Beyond the campus counsellor: emotionally intelligent virtual companions and the hidden emotional work of student social inclusion

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

Purpose This study aims to explore the emotional work that is not often recognized in relation to social inclusion of students and proposes that the work of the university mental health must go beyond the conventional counselling model, highlighting the demands of emotional processes and continuous work that students put into developing a sense of belonging, keeping connections, regulating emotions, and contributing to the campus communities. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the recovery-oriented mental health viewpoints, social inclusion literature and emerging research on emotionally intelligent digital support, to form a perspective on the use of emotionally intelligent virtual companions (EIVCs) in the context of higher education mental health ecosystems. EIVCs are seen as supplementary emotional support resources, which could help with self-management, emotional processing, emotional resilience and the continuation of emotional support, not as an alternative to mental health professional services. Findings The paper takes the view that current university mental health systems mainly focus on recognizing and intervening with visible psychological distress, and support to students’ ongoing emotional efforts to maintain inclusion and achieve inclusion is limited. It has been suggested that EIVCs could help develop emotional awareness, coping strategies and proactive help seeking behaviours between formal support encounters. Research limitations/implications This study is a viewpoint paper and does not offer any empirical evidence of the emotional difficulties faced by students’ social inclusion nor assess lived experiences of students’ with EIVCs. Further studies on the effectiveness, ethical issues, accessibility and long-term influence of EIVCs in different education environments are recommended. Practical implications The paper emphasizes the necessity of the creation of recovery-oriented and inclusive support ecosystems in universities, which combine counselling services, peer networks, community involvement initiatives, emotional literacy programmes, as well as responsible digital innovations. These can help reinforce students’ empowerment and self-management, and their social participation. Originality/value This paper is a contribution in reframing the issue of student social inclusion as an emotional process and shedding light on the often-neglected emotional work needed for students to grow into a sense of belonging to and participation in University communities.