Specialist Mentors for Mental Health (MH) and Autism Spectrum (AS)
Support available to students whose studies are affected by long-term mental health and/or autism-related conditions.
MH and AS Specialist Mentors provide support to students with long term mental health and/or autism-related conditions. Support is available to students studying at all degree levels.
The focus of MH and AS Mentor support is on student academic progression (including perfectionism, procrastination, time-management) as well as wellbeing strategies including sleep hygiene, healthy eating, exercise regimes and relaxation techniques.
MH and AS Specialist Mentors will NOT act as a therapist or counsellor and will signpost students to appropriate external agencies for additional and alternative support as required.
New students can expect to receive the following pattern of sessions, though each student’s support will be assessed on an individual basis:
Summary of sessions:
- Session 1 – Introduction, further explanation of mentoring support and planning.
- Sessions 2 & 3 – Commencement of support, rapport and trust building, assess future support requirements
- Sessions 4 onwards – fortnightly sessions for academic progression and well-being support.
Specialist Mentor appointments will be tailored to the specific needs of students and will include one or more of the following appointment types:
- Office based face-to-face
- Walking
- MS Teams/Skype/Zoom
- Telephone
Supplementary support can be available to students through a variety of facilitated peer support groups.
How can I sign up for Specialist Mentor support?
- Register with the Disability & Learning Support Service
- Provide suitable supporting documentation/medical evidence
- Apply for funding to cover the cost of your study skills support - your advisor will discuss this process with you at your appointment.
NB: There may be a waiting period of a number of weeks for mentoring support to begin depending on demand for appointments, your supporting documentation, and/or your funding provider, and, at present, our Service is unable to provide this support to new students who are eligible for Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) funding. In these cases, support will be provided by a professional agency determined in each case by the DSA funding body.