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Show, don't tell - synthesise down to the essence

Situate into the near future context - future technology and people etc.

Say what you're gonna say, say it, say what you said - journey map - how is it realised?

Concept is key

Best design doesn't need an instruction manual

Tone of voice is important

Simple journey map - architecture of the big idea

For dossier, simplify the main idea into things that are important

Think about it from the user's perspective! The theory will show through

Ideas for game/ interactive things

Things that improve memory

Humans are highly social animals. We’re not meant to survive, let alone thrive, in isolation. Relationships stimulate our brains—in fact, interacting with others may be the best kind of brain exercise.

Research shows that having meaningful friendships and a strong support system are vital not only to emotional health, but also to brain health. In one recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline.

There are many ways to start taking advantage of the brain and memory-boosting benefits of socialising. Volunteer, join a club, make it a point to see friends more often, or reach out over the phone. And if a human isn’t handy, don’t overlook the value of a pet—especially the highly-social dog.

You’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine, and that holds true for the brain and the memory, as well as the body. Unlike emotional responses, which are limited to specific areas of the brain, laughter engages multiple regions across the whole brain.

Furthermore, listening to jokes and working out punch lines activates areas of the brain vital to learning and creativity. As psychologist Daniel Goleman notes in his book Emotional Intelligence, “laughter… seems to help people think more broadly and associate more freely.”

Looking for ways to bring more laughter in your life? Start with these basics:

• Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take ourselves less seriously is to talk about the times when we took ourselves too seriously.
• When you hear laughter, move toward it. Most of the time, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and try to join in.
• Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily—both at themselves and at life’s absurdities—and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.
• Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your loved oneshaving fun.
• Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing.

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/memory/how-to-improve-your-memory.htm

The benefits of play

While play is crucial for a child’s development, it is also beneficial for people of all ages. Play can add joy to life, relieve stress, supercharge learning, and connect you to others and the world around you. Play can also make work more productive and pleasurable.

You can play on your own or with a pet, but for greater benefits, play should involve at least one other person, away from the sensory-overload of electronic gadgets.

Play can:

• Relieve stress. Play is fun and can trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
• Improve brain function. Playing chess, completing puzzles, or pursuing other fun activities that challenge the brain can help prevent memory problems and improve brain function. The social interaction of playing with family and friends can also help ward off stress and depression.
• Stimulate the mind and boost creativity. Young children often learn best when they are playing—and that principle applies to adults, as well. You’ll learn a new task better when it’s fun and you’re in a relaxed and playful mood. Play can also stimulate your imagination, helping you adapt and problem solve.
• Improve relationships and your connection to others. Sharing laughter and fun can foster empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy with others. Play doesn’t have to be a specific activity; it can also be a state of mind. Developing a playful nature can help you loosen up in stressful situations, break the ice with strangers, make new friends, and form new business relationships.
• Keep you feeling young and energetic. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” Playing can boost your energy and vitality and even improve your resistance to disease, helping you feel your best.

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/benefits-of-play-for-adults.htm

Brain-Training Games

Scientists are beginning to better understand the specific mechanisms of how patterns of electrical pulses (called “spikes”) trigger a cascade of changes in neural circuits linked to learning and memory. In a report published in April of 2013, researchers from Tel Aviv University found that "stimulant-rich" environments and problem solving puzzles could be a contributing factor in preventing or delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in some people.

Researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have created a specialized video game that may help older people boost mental skills like handling multiple tasks at once. Dr. Adam Gazzaley of UCSF and colleagues published their findings in the September 2013 journal Nature.

In January of 2014, researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that as few as 10 sessions of cognitive training improved an older person’s reasoning ability and speed-of-processing for up to a decade after the intervention. If someone received additional "booster" sessions over the next three years, the improvements were even more dramatic.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201403/eight-habits-improve-cognitive-function

Massey helpful study techniques

Why didn't anyone tell me??

http://owll.massey.ac.nz/pdf/StudyUp_Schedule_sem_1_2016-FINAL.pdf

Visual Moodboard for rooftop

Survey Results

Precedents - rooftop bars Wellington

The Arborist

166 Willis Street 

http://www.thearborist.co.nz

Basque
8 Courtenay Place
http://basque.co.nz

Dirty Little Secret

7-8 Dixon Street

http://dirtylittlesecret.co.nz

Precedents for spaces

Cheshire Architects - Pilkingtons

Judges' Comments

A cottage garden in an urban jungle. Highly crafted, botanical, intricate, this project is simply very pretty. Materials and techniques are explored with sensitivity. Every detail is considered; achieving a poise between the feminine and masculine.

http://bestawards.co.nz/entries/spatial/pilkingtons/

Plants! Everybody likes plants. It's like a beautiful big comfortable glass house. Feels like outdoors but it's inside - maybe there could be glass walls so that the view isn't obstructed and it feels outdoorsy but can be used throughout the year - probably more of a compelling argument for the cost that it'd require to put something like this in place.

