The Student Lifestyle: Accessing Support

Callum discusses the student lifestyle and accessing support at University

- Callum - Centre for Mental Health

For as long as there have been students, there has been the notion of a ‘Student Lifestyle’. Across all sections of society, including the student body itself, there is an expectation that students must lower their standards for living. Students are meant to be poor, to have low quality housing, and to drink to excess. Moreover, the ‘Student Bubble’ means that students are excluded – and exclude themselves – from the wider community; this absurd way of life is normalised through exclusive exposure.

 
But what is this doing to our students? And how has it changed in recent times? As a student of 7 years (BSc, MSci, PhD), I have lived as part of a shifting student world. I have seen playful conversations about poor housing turn into desperate fears of homelessness. I have seen social drink-and-drug-use descend into chronic dependency. I have seen inadequate support disappear in its entirety, and people left to deal with their struggles.

 
It is well established that insecure housing, poverty, and isolation are risk factors for mental ill health. As much as by biological factors, mental health is dependent on social determinants like these. The student lifestyle is not something that is aspired to. Instead, it is driven by unfair employment laws, insufficient renters’ rights, and a tacit institutional endorsement of harmful cultural norms.

 
These key issues are identified and addressed in the Student Mental Health Manifesto. In this manifesto, Student Minds highlight the societal barriers between students and good mental health. By writing this blog, I hope to echo their sentiment, and explore how these factors have changed during my seven years as a student. Being a student does not exclude you from your right to health; the demands in Student Mind’s manifesto can address these inequalities. A mentally healthier nation for all, must include students too.

When I started university, I found myself in a state of flux. I was, for better or worse, becoming an adult. As for many people, this was a tumultuous time for me. I had moved to a new city - away from my friends and family - to study a subject I knew little about. I was forced into housing with total strangers, for which privilege I had paid more than half my termly loan. I was broke. I was anxious.

This was not my first taste of anxiety. Throughout my A levels, I had been receiving support for persistent mental health difficulties. I was constantly afraid of losing my friends, and of failing my exams. At times, it was debilitating. Without counselling, I would never have been able to go to university in the first place.

This is where the problem lies. Upon starting uni, I was suddenly bereft of such support. It’s not that the university had nothing to offer me. Indeed, I was constantly reminded of the raft of support services which they could provide. The trouble was accessing this support. Both statutory and university services were plagued by massive waiting lists. Moreover, fear of organising my own doctors’ appointments meant that I had been unable to get repeat prescriptions for my antidepressants. With these soon running out, I was plunged into the turmoil of medicinal withdrawal. My emotions were unstable, and my mental health in a spiral.

It took until September of 2022 for me to get on top of my medication. I started university in 2017.

Many students start university with mental ill health. The new environment, and isolation from support networks, can precipitate these difficulties. Moreover, as students transition from paediatric to adult mental health support, the lack of joined-up care can mean that people are lost in the system. This is especially true for students who leave home, and move to a new NHS trust.

This happened to me, and with growing waiting lists, the risks are only rising. There is a false understanding that students are meant to be stressed. That, to learn independence, students must face the challenges of life unsupported. This is a harmful and unsubstantiated assumption; mental health support is important. For people in a new place, and a new stage of life, it is increasingly difficult to access the care they have come to rely on. Accessing talking therapy for the first time can take up to 6 weeks from the point of referral. Between this first contact, and a more comprehensive programme of care, the wait is 62.5 days. That is an unacceptable length of time to wait, especially if the care you have grown accustomed to is suddenly withdrawn.

As outlined in the Student Mental Health Manifesto, more cohesive care is a critical step in addressing this. An intermediary service for young people aged 18-25 could help in the transition to adult services. These services should be equipped to holistically support people with independent living. Moreover, better record sharing between NHS trusts - and proactive outreach to students under new care authorities – will help meet the needs of people in a very vulnerable stage of life.

Like many students, university was my first foray into house sharing. In the summer of second year, I was living in a three-person flat with a tenancy set to renew. The place was a basement, with an overgrown garden and proliferating damp. The rent was rising, and our loans were not. Moreover, we were locked into our contract, and had been since October the previous year. Due to a competitive rental market, and insufficient protections for student renters, we were forced to sign our rental contract a year before it started. This is a fraught environment in which to make housing decisions, and for many people this can backfire. I was one of these people.

At this time, I entered a protracted period of depression. This co-occurred with hostility between myself and one of my flat mates, which created a harmful environment for me. In retrospect, there was no ‘bad guy’ in this situation; we were evidently ill-suited to living together. Unfortunately, because of the way that the housing market worked, finding an alternative living arrangement was near impossible. We could not escape our contract, nor afford to rent twice. We were stuck together, and made each other miserable.

I hear similar reports from other students: stories of people with respiratory disorders, in flats rife with mould; of people who get bullied by housemates, to the point of physical abuse; of people who work for minimum wage, to still fall short of their exorbitant rent. In all these situations, a predatory housing market traps people within harmful environments.

With the cost-of-living crisis, things have gotten worse. Right now, the student maintenance loan is pegged to the predicted rate of inflation from two years ago. Inflation has far outpaced student loans, forcing people to live miles from campus in homes that are barely habitable. Even then, the cost of rent and bills is so high that many must choose between food and heating. Indeed, research from HEPI has shown that, in university accommodation, the average student is left with 50p to live on.

Poor housing is a major risk factor for mental ill health. The ‘student squat’ is not a suitable living environment. As such, it is essential that we build more and better affordable housing, and that existing houses are retrofitted with the kind of provisions that make them safer and cheaper to live in. All renters, including students, should have their rights enforced, and landlords must be held accountable to their tenants’ health and wellbeing. On top of this, for those who must work to support themselves, a real living wage must be implemented as a minimum for adults of all ages. These recommendations, amongst others, are made in the Student Mental Health Manifesto. To achieve equality in mental health, we must act to prevent mental health disorders in all people.

