Bridging the Gap: Supporting Mental Health in Fine Arts Education
Understanding the Challenge
College of Fine Arts (CoFA) students at UT Austin face unique pressures that impact their mental health. The creative demands of their coursework, financial constraints, and lack of structured support tailored to their needs create a gap in available resources. While UT offers mental health services, there is little collaboration between HealthyHorns and the College of Fine Arts, leaving students without clear, accessible pathways to support.
Who We Were Researching For
Our work focused on understanding the mental health experiences of CoFA undergraduate students throughout the academic year. We sought to uncover pain points, structural gaps, and opportunities for integrating support systems directly into their academic environment.
What We Set Out to Learn
Our primary research question was:
How might we design a service that improves mental health support for CoFA undergraduate students throughout the academic year?
We aimed to:
Identify the unique challenges CoFA students face in maintaining mental well-being.
Understand existing interactions between students, faculty, and mental health resources.
Explore opportunities to leverage existing relationships (e.g., professors) to create structured, low-barrier mental health support.
How We Conducted Our Research
To build a deep understanding of the student experience, we used a multi-method approach:
Student Intercepts – We conducted short, 10-minute conversations with 15+ students to quickly identify key themes.
In-Depth Interviews – We spoke with 5 students and 3 faculty members in 45-minute interviews to explore their perspectives on mental health challenges.
Network Mapping – Students placed icons on a university map to visualize their proximity to mental health resources, helping us identify patterns in resource accessibility.
Deep Immersion – I directly engaged with UT’s mental health system, including scheduling a session with the CoFA CARE counselor, to gain firsthand insights into available services.
Key Insights & Findings
Our research revealed five major themes impacting CoFA students’ mental well-being:
Seasonal Stress & Academic Demands
Students struggle most during project critiques and colder months.
The academic calendar and seasonal patterns affect mental health.
“I feel at my lowest around critique time, and the cold weather doesn’t help.” – Student
Financial Barriers & Resource Access
Many students cannot afford necessary art supplies, causing stress.
Professors know supply needs in advance, but there is no structured way to provide them.
“Last-minute supply lists make it hard to keep up.” – Student
Community as a Key Support System
Students often turn to friends and family instead of official campus resources.
There is a strong reliance on peer support, but no formalized structure to integrate it into mental health solutions.
“My mom is basically my therapist.” – Student
Mental Health Needs Are Often Overlooked
Many students don’t seek support until issues become unmanageable.
A lack of awareness and stigma prevents early intervention.
“I’m not going through anything detrimental… I guess that’s why I haven’t sought out resources.” – Student
Professors Play a Crucial Role, But Lack Training
Professors are often the first point of contact for struggling students.
While they have strong relationships with students, they lack formal mental health training.
“Smaller community means less exposure to the wider university system.” – Faculty
The Impact: Designing a Solution
Our research directly informed the creation of a prototype called The Artpost, a service designed to integrate mental health support into the CoFA student experience.
How It Would Work:
Syllabus Integration: Professors introduce Artpost on the first day of class.
Art Supply Access: Students can request supplies through their professors, reducing financial stress.
Mental Health Resources: Each request includes a mental health resource guide, normalizing conversations around well-being.
Faculty & Peer Support: Encourages students to connect with trusted professors and peers for guidance.
Student Reactions to the Prototype:
“It’s helpful knowing there’s somewhere I can go besides just being on my own.”
“This makes me feel like people actually care.”
With this feedback, we assumed by leveraging the natural relationships students have with professors and peers, the Artpost would create a low-barrier, familiar entry point to essential resources. However, the obstacle we determined was still prevalent.
Reflections & Next Steps - A Pivot
Upon reflection, our team recognized that mental health support must be seamlessly integrated into students' academic and social environments. While we initially envisioned the Artpost as a standalone resource, we found that creativity is fundamental to CoFA students’ success and not just a stepping point. This insight led us to a more sustainable peer-to-professor model, leveraging one of our existing insights: the trusted relationships between students and professors to create meaningful support.
Considering this, our next steps look like:
Launching a Peer-to-Professor Model
Having HealthyHorns facilitates conversations between peers and professors through student ambassadors.
Providing professors with structured tools to support mental health discussions.
Embedding Support in the Classroom
Co-designing low-lift mental health workshops within the coursework.
Gathering ongoing student-faculty feedback for continuous improvement.
Expanding Beyond CoFA
Piloting the model in other disciplines.
Tracking impact on well-being, academics, and retention.
This shift prioritizes relationships over isolated services, ensuring mental health support is accessible, relevant, and woven into the student experience.