Hand-crafted, natural textures - natural spaces are good for the health of people - would this kind of natural texture be good too? Or maybe just wood - natural, sustainable resource.

Tennent + Brown Architects - Aro Ha Wellness Retreat

Judges' Comments

The stunning setting takes nothing away from this beautifully conceived, exquisitely detailed project. Every corner of every space evokes a sense of tranquility and wellbeing – the very reason for its existence.

http://bestawards.co.nz/entries/spatial/aro-h-wellness-retreat/

Panelled, translucent sections could break up the space or create shelter - easily replaced/fixed if one gets broken. Maybe there are materials made out of recycled milk bottles or something that would work. Or maybe something like this could be a kind of roof? 

More plants! Gardening is good for the soul (and peoples' mental health and reducing stress). Maybe a little garden oasis-type area would be good to transform the introvert from stressed to calm. Maybe keeping up or getting involved in the garden? Growing herbs? Flowers? I think shelter would be a necessity to make those things possible. Maybe a club could be responsible for the upkeep of the garden.

New Zealand is so beautiful!! How could we maximise the views from our spaces? Make the direction towards them somehow? Maybe games, activities that require more visual attention could be on the side closest to the road and calmer activities could enjoy the view more. 

Rooftops/balconies of blocks 4 and 5

Such nice (wasted) spaces! Both have sea views and a huge view of the campus and Wellington and are easily accessible and close for students if only we were allowed to use them. The balcony had a bit of a brisk wind but some designedly intervention could surely deal with that. The balcony in Block 1 is accessed via (is the private balcony of) the vice head of Facilities Management - nice one Massey. The hierarchy is real. And there is no furniture or anything so it's obviously not being used to its full advantage. The lady who let us out there said she wanted a bolted down outdoor table but couldn't get her way... Maybe project number 2 could be an outdoor staff space. So many possibilities! 

Why it's good to take breaks - what kinds of breaks we should be promoting/facilitating

2. Space out your study sessions over time.

It’s been known since classic 19th century educational psychology studies that people learn better when using multiple, short training episodes rather than one extended session. Two years ago, the Lynch and Gall labs found out why. They discovered a biological mechanism that contributes to the enhancing effect of spaced training: brain synapses encode memories in the hippocampus much better when activated briefly at one-hour intervals.

“This explains why prolonged ‘cramming’ is inefficient — only one set of synapses is being engaged,” said Lynch, professor of psychiatry, human behaviour and anatomy, and neurobiology. “Repeated short training sessions, spaced in time, engage multiple sets of synapses. It’s as if your brain is working at full power.”

3. Change up your study environment.

“The brain wants variation,” says Carey. “It wants to move, it wants to take periodic breaks. You don’t have to have the same chair, the same cubicle, the same room, to do your memorisation.”

5. Quiz yourself instead of re-reading.

“Repeated studying after learning had no effect on delayed recall, but repeated testing produced a large positive effect,”

6. Check in with yourself periodically.

You may think you have a good idea of what you have learned and what you have left to learn in a course or during a test prep session, but the more explicit about it you are, the better. Rather than assuming you’ve been absorbing everything you read, make a list of everything you actually remember. Then go back and see what concepts you’ve missed.

8. Look forward to forgetting.

Making mistakes while learning can benefit memory and lead to the correct answer, but only if the guesses are close-but-no-cigar ... near-miss guesses act as stepping stones for retrieval of the correct information — and this benefit is seen in younger and older adults.

Bjork agrees, adding that forgetting can actually be good for the brain. In fact, it can serve as a powerful spam filter. Under a principle she calls “desirable difficulty,” when the brain has to work hard to retrieve a half-forgotten memory, it re-doubles the strength of that memory.

If you sit down to study a load of material, “of course you’re not going to remember most of it the next day,” Carey adds. You do have to go back and build your knowledge. “But it’s not that you don’t remember well, or you’re not a good learner. It’s that forgetting is a critical part of learning.

