5.6.6 Women’s mentoring schemes

Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) runs women’s mentoring schemes that give female students access to mentoring, psychological support and counselling throughout their university life. In 2025, the schemes were delivered through four activities: 1) the H Empathy Project of the Faculty of Humanities, 2) a mentor training workshop that prepared psychology students to act as mentors, 3) a basic mental health support training for the Faculty of Humanities, and 4) the SWU SMILE counselling and mentoring service, which is open to every SWU student.

The schemes are not just for one or two students. Each activity was designed with capacity for many women, and women made up the clear majority of participants. Across the three mentoring activities held in October and November 2025, women accounted for an average of 82.4% of participants: 85% in the H Empathy Project, about 90% in the mentor training and 72.2% in the basic mental health support training. SWU SMILE is open to all female students, so the scheme has the capacity for at least 10% of female students to participate. In 2025, women made up 69.7% of SWU SMILE service users, and women make up 70% of its psychologists, so female students can be mentored and counselled by female professionals when they prefer. Together, these activities show that SWU’s women’s mentoring schemes have a significant impact on female students. Evidence of every activity is publicly available on the university’s and faculty’s official channels.

1) H Empathy Project: mentoring workshops for first-year students

The Student Development and Special Affairs Unit, Faculty of Humanities, together with the Bachelor of Science Program in Psychology, invited first-year students from every program in the Faculty of Humanities to join the H Empathy Project (โครงการมนุษย์เติมใจ). The project offered 4 psychological mentoring workshops that build positive characteristics and skills for new students:

(1) “Compassionate Navigation”, developing self-compassion, Monday 10 November 2025

(2) “Knock Knock! New Friends”, developing positive communication and relationship building, Monday 10 November 2025

(3) “A Journey Within”, developing self-love, Monday 17 November 2025

(4) “My Show Must Grow On”, developing self-esteem, Monday 17 November 2025

All workshops took place in Room 262, Humanities Building 2. Participants received snacks and activity materials, and the activities were recorded as elective activities in their student activity records. Female students made up 85% of all participants. This shows that the project has capacity for many women and that female students are the main group receiving mentoring through it.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Et4nZyaox/

2) Mentor training workshop: preparing women to mentor other women

On 20 October 2025, the Student Development and Special Affairs Unit, Faculty of Humanities, held a mentor training session under the H Empathy Project for third-year students in the Bachelor of Science Program in Psychology. An independent counselling psychologist served as the expert mentor. The first aim of the training was to care for the participants themselves. The mentor gave them counselling and promoted their physical and mental well-being, so that they were ready before taking on the role of caring for others. The mentor then passed on the knowledge and skills needed to design and run psychological workshops.

After the training, these students designed and led the 4 workshops for first-year Humanities students on 10 and 17 November 2025. About 90% of participants were women. Women therefore benefited from the scheme in two ways. They received mentoring and counselling from an expert, and they developed into mentors who extend that care to younger female students and other women. Support passes from women to women and reaches more female students.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FBJK5Hfem/

3) Basic Mental Health Support for Students: equipping women to support female students

On 9 October 2025, SWU held “Basic Mental Health Support for Students”, a training on basic student mental health care for the Faculty of Humanities. The training aimed to strengthen basic knowledge of student mental health care, set out first-line practice guidelines, and establish a standard system and mechanism for supporting student mental health within the faculty. Women made up 72.2% of participants. The women who completed the training are prepared to give first-line care and counselling within the faculty, particularly to female students.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FKAxc8wZh/

4) SWU SMILE: counselling and mentoring by female psychologists

SWU SMILE is the university’s service for promoting student well-being. It brings mental health care for students together in one place, widens access to counselling and builds awareness of mental health for every student at Srinakharinwirot University. Students can book appointments with psychologists through the SWU SMILE website. Women make up 70% of the psychologists in the programme. SWU therefore has the capacity to support and counsel many women, and female students can choose to be mentored and counselled by a woman. Because the service is open to all female students, it has the capacity for at least 10% of female students to participate.

Female students also make up the clear majority of those who use the service. Of all students who used SWU SMILE counselling and mentoring services in 2025, 69.7% were women and 30.3% were men. More than 2 in 3 service users were female students, which shows that the scheme reaches many women and has a significant impact on female students in practice.

Source: https://swusmile.swu.ac.th/psychologist?page=1

Conclusion

Through these schemes, SWU offers women’s mentoring with significant impact: a high share of female participants, women trained to become mentors for other women, a counselling service in which 69.7% of users are women, and a team of psychologists that is 70% female and available to every student. Together, they support the confidence, well-being and success of women at the university, and all evidence is publicly available. This work reflects SWU’s focus on women’s progress measures, using mentoring and counselling to reach as many female students as possible.