Find out how you can get involved with the Student Minds Blog.

I am enthusiastic neuroscience student (PhD) and policy intern for Center for Mental Health, passionate about using research to change people's lives for the better.  

I am determined to work with researchers to change the mental health conversation, and advocate for fairer and more equitable health policies in the UK.

University Mental Health Day 2022

Thursday 3rd March marks University Mental Health Day 2022. The Editorial Team have come together to share their thoughts and experiences on speaking out and seeking support as a student.

- Student Minds Blog Editorial Team

Chen-Chun (Student)

My university provides five free counselling sessions at the Student Services Centre for students who need help, and I have recently sought support from them. It was not an easy decision to make. I worried that I might be overreacting, so I hesitated while trying to seek support. The experience turned out to be really good and extremely helpful and I regretted not seeking support earlier.

 

Seeking support is okay and people working at universities are experienced, they will never judge you for asking for help and regard things that troubles you as insignificant.

Luke (Student)

The switch from living at home to university was exceptionally daunting, therefore the hardest part was reaching out. My university was quick in giving me an initial appointment where they facilitated open conversations where I felt safe to vocalise my initial anxieties. The appointments they provided were as frequent/infrequent as I wanted them to be. This really helped me not bottle things up which I began to.

They directed me towards an amazing NHS service which really helped me understand myself and my feelings. This experience really empowered me and enabled me to become a great talker and listener, and I feel I now have the tools to help others in similar situations.

Remember never to be afraid to ask for help!

Caoimhe (Graduate)

I personally didn't have to seek support while at university. As a student, I spent two years working with my university's mental health charity. As a mental health ambassador, I attended regular sessions and further training with Young Minds. 

I felt very grateful being in a position where people felt confident speaking with me expressing their struggles and worries. From these conversations, I would introduce these individuals to the support services on campus. It's rewarding helping people.

My university provided six free therapy sessions and raised awareness of mental health days throughout the year. 

If you are struggling, please seek support. You aren't alone!

Riley (Student)

I remember I needed help when I first came to London for my studies a few months ago, something really practical... for example, how to rent a flat, register a GP, even things like how to print at the school library. Sometimes I felt so ashamed to ask those kinds of questions because I thought those were so just stupid and small issues. 

Making good use of the university's service centre and joining the international students' community are the ways for seeking support.

It is okay to ask 'stupid' questions. I should forgive myself as a foreigner in a new place.

Sarah (Student)

Sometimes it can feel intimidating to reach out for support from student services. Although not a replacement for seeking professional help, peer support networks are a great way to talk to someone that understands the issues that students face. 

From my experience, peer support volunteers are all kind, empathetic, lovely people who are happy to listen to you and refer you to any relevant resources. 

No problem is too small, and this may just be the bridge you need to gain the confidence and encouragement to seek further help. Good luck!

Preksha (Student)

As an international student, I was far away from my comfort zone and initially culturally shocked - the systems, norms and even slang were all so different. I also experienced ‘imposter syndrome’ during my first term at Cambridge, constantly feeling like I did not deserve to be here. These situational challenges, when compounded, led to me being diagnosed with depression in the first few months of university. I struggled to create and maintain a healthy (and completely new) lifestyle of independence and productivity. My friends would encourage me when I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed or make myself a meal on most days. I was extremely fortunate to have found support professionally and in my friends. Despite initial hesitance, my friends and family encouraged me to reach out to the university's mental health services. This helped reassure me of the potential to recover, and guided me towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Many people are struggling like you, so don’t be afraid to reach out and get the help you need!

Fionnuala (Graduate)

 

My university offered many supports for students experiencing mental health problems. There was a free counselling service that offered students sessions with trained therapists. I used this service and found it very helpful.

If things were particularly tough and unmanageable around exam time there were policies in place allowing students to apply for extenuating circumstances which could postpone the examinations or allow a student to re-sit exams without penalty if they did not get a passing grade. There were disability support services for students that helped them to arrange accommodations to enable them to complete their education while managing mental health issues. 

Taylor (Student)

The stresses of university, exams and all the deadlines put pressure on everyone's mental health so rest assured that you're not alone there. You're equally not alone in wanting to seek support if that's what you feel is best for you. 

Speak out and get the support you need! It's much better to talk about the situation you find yourself in rather than suffer in silence.

And if you're not struggling with your mental health, then be there for your friends and loved ones. Let them lean on you for support and make sure they know that you're there for them.

Find out how you can make a difference on University Mental Health Day.

Written in collaboration by the Editorial Team. Find out more about them here.

Men’s Health Awareness Month with Tom Truman

November marks Men’s Health Awareness month, a campaign to support those tackling prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health issues. Tom Truman, Mental Health and Wellbeing Liaison Officer & MBA Student at Coventry University, discusses the issues surrounding men’s mental health and what it means to him.

- Tom Truman

Mental health problems can affect anyone, but discrimination and stigma can make people anxious in talking about their experiences to seek help. Outdated attitudes to gender norms reinforce the myth that men should be ‘tough’, and they are not a ‘man’ if they show any sign of weakness. A lot of men may fail to recognise the warning signs and maybe unwilling, or unable, to seek help. There is no shame in feeling helpless or down; everyone experiences these feelings. Men, it’s OK not to be OK. 

A few months ago, I started running to get fitter. I wanted to spend more time outside and lose some of my lockdown timber! Running is a cheap and accessible method of exercise. The endorphins it produces makes you feel better about yourself and taking part in a run is a positive self-achievement. Within a few months, I built up my confidence and fitness to run a Half Marathon to raise vital funds for Student Minds which was a fantastic experience. Taking part in fundraising on behalf of Student Minds was a great way to have fun and raise awareness of their important work. The fundraising helped keep me accountable for my own fitness goals. Within 4 months of starting running, I managed to run a half marathon and raise over £1200. If you are undertaking a fitness challenge, please consider fundraising for Student Minds: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/tomstudentminds 

Men getting involved with fundraising and talking about mental health are billboards for men’s health and often it sparks off conversations with other men in their lives to talk about their mental and physical health and seek help. 

