How It’s Used – University of Minnesota

Below are several samples of how the Mental Health and Well-Being Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) has been applied across research, education and professional practice.

This SEM is a “big-picture” tool based on a synthesis of available literature. We invite you to consider how this literature informs your mental wellbeing work. It is not designed to provide immediate medical or crisis support.

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Supporting Parents During Times of Stress

A University-Community educator used the model with parents to brainstorm ways to support their own mental flourishing during times of stress. A deep exploration of the model offered insight about why parents experienced struggle, which situations are beyond their control to change and where they could focus to support their healing.

Therapy session between a man and a woman

Enhancing Clinical Education

A clinical psychologist integrated the model into practitioner training to illustrate the “beautiful complexity” of human development. By moving beyond simplistic, individual-level pathology, the framework allowed trainees to embrace a multi-modal and multidisciplinary approach to mental health.

<time datetime="2026-03-10T22:27:15+00:00">March 10, 2026</time> | <a href="https://sem.umn.edu/author/umnsem/">umnsem</a>

Informing Global Health Research

A doctoral researcher applied the model’s socio-ecological framing to study adolescent mental health in an urban international setting. Building on this structure, they developed a “critical ecological model” to examine how structural inequalities and systemic marginalization influenced youth experiences during a global pandemic.

<time datetime="2026-03-10T22:27:06+00:00">March 10, 2026</time> | <a href="https://sem.umn.edu/author/umnsem/">umnsem</a>

Mapping Social Interventions

A graduate student used the model as a framework for a content analysis of social prescribing interventions. By mapping these services against the model’s different “layers,” they identified critical gaps where community and societal-level factors are being overlooked in current practice.

<time datetime="2026-03-10T22:26:53+00:00">March 10, 2026</time> | <a href="https://sem.umn.edu/author/umnsem/">umnsem</a>

Teaching Undergraduate Mental Health

A university instructor incorporated the model into an undergraduate course “PubH 1001: Success Over Stress” to help students examine their personal “spheres of influence.” The visual tool served as a foundation for students to analyze policy, systems and environmental changes while sharing perspectives on bystander and upstander strategies.

Broadening Counseling Frameworks

Researchers utilized the model in a manuscript to explore wellness for populations often ignored in academic literature, such as individuals adding a child to their family. The framework helped equip mental health counselors with a holistic view, ensuring they could maximize wellness by considering factors at every level of the socio-ecological spectrum. See “Promoting Wellness for an Inclusive Perinatal Population: Strategies for Counselors” in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling (2023).

Applying Health Literacy to Communities

A graduate-level health literacy course used the mental health and well-being SEM as a central tool for a community needs and assets assessment. Students evaluated existing programs through the lens of the model to better understand the myriad factors impacting health attitudes and behaviors within specific populations.

Cite the Model

The suggested citation for this interactive model is:

Erickson, P.J., Cermak, A., Michaels, C., Blake, L., Lynn, A., Greylord, T., Benning, S., & Lattimore, E. (DATE). Mental health and well-being ecological model. Center for Leadership Education in Maternal & Child Public Health, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Retrieved DATE from https://sem.umn.edu.