You-Too: a Mental Health Methodology for University Students

A new teaching-learning methodology has been created under the name: You-Too, which focuses on individual needs and relies on the inherent motivational power behind these needs rather than attempts to solve real or perceived social problems. The You-Too methodology is a group- and art-based teaching-learning methodology imbued with mental health elements and is designed primarily for university students. Group members are encouraged to cooperate closely with the aim of creating an animated movie addressing a particular social problem of their choice (e.g. racism, gender, climate change, refugees, homophobia, social inequalities). Alienation and loneliness are a growing trend among students in higher education; instead of having classes with permanent groups of students, the freedom to choose classes and class times have produced isolated and alienated individuals in many institutions. Most of them also work to make money, which, in fact, translates to studying becoming an additional activity in an accelerated march towards adulthood, rather than a primary goal which is accompanied by a few hours of regular money-making activity. Expectations on performance are high, even first-year students are already eyeing and preparing for the labour market; they are being forced to choose their classes and teachers very thoughtfully and tactfully: grades, letters of recommendation are crucial and there is a real stake at hand: student loans, and future repayment of home loans. And it appears as if the individuals themselves were the number one and sole responsible agents for their poor state of mental health and burnout. The three pillars of the developed methodology are self-knowledge, project discipline, and aesthetics for its own sake. The You-Too methodology has been tested with university students, disadvantaged primary school students living in a small country settlement in Borsod County, as well as special education teachers and social workers (see end of this paper for the list). This present paper sets out to outline the theoretical background and the main features of the methodology, and also describes the cultural and anthropological observations we made during times the method was put into practice.