I would urge anyone who may be experiencing difficulties with their mental health to tell someone because you can bet that you are certainly not alone. The sooner you reach out and ask for help, the sooner you will start to feel better. You just have to take that first step and once you have, things will start to change, and you’ll wonder why you left it so long in the first place.

You can fundraise to support Student Minds and student mental health too, find out more today.

Tom is a degree educated Mental Health and Training professional currently undertaking an MBA in Leadership for personal development. Tom has previously worked in the accommodation, charity, and training sectors. Tom loves Cats and has the dream of going on a safari in Africa to see big Cats in the wild!

Why We Started Men’s Mental Health Podcast, Changing MENtality

Caleb shares his experience of developing and launching a podcast with a group of fellow university students through Student Minds’ men’s mental health programme 'Well Lads'. 

- Caleb

As part of Changing MENtality my fellow podcasters and I aim to eliminate stigma and raise awareness through conversation. During our episodes we have shared our own experiences with mental health as well as hosting multiple episodes with guest interviewees.

Personally, I think now more than ever is a great time to start a podcast, especially one relating to mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic has locked many of us indoors, with another voice in the house being something many of us can definitely benefit from.

The discussion of mental health is something which I’ve seen become far more prominent since the pandemic started with many finding a new interest in the subject, possibly as a reaction to their own experiences during lockdown.

In total there’s 16 of us on the podcast team, we all have different experiences of university studying across the country on various different courses.

Euan McDonnell, a Biology PhD student at the University of Leeds, got involved with the podcast hoping to use his own experiences with mental health to help our listeners.

Euan said: “I hoped that I would be able to provide insight and support that I gained through exploration of my own mental health experience so that others could be better prepared if they faced similar things.”

The project wasn’t always a podcast and was part of Well Lads, a Student Minds initiative towards men’s mental health. Sam, a Drama & Screen Studies student at the University of Manchester, was involved in the project during these early stages.

Sam said: “I’ve been involved with this project for nearly two years, longer than the idea of the podcast has been around.

“I signed up because I thought I would learn a lot. The idea of talking about mental health was new to me when I started at university, but I was interested and I thought I could help out by being a part of it.”

Getting involved in the podcast is something I was pretty nervous about at first, as I can imagine many of my fellow volunteers were. The prospect of editing mass amounts of audio and listening to your own voice are enough to make anyone a little bit apprehensive. Thankfully we had training from Adam Ashton, co-host of What You Will Learn to show us the ropes when it comes to podcast production and promotion. It’s safe to say though we’re still in our early days we’ve started to hone our skills and have created a podcast that at we are proud to be part of.

Ben Brown, a Psychology student at Nottingham Trent University, got involved with the project to learn some new skills.

Ben said: “I was looking for volunteering work, mostly just to build up my CV. I was already interested in men's issues and talking about guys' experiences so I signed up.

“I'd never done a podcast before and didn't really know what I'd be doing in the group.”

In December, Ben was part of his first episode, ‘Talking or Taking Meds?’ where Ben, Aidan & Euan discussed the different mental healthcare approaches you can take.

Unlike Ben, being part of a podcast isn’t an entirely new experience for me. While at the University of Salford I was part of the student radio station and later studied podcasting as part of my journalism degree. However, despite prior experience I’ve still learnt a lot, thanks not only to the Student Minds team but also to my fellow podcasters.

Much of the learning doesn’t take place during training but instead happens during episodes when speaking to guests. I hope those who listen learn something new in every episode just like my fellow podcasters and I have when recording.

Mental health has always been something that I’ve been hesitant to talk about, especially when I was younger, but over the years I’ve learnt through talking with friends and family that these issues are far more common than you’d think. Through the podcast I hope to raise awareness of how normal mental health issues are, especially those which we don’t see as ‘typical’.

Below each episode we link to a variety of services that our listeners can use in times of crisis or when they’re needing help. These services include Student Space amongst a variety of others.

Since launching we know that a number of listeners have gone on to seek support from services we have signposted. It’s really rewarding to know that the podcast was able to help people find the help that they need. The very objective we aimed for when first launching the podcast.

To learn more about the podcast and the men behind it, click here.

I'm a third year Multimedia Journalist student at the University of Salford. I joined 'Well Lads' after hearing about it through my work with Make Our Rights Reality and hope to eliminate stigmas surrounding male mental health along with educating people about mental healthcare through my involvement in the podcast. In my spare time I'm a writer and poet sharing much of my work online as well as being an avid fan of professional wrestling and true crime.

Introducing creative writing to the blog

Student Minds introduces creative writing to the blog.

- Hannah Vile

Here, at Student Minds, we believe that no one should be alone in their mental health struggles and encourage everyone to talk, or write, about what they are experiencing. We are a safe space for people to share their stories and are so thankful for the countless posts that have been written for us by people sharing their advice, tips, and experiences with mental health. It has been a true indicator of the strength in people, as well as the power of writing. 

Now we would like to open the Student Minds Blog up to creative writing. 

From my own experience, I have found creative writing to be an incredibly helpful tool in working through hard times. When I finished university, I found myself in a difficult place. Feelings of self-doubt and worry about life that had been building for a few months seemed to amalgamate when I moved back home. It was the combination of finishing university, moving back home, a recent breakup and difficulty finding a job that seemed to solidify the negative thoughts in my mind. When you’re surrounded by so many endings, and then move into a stagnant period in your life such as living at home during a pandemic, it’s hard to move forward and not downwards. 

