Reflect
Turning research insights into opportunities.
While this project ended with journey remapping rather than a tested solution, the research highlighted opportunities to make campus mental health services easier to navigate and access. These directions represent potential improvements informed by the student's experience, rather than validated solutions.
01
Make Support Easier to Discover
Explore clearer entry points that help students identify relevant mental health resources without navigating multiple unfamiliar options.
02
Simplify the First Step
Investigate ways to reduce confusion and unnecessary steps when students first attempt to schedule an appointment.
03
Explore how students could receive clearer guidance about appointment availability and support options while waiting for care.
What this project taught me.
This project taught me that understanding a service experience requires looking beyond the steps a user takes. Through interviewing and journey mapping, I began to recognize how stress, uncertainty, and practical barriers can influence whether someone follows through with seeking help. Revisiting the journey after a second conversation reinforced the importance of questioning my initial understanding and allowing new information to reshape my analysis.
Project scope: This was an exploratory academic research project involving a limited number of participant conversations. It concluded with journey remapping and identified opportunities; no proposed interventions were implemented or tested.