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/how-does-the-brain-learn-best-10-smart-studying-strategies/

http://www.youramazingbrain.org/brainchanges/stressbrain.htm

Survey draft

How do Massey students actually feel about taking breaks? Well, the John category - maybe give them some options to find out if they identify with that persona?

1. "John is stressed out about his large workload and needs to take some time out to clear his head, but surprisingly the feelings of guilt outweigh the benefits."

How accurate is this persona in describing your uni life?

Amen to that!
Pretty accurate.
Not at all, I have a good balance.
What benefits?

2. What do you find challenging about balancing study and other commitments? Work, social life, relationships etc.?

3. Where do you usually study? What makes this place good for studying?

4. How important is a work-life balance to you? Do you think you have one?

5. Describe your study style in one sentence/5 words?

6. Describe Massey in 3 words.

7. How do you think a world-class university would treat it's students?


_____________________________________________________________
Redefined questions.

1. Whats the biggest challenge you have when maintaining social life?

2. Where do you usually study? Describe your ideal study environment?

3. How well do you feel you balance your study/social life? 1 being not well at all and 5 I have a great balance. 

4. How often do you take breaks while studying?

5. Describe your study style in one sentence/5 words?

Synthesising our target user and big idea

Point of View Statement:

John is consumed with stress over his workload and needs to take a break and clear his headspace, but surprisingly the feelings of guilt outweigh the perceived benefits.

Big Idea:

Our big idea is to help students to achieve an overall more positive and proactive university experience (and life) by building their emotional intelligence and resilience. We want to achieve this by a) convincing students of the necessity/possibility/desirability of having a work-life balance and b) facilitating this through a space or programme for regular and effectual study breaks.


University ethos? Lecturer involvement? Students contributing, getting involved in more than just their papers? Sharing, two-way dialogue - university as an experience - touchpoints - classroom, outside of classroom, uni breaks - it's the self-motivated, self-directed learning that we're interested in. We want people to be healthy and happy. Maybe a focus on enjoyment and learning rather than quantitative achievements? Self-satisfaction? Peer relationships, feedback? Safety net?

This is what world-class universities are doing - it's not great! The teaching is good but the other stuff needs work...

"[I]nstead of a normative commitment to independence, promoting greater equality requires a system of social support that will encourage and facilitate forms of social interaction that are not based on individual competitiveness."

"During the second term of the current government, there has been an evident shift ... in which the value of a university education is discussed primarily in economic terms - in its value to the individual in terms of lifetime earnings and value to the economy as a whole in terms of contributions to industrial growth."

"Students are to become customers in an educational market in which courses are differentiated by price. I searched the white paper almost in vain for any inkling that higher education might be about knowledge creation, the search for truth, the pursuit of scholarship or personal growth and self-discovery, let alone the recognition of its role in strengthening democracy though an educated citizenry. Instead, the dual role of the university proposed in the paper is to advance economic prosperity through utilitarian research and to promote social inclusion through widening access."

"Current practices have exacerbated the competitive, masculinist, long-hours culture of university departments in which individualized performances are now apparently, in the recent pay proposals, to be rewarded ... In this evolving university hierarchy, the discourse is dominated by how to be more competitive, ... rather than debates about how to produce a more congenial and supportive environment in universities or to challenge the dominant codes of cultural capital that reproduce a predominantly white, straight, male, middle-class body of university teachers." 

http://phg.sagepub.com/content/28/2/145.full.pdf+html - so interesting!

  

Taking Breaks Info

Spaces and activities that improve mental health

NATURAL BLUE SPACES - OCEANS, WATERWAYS - SPECIFICALLY WELLINGTON RESEARCH

Researchers from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and Michigan State University looked at the visibility of blue and green spaces for residents in Wellington, New Zealand.

The research, published in this month’s issue of Health & Place, found that living in a residence with a view of the ocean was associated with improved mental health.

Although Wellington is a urbanized capital city, it is nestled next to the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The researchers then compared this topography data with information gathered from the New Zealand Health Survey, which was used to assess anxiety and mood disorders.

However, while you may think that this effect was due to being near “the great outdoors” in general, the study specifically found that green space did not have the same effect. 

