With the journey and assignment of Value Creators, choosing a topic was quite hard considering the endless ideas the team had. We knew for sure that we were all interested in mental well-being and nature. Considering how prominent mental well-being and in specific illnesses are currently, especially among students, we wanted to create value there where it is needed. The nature part came later in our journey, although our fondness for animals and nature made us undoubtedly want to combine the two, especially regarding the evidence that later would be found during our journey. With these topics our value creators journey started, how are we able to implement nature and mental well-being within students?
To guide us with our Value Creators journey, the 4E-model was used. We started our journey by doing a lot of research about the types of mental illnesses there are, their treatments and what causes them in global countries. With this information, the team got a better understanding of what exactly our topic meant. Besides our own research, we decided to contact stakeholders to get more information on the field of mental well-being and health through interviewing them. These stakeholders had a background in either animals and nature or health care, from which almost all of them supported with evidence the idea of nature improving mental well-being. With this information, our team set forward to create value regarding the mental well-being of students with the help of nature. Through our networking, we also came across Nature for Health, which wants to promote and use nature as a “natural medicine”. We also encountered Margreet who is a Changemaker in student well-being. With these two important stakeholders, we knew we had to find a way to make them interact and come in contact with each other, but how?
Considering the information we have received, we could come up with our own ideas as to what kind of value could be created within the system, but we wanted to see if there would be ideas we had not thought of ourselves. To get ideas or interventions regarding our topic, we decided to host a co-creation session with important stakeholders that were related to Windesheim and nature and mental well-being. With this co-creation, we were also able to initiate contact between different stakeholders and future collaborations, as we had wished for.
With the help of our networks and the co-creation session we decided we wanted to implement these ideas through a proposal mainly directed at the Windesheim board. Normally this would be done through an advisory report, although we thought this would not draw attention and not be exciting enough for the board members to read. To make an impression not only with the board but also with the students of Windesheim we have decided to create an advisory report in the form of a magazine. The magazine is an advisory report that is crafted as if it were already 2028, with all recommended measures successfully implemented. It features an article dedicated to each implemented change, detailing the vision, design, delving into research on the ideas' impact on mental health, and incorporating illustrations for clarity. Through this advisory magazine, we can spread advice that can not only help improve student mental well-being and nature but also possibly inspire students, lecturers, or board members to pursue the ideas of improving the mental well-being of students with the help of nature.
Our journey did have some major setbacks, with questions that could not be answered as quickly as we had hoped. We are proud of the ideas and solutions we came up with. With our Value Creators journey and product, we are hoping to make the ideas within our magazine a reality for the future of Windesheim in 2028. We want to make clear to the Windesheim board, students, and lecturers how important mental well-being is and how nature can be very effective in improving it.
The link to our final Value Creators product:
Want to get in contact with us or our network? Feel free to connect:
Tamar La Pierre: Tamarlap04@gmail.com, LinkedIn
Emma Flinzenberg: emmaflinzenberg@gmail.com, LinkedIn
Mirthe de Raadt: mirthederaadt@gmail.com, LinkedIn