After a period of consistently feeling down, I wanted a project to distract myself and so I turned to creative writing and wrote a fictional story for my sister. Creative writing was a great way of losing myself in a whole different world. It was nice to write something adventurous, funny, and irrelevant to my life. I know journaling and blogging are also useful and great ways of expressing your emotions, but at the time non-fiction writing seemed a little close to giving more attention to the negative voice in my mind, so I opted for creative writing instead. Whilst it was originally a project to distract myself, by completing a creative activity that I enjoyed and that was entirely for myself, it acted as a reminder that I was still a capable person and had a lot to give to the world. 

Creative writing deserves a place on the Student Minds Blog and so we would like to open it for you to send in your stories and poems you’ve written for your mental health. 

We will accept short stories up to 1000 words and poems up to 30 lines for now, one story or poem per submission. You are also welcomed to contribute your creative work as part of a usual blog post, we would love to hear stories behind a particular piece. We also ask that the content and language used is in keeping with the blog guidelines. More info on this can be found on the write for the blog page. 

We are so excited for this new chapter of the Student Minds Blog and look forward to reading your creative work! 

To find out more about writing and submitting a blog or creative writing piece for us, please see our page write for the blog or email blog@studentminds.org.uk. If you have any questions, please get in touch by email. 

I’m Hannah and I have recently graduated from Exeter university with a degree in English. My time at university taught me that there isn’t enough awareness and support for young people with mental health difficulties. I am excited to be working with a platform that supports students and enables their voices to be heard.

WELL at Uni?

Michael shares his experience about wellbeing at University.

- Michael 

University is a journey. For me, it has been a really rewarding road; I have learned so many things about myself and achieved things that I never would have imagined possible! But it can be challenging when you first settle in, and it took me a while to learn some tips and tricks to adjust, and get the best out of my time at university. Here is my story.

Coming from two years out of education, I always felt that I didn’t belong academically or socially at university. My application to my university had been previously rejected (twice!), and I never shook the feeling of imposter syndrome and that I wasn’t ‘good enough’ to be there. This made me anxious around others, self-critical, and develop some pretty unhealthy working patterns, as I strove to prove to myself and others that I deserved my place on my course.

Unsurprisingly, this unhealthy mindset made it really hard to settle in. I was so fixated on not falling behind with my studies that I never got involved in any clubs or societies where I could meet other people and make friends. In class, I didn’t contribute or talk to other people for fear I would expose myself as being out of my depth. I was constantly fixated with running out of money, and felt that I couldn’t afford the student social lifestyle anyway. And I was also a couple of years older than most people, and after a period of mental health difficulties which had resulted in two years away from education, I felt as if I was coming from a different background, with different experiences, to everyone else.

I found the academic culture and pressure especially difficult to adjust to. I struggled with workload and time management, I stressed about minute details and found it hard to prioritise, and I was constantly preoccupied with ‘failing’ or ‘falling behind’ and the need to be productive. I found the competitive culture and environment at university was not conducive to self-compassion, self-care, and mental wellbeing. I interpreted my whole education as a threat, never contributing to anything in class for fear that it was a test which I would inevitably fail. I worked unhealthy hours and patterns trying to feel comfortable on my course and though I belonged at university. But the harder I worked, the more that I isolated myself, the more unwell I became, and the worse I performed. 

After receiving some support from the counselling service that helped me to understand my feelings, I gradually grew in confidence and started to really enjoy my studies and my time at university. Approaching my studies differently helped to develop my sense of purpose, confidence, and wellbeing. Based on this experience, I started to question whether and how changes to university structure and culture could support better student mental health and wellbeing. And how changes to curriculum, assessment, and teaching and learning could improve student education and wellbeing.  

My experience of university inspired me to launch the WELL @ UNI study, or the Wellbeing and Experiences of Living and Learning at University study, to explore how university policies and practices can impact positively or negatively on student mental health and wellbeing, and how this is experienced by different student groups. I am currently conducting an online survey, open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK until 11.12.20. It takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete and participants will have the opportunity to enter a £50 prize draw. Please consider sharing your story, so that we can represent and learn from the diversity of student experiences and, working in collaborative partnership with mental health organisations, make recommendations from the study for healthier policy and practice. Follow me @PriestleyMJ to keep up to date with the project and find out more. 

We know that experiencing mental health difficulties at university can feel overwhelming. Explore the support that is available at your university and further. 

Student Space is here to help you through coronavirus. Explore online resources, access direct support via text, phone, web chat or email and find the support available at your place of study.

Tips on navigating university life/Freshers: Explore tips and resources to help you navigate university life in Student Minds’ Transitions guide.

I’m Michael and I used to be the editor of the Student Minds Blog and a member of the Student Minds Advisory Committee. I am a PhD student at Durham University studying student mental health and wellbeing. I write for Student Minds to share my own experiences of mental health difficulties and to advocate for change to improve the state of student mental health. 

 

 

 

Top Tips for Self-Care as a Sabbatical Officer

Meg shares her experience of practising self-care as a sabbatical officer.

- Meg Price

Sabbatical Officers, by their nature, want to help others and will commonly put a long list of things and people before themselves. In the blog below I’ll be listing my top tips for practising self-care as a Sabb!**

‘Open Door Policy’

Set boundaries and (try and) stick to them. We all pride ourselves on being open and accessible to students, but it can be particularly difficult to manage an ‘open door policy’ online. Have a think about things like logging out of work accounts, notifications settings and emails. There are no hard and fast ‘rules’ around this and you shouldn’t feel guilty for crossing your own boundaries from time to time but it’s important to think about where your baseline boundaries lie and what is sustainable for you.

Practice What You Preach

Use University (or external) services. We spend a lot of our time signposting students to support services or activities to help with their mental wellbeing. There is also the benefit of genuinely being able to recommend these services to students having checked them out yourself! If you don’t think university services are up to scratch or don’t feel comfortable using them you can always access external links or use fantastic online resources like the Student Minds Student Space.

