At the plenary session “Students’ Well-Being: Helping the Youth for a Hope-Filled Future: An Ignatian Guide to Spiritual and Mental Health,” leaders and educators from Jesuit universities gathered to address the urgent mental health challenges facing today’s students. With youth mental health concerns escalating globally, panelists emphasized institutional responsibility—and opportunity—to embed care, resilience, and meaning into the student experience using Ignatian values as a compass.

Dr. Carlos Gómez (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia) called attention to the scope of the crisis: most mental health conditions begin before age 25, and one in five university students may be struggling. He emphasized universities’ duty not just to respond to crises, but to prevent them. Leaders must dismantle stigma, invest in staff training, and proactively address root causes like loneliness, fear, and digital overexposure.

Dr. Anna B. Moreland (Villanova University, USA) outlined three common student struggles—choice paralysis, lack of leisure, and loneliness—and paired each with Ignatian responses:

· Ignatian Discernment Practice helps students navigate major life choices with reflective tools instead of binary thinking. Providing concrete positive models is an important part of this processs.

· Cura personalis invites a renewed approach to leisure as a vital space for renewal and identity formation.

· The Ignatian Practice of Detachment fosters resilience by encouraging students to release fear of failure and rejection and embrace authentic relationships.

Her recommendation: Jesuit institutions should boldly reclaim Ignatian language and practices, modeling healthy, hope-filled ways of living and learning.

Dr. Regina Hechanova Alampay (Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines) presented Ateneo’s tiered model of mental health care—universal prevention, targeted intervention, and intensive support—emphasizing the success of the required “Understanding the Self” course. This interdisciplinary, module-based course promotes psychological insight and holistic well-being through themes like “paradox of the self,” “self as body, mind affect,” and “self as life narrative.” It reflects a proactive, scalable approach that can be embedded into curricula across disciplines.

She also highlighted the Katatagan Plus program, a structured resilience-building group intervention that develops adaptive coping strategies by blending psychological tools with spiritual reflection. A randomized controlled trial showed significant gains in well-being and coping, and its use of paraprofessional facilitators makes it feasible even in resource-constrained settings. Both programs underscore the power of combining education and formation in building student well-being.

Dr. Neeta Pereira (St. Joseph’s University, India) emphasized the role of universities in challenging harmful social norms. She underscored the value of countercultural safe spaces and initiatives like Samagra (holistic wellness), IGNITORS (life skills training), and Kairos (gratitude-based reflection), which address relationship challenges, identity formation, and spiritual growth.

Across all interventions, the core recommendation was clear: listen deeply to students. Jesuit university strategic plans and budgets should center mental health and well-being, not as add-ons but as fundamental to the university mission. Tailoring programs to local cultures is essential, as is sustained investment in faculty capacity and cross-departmental trust. Jesuit institutions are uniquely positioned to lead in this space—through care that is personal, spiritual, and transformative.