In a statement, study co-author Amber Pearson explained why this might be: “It could be because the blue space was all natural, while the green space included human-made areas, such as sports fields and playgrounds, as well as natural areas such as native forests. Perhaps if we only looked at native forests we might find something different.”

http://www.iflscience.com/brain/living-near-sea-can-help-improve-mental-health

GARDENING - HOME AND COMMUNITY - NZ RESEARCH

Gardens and environmental restoration projects
There is a long history of gardening in New Zealand, both in private gardens and through different forms of communal gardening, amongst Māori and Pākeha (Dawson 2010; Earle 2011). Gardening was an integral part of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) and gardening work was carried out communally. Various customary use practices of cultural harvest have continued to the present, although to a much more restricted extent than in earlier times. A recent Waitangi Tribunal report on how New Zealand law and policy have affected Māori culture and identity (the ‘Wai 262’ enquiry) documents the fundamental importance of taonga (treasured) plant and animal species to modern Māori in terms of their identity and kaitiakitanga (guardianship) (Waitangi Tribunal 2011). This particularly applies to plant species used in rongoā (traditional healing) and thus plays an important role in Māori concepts of HWB.

A recent study of gardens in the ecology and society of Dunedin City examined, among other things, the relationship of householders to their gardens, some of which included native biodiversity components (Van Heezink et al. 2012; Freeman et al. 2012). The authors documented the health and recreation benefits of gardens in Dunedin, largely through stress reduction. Social connections and capital were also enhanced through gardening, as was a sense of environmental stewardship.
In a summary of New Zealand research on community gardens, Earle (2011) documented how, in the last few years, the New Zealand health sector has begun to identify gardening as a possible public health intervention to help reduce the high prevalence of avoidable chronic health conditions among disadvantaged communities. The research involved interviewing 35 community garden coordinators and other stakeholders in Auckland and Wellington, who described a range of health benefits for the participating individuals, families/whānau and communities, including improved nutrition, increased physical activity, increased social capital, and enhanced mental and spiritual health. Earle (2011) noted that if community gardens foster an inclusive approach, they could also help to reduce inequalities by allowing people who may normally be excluded from community groups to become involved. Whether community gardening or environmental restoration groups are more inclusive than other groups does not appear to have been researched. However, a survey of farmers participating in restoration activities in the Maungatautari Mountain restoration project (Waikato) documented self-reported benefits of involvement, principally in terms of increased social connectivity (Roche & Rolley 2011). 

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/science-and-technical/sfc321entire.pdf

OUR JOB IS TO FACILITATE A TRANSFORMATION FROM FEELING STRESSED/PRESSURED TO RELAXED/COPING

Common signs of stress

How you might feel:
irritable, aggressive, impatient or wound up over-burdened anxious, nervous or afraid like your thoughts are racing and you can't switch off neglected or lonely	depressed uninterested in life like you've lost your sense of humour a sense of dread worried about your health unable to enjoy yourself

How you might behave:
finding it hard to make decisions avoiding situations that are troubling you snapping at people biting your nails picking at your skin	unable to concentrate eating too much or too little smoking or drinking alcohol more than usual restless, like you can't sit still feeling tearful or crying

What causes stress?

Feelings of stress are normally triggered by things happening in your life which involve:
• being under lots of pressure
• facing big changes
• worrying about something
• not having much or any control over the outcome of a situation 
• having responsibilities that you're finding overwhelming
• not having enough work, activities or change in your life

How you might be physically affected:
shallow breathing or hyperventilating you might have a panic attack blurred eyesight or sore eyes problems getting to sleep, staying asleep or having nightmares sexual problems, such as losing interest in sex or being unable to enjoy sex	tired all the time grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw headaches chest pains high blood pressure indigestion or heartburn constipation or diarrhoea feeling sick, dizzy or fainting

How can I deal with pressure?

Identify your triggers

Working out what triggers stress for you can help you anticipate problems and think of ways to solve them. 

Organise your time

Making some adjustments to the way you organise your time could help you feel more in control of any tasks you're facing, and more able to handle pressure.

• Identify your best time of day, and do the important tasks that need the most energy and concentration at that time. 
• Make a list of things you have to do. Arrange them in order of importance, and try to focus on the most urgent first. 
• Vary your activities. Balance interesting tasks with more mundane ones, and stressful tasks with those you find easier or can do more calmly.
• Try not to do too much at once. If you take on too much, you might find it harder to do any individual task well. This can make you feel like you have even more pressure on you.
• Take breaks and take things slowly. It might be difficult to do this when you're stressed, but it can make you more productive.

Address some of the causes of stress

Although there will probably lots of things in your life that you can't do anything about, there might still be some practical ways you could to resolve or improve some of the issues that are putting pressure on you. 

Accept the things you can't change

It's not easy, but accepting that there are some things happening to you that you probably can't do anything about will help you focus your time and energy more productively.