It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint 

Everyone says your time as a Sabb will fly by. As a second year I can say that it is truest thing about being a Sabb. You’ll want to maximize your effect during your time in office but it’s important to remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Take Annual Leave - You Have It For A Reason 

It’s really hard to let go, particularly if you’re working from home but it’s important to take time for you. Having a sustainable approach to your work is massively underrated and can not only make work more enjoyable but also more productive.

We’re All In This Together

Surprisingly other Sabbs are in the same boat, talk to them! Being a Sabb is a completely unique experience. Sometimes this can make it quite a lonely experience where you think no one quite understands what you’re going through not matter how hard you try to explain. Talk to other Sabbs. Whether it’s taking time to talk about your day with other sabbs at your SU or dropping a message in a group WhatsApp chat, it’s likely that someone else has or is going through similar things to you. Even if they’re not, Sabbs are pretty awesome people and will generally be great listeners.

You Are Not Alone

SUs should be set up to support you. We are living in ‘unprecedented’ times and everything around us is a bit topsy-turvy. And yet some things remain the same – your Students’ Union should not only be set up to help you achieve your objectives but also to help your development as an individual, and that includes looking after your health and wellbeing. Talk to your CEO or General Manager if you’re struggling they will be able to support you and help you access any support you might need.

Believe in yourself. 

We talk a lot about student expectations about their experience but as Sabbs we can often put pressure on ourselves. This year things will certainly be different; you might have to adapt your manifesto or take more time to achieve what you set out to. That is okay. It’s important to remember that not only did people vote you in for your manifesto but they also voted for you to make the decisions in between. I’m a big fan of podcasts and would recommend ‘How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day and pretty much anything by Brene Brown.

You Are A Human and Still Technically A Student

Sometimes we forget being this weird student/non-student hybrid that information around student mental health actually applies to us too. That includes stuff like taking to time to get out and exercise or putting on your favourite Netflix series. Check out the other blogs at Student Minds for more top tips on topics such as ‘How to cope with post lock down anxiety’.

Balance is Key

It’s really easy to list off all of these self-care tips and pretend like it’s easy to achieve all of them all of the time. Sometimes we will overwork ourselves – everyone does from time to time - but keep an eye on the balance and practice some self-care. You are all awesome and doing a great job!

** Full disclaimer: I’m not some superhuman Sabb who does all of these things all of the time but hopefully some of these tips are helpful to others!

Check out Student Minds for more advice on looking after your mental wellbeing at university.

Hi, my name is Meg and I’m President at Worcester Students’ Union and a second year sabbatical officer. I’m passionate about student mental health and the role of SUs in supporting mental wellbeing. I’m also super passionate about looking after those who campaign around student mental health too!

Mindfulness & Resilience — Putting a Plaster over the Need for Serious Mental Health Care?

Amy reflects on the narrative around self-managing mental health issues and the current picture of student support at universities.

- Amy Wells

Self-managing your mental health is great, if you are mentally well enough to build your own toolkit of resilience and can find the energy and time to make sure you roll out that yoga mat and do your five “ways to wellbeing” every day. It’s really important we all take steps to look after our own mental wellbeing through things like practising mindfulness, which can reduce stress and increase your ability to control your emotional responses to everyday situations. However, I’ve been pretty sceptical recently re: the boom in self-care messaging and the narrative around personal resilience.

It seems to me that these ideas are being promoted in the lethal absence of a properly funded NHS, social care, and third sector mental health support services and initiatives - pushing the responsibility of looking after your mental health onto you, as the person who may well be struggling too much to even look after your basic physical needs, let alone engage with these lovely ideas of wellbeing. What’s more, some of these have been exploited into business ideas, with many small companies now pushing (often quite dodgy-looking) products or commercialised fads designed for wellness and self-care (this can put people off the whole idea, meaning they might not engage with the bits that can actually work like meditation). It’s similar to the way universities offering puppy therapy is nice, but that’s about it. It’s a lovely way to promote de-stressing, but it absolutely cannot be funded in place of a fit-for-purpose counselling system that doesn’t have to close its doors to students every term and can offer an adequate number of appointments. 

Mindfulness, stress-relieving activities, and other techniques for better mental wellbeing have a really important part to play in the prevention of mental health difficulties spiralling into enduring conditions, but they can never be used as a stand-in for professional and specialised support. In the same vein, the idea of resilience should be promoted as a positive tool to get better at recovering from setbacks in your life without them wiping you out, which is a very possible and very positive goal for most people, but should never be used to shame people for not being able to cope. As a little side note, I think resilience has grown as a concept almost as a response to the “special snowflake” narrative that surrounds my generation —you’ve probably heard some variation of “toughen up, we just got on with it and we’re doing just fine” (spoiler — they’re emotionally repressed and definitely not doing just fine). My generation, more than ever before, powerfully owns its emotional vulnerability and looks out for others’ feelings, rather than shoving everything deeply into a vault or treating people poorly, and to some that apparently makes us weak, ‘snowflakes’ ‘lacking resilience’ or another buzzword of the bitter over-50s: “triggered”. It’s a load of rubbish, so don’t take it. 

A really key point, moving away from my bashing of older generations (#notallover50s), is that resilience and self-care cannot be taught without also teaching people that it is absolutely okay to not be able to handle things by yourself sometimes — loving yourself is about listening to your mind and body telling you when it’s time to get help. But there’s a problem with pushing the message, one of “ask for help if you need it”, because I see so many other young people building up the courage to finally reach out for help only to get placed on that absurd waiting list or be told they’re too ill or not ill enough. Hope is lost, problems spiral, and the responsibility for caring for an individual fall back on the shoulders of unqualified friends and family. Our support services — charities, NHS support groups, specialist advisory organisations — are on their knees, inadequately funded organisations are overwhelmed by the increasing volume of people needing serious help for issues of mental health, and now more than ever, we need to remember that health is a human right. 

