{"id":39526,"date":"2025-11-06T12:34:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/?page_id=39526"},"modified":"2026-07-19T15:59:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:59:28","slug":"mental-and-social-support-center","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/centers\/mental-and-social-support-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental and Social Support Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vision<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To build a resilient, inclusive university community in which every student and staff member is supported in their mental health and social well-being, empowered to learn, engage and contribute to society with confidence and purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mission<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • To provide accessible, evidence-based psychological and social support services to all students and staff of SPU, helping them to navigate personal, academic and social challenges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • To foster a campus culture of mental-health awareness, peer support, social connectedness and help-seeking behavior working in partnership with faculties, departments and student organizations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • To promote social inclusion, reduce stigma around mental health, strengthen interpersonal skills and build resilience so that the SPU community thrives academically, socially and personally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • To collaborate with the Ministry of Higher Education, external mental social service agencies, and community partners to ensure best practices, professional standards and continuity of care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Objectives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • To offer confidential counselling, guidance and support services addressing mental health, emotional well-being, social adjustment, academic stress and life transitions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To provide early-intervention and preventive programmes (workshops, awareness events, peer-support groups) aimed at building resilience, coping skills, stress management and healthy social relationships.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To create a safe, welcoming environment where students and staff feel comfortable seeking help, sharing concerns and accessing support without stigma.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To monitor and assess the well-being of the university community (via surveys, focus groups, feedback) and use the data to inform service development, policy advocacy and intervention strategies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To integrate with academic, administrative and student-life units of SPU (for example Student Affairs, Health Services, Career Development) to coordinate support pathways and referral mechanisms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To develop training and capacity-building for staff, faculty and student-leaders in recognising distress, providing basic first-line support, and guiding onward referral.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • To maintain the highest professional and ethical standards in counselling and social support, and to collaborate with regional and national experts in mental health and student welfare.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Services Provided<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Individual counselling: One-to-one meetings with trained counsellors for issues such as anxiety, depression, academic stress, adjustment difficulties, relationship problems, grief and loss, identity concerns, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Group interventions & workshops: Sessions on topics such as stress & time management, coping with change, building resilience, effective communication, conflict resolution, study-life balance, peer-support training.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Peer-support programmes: Training of peer-mentors\/champions who can provide first-line listening and sign-posting to the Centre, fostering student-to-student support networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Social inclusion & community-building activities: Events, clubs and initiatives aimed at creating connectedness (e.g., social mixers, support groups for diverse student populations, mental-health awareness campaigns, guest lectures).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Referral & liaison: Coordination with SPU Health Centre, external mental-health services, social-services agencies and specialised care providers for students or staff requiring stronger intervention.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Crisis intervention & follow-up: Systems for responding to urgent mental-health or social-welfare crises, assessment of risk, safety planning, and follow-through on support.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Training & capacity-building: Workshops for faculty, staff and student leaders on mental-health literacy, identifying signs of distress, responding to students in difficulty, and creating mentally-healthy classrooms\/environments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Monitoring and evaluation: Regular surveys of student and staff well-being, tracking service usage and outcomes, feedback collection, and continuous improvement of support programmes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n
        \n
        \n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        CONTACT<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Email: mental.social.center@spu.edu.iq
        Address: Presidency of Sulaimani Polytechnic University, 3rd floor Wrme Street 327\/76, Qrga, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq
        P.O. Box: 70-236<\/p>\n\n\n\n


        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Vision To build a resilient, inclusive university community in which every student and staff member is supported in their mental health and social well-being, empowered to learn, engage and contribute to society with confidence and purpose. Mission To provide accessible, evidence-based psychological and social support services to all students and staff of SPU, helping them …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":39359,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-39526","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39526"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43673,"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39526\/revisions\/43673"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spu.edu.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}