How can I become more emotionally resilient?
Taking steps to look after your wellbeing can help you deal with pressure, and reduce the impact that stress has on your life. This is sometimes called developing emotional resilience – the ability to adapt and bounce back when something difficult happens in your life.

Make some lifestyle changes
There are some general changes that you can make to your lifestyle that could help you feel more able to cope with pressure and stressful situations. You can:

• Practice being straightforward and assertive in communicating with others. If people are making unreasonable or unrealistic demands on you, be prepared to tell them how you feel and say no.
  
• Use relaxation techniques. You may already know what helps you relax, like having a bath, listening to music or taking your dog for a walk. If you know that a certain activity helps you feel more relaxed, make sure you set aside time to do it. (See our web pages on relaxation for lots more ideas.)
  
• Develop your interests and hobbies. Finding an activity that's completely different from the things causing you stress is a great way to get away from everyday pressures. If stress is making you feel lonely or isolated, shared hobbies can also be a good way to meet new people.

• Make time for your friends. When you've got a lot on this might seem hard, but it can help you feel more positive and less isolated. Chatting to friends about the things you find difficult can help you keep things in perspective – and you can do the same for them. Laughing and smiling with them will also produce hormones that help you to relax.
• Find balance in your life. You may find that one part of your life, such as your job or taking care of young children, is taking up almost all of your time and energy. Try making a decision to focus some of your energy on other parts of your life, like family, friends or hobbies. It's not easy, but this can help spread the weight of pressures in your life, and make everything feel lighter.

Look after your physical health

Taking steps to look after your physical health can help you manage stress and lessen the impact on your overall mental health. For example:

• Get good sleep. Stress can make it difficult for you to sleep, and you may develop sleep problems. Being well-rested can increase your ability to deal with difficult situations. (See our booklet How to cope with sleep problems for more information.)
  
• Be more physically active. Physical activity is important for reducing stress levels and preventing some of its damaging effects on the body (so long as you don't overdo it).
  
• Eat healthily. When you're stressed, it can be tempting to eat too much of the wrong kinds of food or to eat too little. But what you eat, and when you eat, can make a big difference to how well you feel.
  

Give yourself a break
Learning to be kinder to yourself in general can help you control the amount of pressure you feel in different situations, which can help you feel less stressed.

• Reward yourself for achievements – even small things like finishing
  a piece of work or making a decision. You could take a walk, read a book, treat yourself to food you enjoy, or simply tell yourself "well done".
  
• Get a change of scenery. You might want to go outside, go to a friend’s house or go to a café for a break – even if it's just for a short time.
  
• Take a break or holiday. Time away from your normal routine can help you relax and feel refreshed. Even spending a day in a different place can help you feel more able to face stress.
  
• Resolve conflicts, if you can. Although this can sometimes be hard, speaking to a manager, colleague or family member about problems in your relationship with them can help you find ways to move forward.
  

Use your support network

Remember that whatever you're going through that's causing you stress, you don't have to cope with it alone.

• Friends and family. Sometimes just telling the people close to you how you're feeling can make a big difference – and they might be able to help you out in other ways too.

• Support at work, such as your line manager, human resources (HR) department, union representatives, or employee assistance schemes. Try not to worry that talking to your manager or colleagues about stress will be seen as a sign of weakness – your wellbeing is important and responsible employers will take it seriously. 

What treatments are there for stress?

Talking treatments
Talking with a trained professional can help you learn to deal with stress and become more aware of your own thoughts and feelings. Common types of talking treatments which can help with stress are:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which helps you understand your thought patterns, recognise your trigger points and identify positive actions you can take. 
  
• Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR), which combines mindfulness, meditation and yoga with a particular focus on reducing stress. The Be Mindful website provides more guidance on mindfulness, including how to find a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course.
  

Ecotherapy

Ecotherapy is a way of improving your wellbeing and self-esteem by spending time in nature. This can include physical exercise in green spaces or taking part in a gardening or conservation project. 

Complementary and alternative therapies

You may find certain alternative therapies help you manage feelings of stress. These might include acupuncture, aromatherapy, massage or Traditional Chinese Medicine. 

http://www.mind.org.uk/media/1993364/how-to-manage-stress_2015.pdf

Rising to the Challenge
The Mental Health and Addiction Service Development Plan 2012–2017 

http://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/rising-to-the-challenge-mental-health-addiction-service-development-plan-v2.pdf

Youth Mental Health Project

http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/mental-health-and-addictions/youth-mental-health-project