The last time I checked, less than 2% of the public health budget was spent on mental health. Suicide is now the biggest killer of my generation. I am devastated that we still live in a society where we lose people to service waiting lists and support inaccessibility. I’ve seen too many friends faced with the horrible reality of not being able to find help for their eating disorder because the BMI threshold has been narrowed, or finding themselves on a year-long waiting list for support from the local support after rape and sexual assault charity, or unable to afford private counselling. In Leeds, many of our local services have 8+ month waiting lists or are closed for further referrals, like IAPT (now Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service) which offers CBT and counselling, Leeds Mind, Leeds Personality Disorder Service, and Leeds Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service. 

Ideas of mindfulness are actually a small beacon of positivity to emerge from what I don’t shy away from calling a crisis, but I’m scared to see them taking over the conversation and dimming the spotlight that needs to expose the dangerously weak state of our mental wellbeing services. The majority of mental health issues are formed before the age of 24 (and a lot are formed much earlier), so we need to be really careful with how we promote these concepts in schools to make sure young people know how and when to reach out for serious help, and more importantly, they need to know that services for young peoples’ mental wellbeing exist and are actually fit for purpose. This is also the reason why it’s so important that our educational settings enable positive mental health, rather than causing unmanageable levels of stress and anxiety in our young people at a crucial time of rapid cognitive/emotional development when health-related behaviours that can be carried into adulthood are formed. As an example of one of the broken components in the system, over half of university students say that financial worries from unprecedented fees and loans cause them to struggle with their mental health. We feel the reality of the mental health crisis acutely in Higher Education. The transfer of care model is completely unfit for purpose for those coming to university with pre-existing conditions, and young people often find themselves passed from pillar to post (a “hot potato”) in an overwhelming new environment. 

Over the past 10 years the proportion of students disclosing a mental health condition to their institution has increased five-fold, demand for counselling has doubled, and the clinical risk profiles of students seeking support are increasing in severity and complexity. Universities have struggled to keep pace with the demand, drop-out rates have increased, and many are yet to truly embody the holistic “whole-university approach” for mentally healthy institutions that’s recommended by sector leaders like Universities UK and the Office for Students. Luckily, we now have the Universities Mental Health Charter from Student Minds, an evidence-based framework to guide the sector towards best practice. I hope institutions across the U.K. commit to the Charter award scheme and start making real progress in student support. It can feel incredibly helpless to face this situation as an individual. Clearly, we need large-scale and systemic change from our government, fast, including a massive shift of funding and resourcing into mental health and welfare services, and that’s a huge battle to fight on your own. If you are a student, I want to encourage you to take any action you can to lobby our out of touch politicians to pay attention to the critical reality of the situation. Get involved with Student Minds and their LEADers programme or other amazing charities like Young Minds, write to your MP, or check out Youth Access’ Make Our Rights Reality ‘Our Minds Our Future’ campaign. I’ve signed up for rights advocate training on the 29th March in Leeds with the Youth Access campaign, and it’s all about that fight for mental health to be treated as a human right — find out more about how you can join here, but if you’re looking for something a little lower-energy, sign their petition here.

I'm the current Welfare Officer for Leeds University Union, working on mental health, period poverty and drug harm reduction, and I sit on the Student Advisory Committee for Student Minds.

Student Mental Health: What Are The Key Questions?

Michael writes about the importance of student voice in setting the mental health research agenda and how you can get involved.

- Michael Priestley

Which research questions still need answering to better understand and support student mental health and wellbeing at university? Have your say by March 15th 2020!

Throughout my time at university, I have kept encountering the same key questions: 

• How do education policies and practices impact on student mental health and wellbeing? 
• How does a high pressure and competitive environment of exams and assignments impact on student mental health? 
• Could changes to learning and teaching styles, curriculum content, and assessment strategies promote better student mental health and wellbeing? 
• And does better mental health and wellbeing enhance learning? 

Now, as a PhD student, these are my key questions that I grapple with in my own research. What are yours? What, from your experience of university, do you think are the key research questions that need to be answered to better understand and support improved student mental health? 

With rising concerns about student mental health at university, the SMaRteN national research network is leading the Key Questions project to call for students to set the student mental health research agenda on the issues important to them. They are asking us: If you had £100,000 to spend on student mental health research, what questions would you ask? 

SMaRteN will then use your questions to inform the allocation of future student mental health research funding. After all, without research that is attuned and relevant to the student experience, how can we really understand the key issues and make positive changes to the state of student mental health?

As experts by experience with first-hand knowledge of the specific challenges and demands of university life, we as students must be represented and empowered to lead the change in student mental health. The survey needs as many student voices as possible to ensure that the priorities represent the wider experiences, challenges, and priorities of the whole student population. From undergraduate to postgraduate, international to home student, studying education to engineering – we all have mental health and better mental health is better for all of us, so make sure your voice is heard. Whether it’s a question around prevalence, risks, support, transitions, causes, intersectionality, high risk groups, interventions or anything else, this is your chance to use your voice to raise the issues that are important to you in future mental health research and practice. 

Taking part is easy! You can submit your questions to the Key Questions survey to ensure that your voice, your experience, and your needs are included in the research that will shape the changes to student mental healthcare. This is our chance to change the state of student mental health by informing future research and evidence-based policy. This is our chance to make a difference. Get involved and tell a friend. 

For more information on how you can get involved to change the state of student mental health, click here. 

I’m Michael and I’m the editor of the Student Minds Blog. I am a PhD student at Durham University studying student mental health and wellbeing. I write for Student Minds to share my own experiences of mental health difficulties and to advocate for change to improve the state of student mental health.  

Campaign: Time for Tutees

Student Minds Bath share their successful Time for Tutees campaign and hope it inspires other university campaign groups. 

- Student Minds Bath

Time for Tutees – as the name might suggest this was and remains a campaign designed to reform the roles that personal tutors play in the pastoral care of their tutees at the University of Bath.

