Student Mental Health Strategy
Student Mental Health Strategy
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Mental Health Support

We recognise that University can be challenging and overwhelming at times, and we want students to be able to access the support they need.

'Mental Health Support' is one of the four priority areas of the University's Student Mental Health Strategy, alongside: Leadership; Mental Health Promotion; and Impact.

Mental Health Strategy - Support

Our aim

  • We want to provide effective student support services which are easy to access and meet a wide range of student needs.
  • We want to support improved mental health and wellbeing at key points of student transition.
  • We want to provide effective training and support for staff relating to student mental health and wellbeing.
  • We aim for effective collaborative working within the University and strong partnerships with external organisations to support student mental health and wellbeing.
  • We want to learn from national and international best practice, aspiring to a sector-leading approach.

What we are currently doing

  • We provide an extensive range of high quality student support services, including our Student Counselling Service, Student Disability Service, Chaplaincy and Residence Life.
  • Our wide-ranging review of personal tutoring and student support has proposed an ‘evolved’ student support model for the University, with enhanced mental health support in mind, alongside delivering other improvements.
  • Our staff development provision and training programme aims to help staff to support students with mental health difficulties.
  • We have established student support networks both at pan-University and College levels to foster good practice among staff with student support responsibilities.
  • We have put case referral routes in place to support staff to help students in distress.
  • Our local NHS/HE partnership project “Thrive” aims to improve mental health support for our students.

What we want to do in future

  • We plan to implement an ‘evolved’ student support system across the University, delivering improved support for student wellbeing, as well as proactive skills development, awareness raising activities and community building in Colleges and Schools.
  • We will work to sustain additional investment in student services, with post-pandemic priorities in mind.
  • We will strengthen case referral, escalation and management arrangements within a ‘whole system’ approach to student mental health.
  • We will seek to develop additional peer-peer services supporting student wellbeing.
  • We will enhance mental health support at key points of student transition, building on improved student induction/ orientation support, with specific reference to inclusion and welcoming of students from diverse backgrounds.
  • We will review staff development relating to student mental health, ensuring that training is focused on staff roles across all student groups through our Professional Development Framework– and that we have coherence across the range of provision.
  • We will progress our work with NHS partners, seeking tangible service improvements for students.
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