Some months into the 2018/19 academic year, it became very clear to us that in the vast majority of cases, students did not feel that they could discuss their mental health with their personal tutor. Hence, we set out to determine exactly what was and wasn't working in the personal tutoring system, with a view to writing and submitting a paper to CSSU (Council, Senate, Students' Union).

We held focus groups with both students and staff, using their experiences to write our recommendations for the paper. Perhaps the three most common themes that emerged from the focus groups were expectations, inconsistency and training.

Expectations: students were unsure what exactly they should expect from their personal tutors with regards to pastoral care.

Inconsistency: personal tutors across departments had completely different concepts as to what their role encompassed, leading to huge disparities in students' experiences with their tutors across the university.

Training: tutors receive no specific training for their role despite representing the first point of contact with the university for many students.

Towards the end of the year, we presented our paper at CSSU and emphasised in particular our request for the formation of a working group between the university, students' union and us (to work on this project long term and refine the recommendations for implementation). This request has since been fulfilled in addition to a few of our smaller recommendations such as defining the role of a personal tutor more specifically in official documentation (i.e. in the quality assurance document that specifies the function of the personal tutoring system and responsibilities of individual tutors).

At present, we are awaiting the first meeting of the working group to better gauge how best we can push this campaign forwards. Despite the university being slow to react (this campaign has been going for nearly a year), we have been successful in raising the profile of personal tutoring, with a focus on mental health, both within the university and the Students' Union (who have now included personal tutoring in their top ten issues to tackle this academic year).

Whilst we are still working to achieve the changes we set out to make, we are still proud of the differences we have made despite our outreach and size. The Student Minds Bath campaigns team is comprised of six students, all balancing their lectures, coursework and exams with their efforts to bring about change. I hope if nothing else, the success of the Time for Tutees campaign thus far serves to underline how much of an impact students can have if they put their heads together and organise. I hope this serves as an inspiration for other student groups looking to transform the state of student mental health.

Click here to find out more about volunteering with Student Minds
Click here for Student Minds Bath's Facebook page

Student Minds Bath is one of the many university-based, student-run campaign groups overseen by the national charity of the same name. We are a small team focused on bringing about the changes in mental health policy and provision that our fellow students wish to see.

5 reasons I am Using My Voice

Rosie shares 5 reasons why she is using her voice this University Mental Health Day.

- Rosie Steele

1. To highlight what is great at my university.

My university offers great Wellbeing services from drop-in counselling to mindfulness sessions, presentation anxiety courses and the always loved therapy dogs. However, so many students are not aware of what is on offer or do not know where to look for the help they may need. My aim for this University Mental Health Day is to Use My Voice to highlight the help on offer, how it can be accessed and why it is important that as a university community we celebrate what is offered. With a third of students reporting psychological distress (Berwick, 2008) greater visibility of the services will help to cement LJMU as a university that centres wellbeing providing students with the potential to take agency over their own wellbeing whilst at the university. 

2. But also, what needs to be improved on.

Real change comes when we collectively use our voices to create change. From listening to other students in my role as a student campaigns group leader, certain things crop up time and time again including more accessible services across the whole campus and more personal contact with university staff. So, when the bad times do come they feel confident to reach out. Unfortunately, I cannot achieve this alone but through using my voice I can attend university-wide wellbeing meetings and take the student voice with me, re-telling the stories I am told at society meetings to ensure I am using my voice for good, involving the whole student community.

3. To show that I am always willing to listen.

For me, using my own voice to speak up about student mental health is only one part of a double-sided coin. This past year I have really come to learn that because I am now comfortable in talking about my mental health does not mean everybody is or that they feel they have somebody to open up to. This University Mental Health Day I want to Use My Voice to show I am always willing to listen and the importance of listening when individuals find the confidence to open up.

When I opened up to a new housemate in my third year about my mental health after a particularly bad panic attack, she made the effort to ask me how I was every single day, and we would talk in our tiny kitchen whilst we ate. I don’t think she realised how much those three little words, how are you, helped me tackle the murky waters of the third year or how her voice helped me. Due to how the voices of others have helped me, I want to make sure I am that person to other students and continue to provide a safe space for open conversation in our campaign group meetings.


4. To show other students that it is okay to need help.

Throughout my undergraduate degree I had the opinion that it was not okay to be struggling mentally, especially with the workload, or with anxiety around achieving certain grades as I did not see these problems that would be taken seriously and I had chosen to be there. The student stereotype is so focused on a particular version of student life which usually involves going out and having the best three years of your life. This is not the case for everybody, but can often look this way. When I started talking I started to hear stories similar to my own, of going home at weekends and intense loneliness when I was so certain nobody else was feeling like I was.

I will Use My Voice on the 7th of March and beyond to show that there is not one cookie cutter student, we are all different and all react differently to the pressures that come with being a student, and that is okay. No problem is too trivial and it is always okay to ask for help when it is needed, and that help should always be received.

5. To encourage others to use their voice

It can be very easy for someone like me who runs a campaigns group and both blogs and speaks about my own mental health very openly to talk about how easy it is to use your voice or even to start the conversation to ask for help at the university.

However, I understand that is not always the case, as I too was once extremely scared of the reaction I would receive and would it affect how I was treated? Asking for help at university is the hardest thing I have ever done, as I was extreme distress when I finally asked for help.

Now I will always encourage people to use their voice in small ways. To ask for help when it is needed, to have the courage to tell a lecturer you are struggling or to open up with a friend for the first time.

Through using my voice, I hope to share with my fellow students that conversations do not need to be big, or at a university-wide level, or even happening every single day but they do need to be happening, for ourselves and to inspire change. Find out how you can use your voice.

Hi, I am Rosie is a MA Mass Communications student from Liverpool John Moores and am president of LJMU Student Minds campaign group. 

We are using our voices to make student mental health less of a taboo

Aneeska shares the power of using your voice and the activities happening at University of York Student Minds.

- Aneeska Sohal 

University of York Student Minds are using our voices with the hope of making student mental health less of a taboo, and mobilising the various university forces to do so.

This term we have undertaken a variety of campaigns and events to achieve this. In January, we teamed up with the University of York Students Union (YUSU) for ‘Keep your Cool’ week. The week takes place during the exam and deadline spell, and our mission was to use our voices to help the students around us get through this stressful time. The York Student Minds committee and our volunteer group worked together and wrote out personal, positive post-it note messages. These included tips on taking a break during the busyness of working, including relaxing places on campus to go to, as well self-care advice – such as taking out time for yourself and going for a walk or catching up with friends. We then scattered these notelets around the library, and it was great to see the reaction to these! Students tagged us on social media thanking us for the notes they had received, and it was great to be able to brighten up a fellow student’s day! We were able to use our voices to relax and support the university community around us.

Due to the success of the work carried out we were approached with a podcast opportunity by a fellow student, Danny Bowman - the Head of Campaigns at the think tank Parliament Street. As the President of University of York Student Minds, I chatted to Danny about the challenges of university life, and the work we are undertaking to help students work through these difficulties. The podcast was included on the Parliament Street website, and it was great to have an opportunity to use my voice to talk about the work we are doing to a wide group of listeners. The link for the podcast can be found here.

Later in the term, the committee ran a ‘Here to Listen’ event. Students from across the university community studying different subjects came along, as well students who are involved in other mental health groups on campus, including University of York Mental Health Awareness Society. The aim of the event was to use the voices of students from different pockets of university life to gain feedback on the mental health support at the University of York. Some of the points of discussion included; the strengths and weaknesses of the support offered from different subject departments, as well as the GP services. We are now taking this feedback, and using our voices to talk to the necessary departments and support services, in the hope of making changes at a grassroots level.

Recently, the University of York Student Minds branch collaborated with the university’s Literature Society. At the event ‘The Power of Words’, we invited students to come along and use their voices to discuss works which have helped with their mental health. The committee scribed the titles of these works as we went along– which ranged from poetry anthologies, self-help books to novels – and soon we will be publishing this extensive list on our social media platforms. We hope these works will be able to help other students too!

It has been great to use our voices in various ways this term, and we look forward to continuing with this momentum in the summer term! Find out how you can campaign and use your voice today!

Hello, I am Aneeska and I am President of the University of York Student Minds. You can find out more about our work here. 

5 Reasons Why You Should Write for the Student Minds Blog

In this blog, Carys, one of our sub-editors, shares the reasons why she writes for this blog and reassures those considering blogging for us…

1. Blogging is powerful:

A lot of people who are struggling with their mental health find comfort on the internet, where they can research symptoms and read stories of personal experiences without anyone knowing. The Student Minds blog is an enormous hub of information about pretty much everything to do with student well-being (if there’s something you feel is missing… write about it for us!). We know a lot of students and recent graduates find comfort and reassurance in the work we publish, in addition to the relevant signposting to other charities or services that they might find beneficial. 

2. Blogging is rewarding:

Furthermore, blogging for us is so rewarding. By sharing your personal story and experience on the “biggest blog dedicated to student mental health and well-being”, you are certainly helping at least one other person to get the help they need or to manage challenging situations. We all know how it feels when university isn’t really the time of our lives like everyone said it would be. The Student Minds blog gives us a platform to help someone else in their recovery. It is so fulfilling. 

3. Blogging does not require you to have a diagnosed mental illness:

Mental health and mental illness are two separate things: everyone has a mental health but only some people have a mental illness. Here at Student Minds we talk about mental health as a continuum, which means we recognise our mental health as fluctuating constantly and as incredibly personal to an individual. Needing to have a mental illness to write for us is a complete myth! Student mental well-being is such a broad subject area that affects all students and we welcome posts from all perspectives. Check out the blog for ideas and examples of titles. 

4. Blogging is for everyone:

Honestly, if you’re interested in contributing to our blog, we want to hear from you! Even if you’ve never blogged before or are not sure about your topic being relevant – I bet if past-you would have found it useful, it will be for someone else too! 

In addition to our blogging guidelines which contain loads of blogging tips and rules, there is the blog editorial team. There are 9 of us in total and we are just ordinary student volunteers from across the UK - not professional writers or famous bloggers – so the pressure’s off! After you’ve sent us your draft blog via the Write for the Blog web-page, one of us will be assigned to work with you to make sure that it is trigger-free and typo-free before uploading it. We will always make sure you’re happy with the edited version before we publish. Lots of you may be worried about “writing the wrong thing” – a concern we hear a lot. The role of the editorial team is to make sure things are appropriate to publish and we are trained to spot these “wrong things” and change them. 

Finally, an average blog post is 600-800 words – not a lot at all! It’s not as time consuming or difficult as you might think. We also are not just all about blogging: this year we are wanting to expand the blog to include vlogs! If writing isn’t your thing but the camera is, why not give it a go? 

5. Blogging is awesome:

The blogging community (you guys) is really the heart of the blog. So many contributors from many different walks of life all come together to make this blog a reality – it could be you too! I personally love the mini biography and photo at the end of each post, as it really helps give some personality to the blog and show that we are all just students helping other students. In this section we are more than happy to link your personal blog or website too if you’d like! 

However, we understand writing about mental health can be a sensitive area and sometimes you’re not quite fully ready to share. Of course, you can publish your blog anonymously – we just won’t put this part at the end, nor your name in the blurb – either giving you a pseudonym of your choice or simply being called anon.

Behind this blog are 9 amazing volunteers who give up our time to make this a reality and be a huge source of information for students and recent graduates across the UK. We all really hope to see your work in our inbox and online very soon! If you have any questions you can tweet or DM us @StudentMindsOrg and we’ll get back to you! 

I'm Carys, a 4th year Modern Languages student at Durham University. As well as my passion for languages and travel, I love talking about mental health and I am one of the Student Minds editors this year. Please get in touch if you have any questions or comments about my work - I love hearing from you!