Mental health support at Uni - social sports clubs would help not just for elite players

[Neapolitanicecream]

Hello all my YP is struggling with loneliness at a Uni that was considered top last year !!!! A lot of the clubs are on paper only so it looks good on someone CV 🤔

her cousin at a very sporty uni is thriving at a midlands uni renowned for sports, (so he thought he wouldn’t get into any clubs) but the uni have inter-houses social football…. Brilliant idea to support YP mental health.

please please so called top unis with amazing sports facilities please introduce social sports and not just for the elite

Anyone on YP mental health support?

Yes.my yp has struggled a lot with anxiety and lomeliness.The uni dies a lot of stuff on paper which in reality amounts ti very little.
The GP referred her to the uni bentsl health services who sent back an automated email to say there were no appointments 6 weeks ago.The gp says clinical guidelines say she has to have had cut before prescribing.DH and I are paying for the only psychotherapist/counsellor who had availability and she can get to.That is £70 a week which is scarcely affordable.
Yeah most of the nonsports societies don't ever meet and the sportsones are not really suitable for beginners

Student clubs and sports groups are run by the students, not the 'university' as such, so if your DC want to see something like that they can go to their SU/Sports Union and help set one up. I was very involved in running student societies at uni and it was how I met most of my closest friends.

They get some funding from the university though ( at least at dds) so they do need to be exercising g some influence to have proper provision for grass roots.
Also telling a 1st year with mental health issues to go and set up a rival club is not realistic advice.

Sometimes there are are 'drop in sessions' for less experienced players of some games, but there doesn't tend to be anything for people who are really beginners, rather than just casuals.

Sometimes there's a problem even for the non-beginners. I did club swimming for about 9 years (not in the top groups or anything, I wasn't out there winning regional competitions or anything) didn't do it straight away at uni, tried to come back to it after a few years of just swimming casually sometimes. I think it would have been okay at my old club, but the uni club did much fewer breaks between sets and also just did a long list of 'x of this, y of that, z of that', whereas I was used to (and honestly, need) to have this in chunks, because after all the x, I can't remember what it was about z. Club swimming is meant to build your condition, but it doesn't mean that at any point everyone there is already great at swimming kilometres without real breathing breaks.

The OP was posting saying universities should set up more social clubs, I was letting her know that these are run and set up by the students, so it is up to them what clubs happen.

Also, I'm not sure characterising everyone with mental health issues as incapable of doing anything or having any agency to change their own lives is helpful.

Actually, the main problem now re: swimming at my uni is that the university gym is leasing its pool to external swimming teaching academies for children. If you want to swim in the evening, you can't, because that's when the clubs have their sessions (and the pool shuts about 8 or so). If you want to swim in the afternoon, there are two lanes only, the others are full of children, the parents are sitting all around the pool (we don't have a viewing area), the changing rooms are packed and there are queues for the loos.

I'm surprised and disappointed to read that there are Universities that don't do this to be honest. I've got one DS and University currently and the other is in Year 13 so we have ploughed our way through a lot of information on various Universities and done quite a lot of visits over the last few years and I think everywhere we viewed had at least 2 tiers of sports teams - BUCS teams (often several) on Wednesdays and various casual/social teams that usually play at weekends.
If there isn't anything suitable where your YP is, would she consider approaching the Student Union with a view to setting something up? That's the other thing we have heard repeatedly on visits - "We have X number of clubs and societies but if you don't see what you want you can apply for a grant to set something up".
There are some sports that more naturally lend themselves to a mix of both social and competitive elements, like cycling where most clubs will have social rides as well as training for those who want to race. Or what about trying something completely new, maybe an individual sport? One of my nephews took up fencing at University having never tried it before. He never got to be particularly expert but made some good friends and there wasn't the pressure of worrying about letting others down in a team so he could progress at his own pace. Clubs for more minority interests are sometimes more welcoming than the really big popular ones as they are keen to get new people into their sport or activity.
I hope your YP finds something that she enjoys soon and makes friends. My elder DS found things very hard in his first term or two as he is extremely shy but he eventually found some like minded friends and last Summer stayed on for weeks after the end of term to do a competition with a society he'd joined, so don't give up hope - it's never too late to join in with things.

thankyou everyone for posting. It is very difficult for a fresh faced 18yr to navigate along with everything else.
I’m sooo disappointed with the Uni response (effectively go to waiting list for counselling) atleast get some proper social sports going !!!!

After all the uni boast about it’s sports facilities Olympic pool, rugby etc so be it could be more inclusive learn from other universities that are also elite but have inter houses game and fun sports and care about their students

Does your YP have an existing interest OP?
The other option might be to look for a club or group in the community to join which might actually be better for her than being with other students 24/7.
I hear what you are saying about the poor provision by the University and I have heard that some of the "best" Universities are not great on pastoral care. It's one of the reasons why my elder DS is at a less highly ranked University as we knew that with his personality the quality of pastoral care would be very important so it's a factor he prioritised in his applications.
But don't discount the community outside of the University. A lot of community groups and clubs would be very welcoming to student members and getting out of the student "bubble" can be beneficial.

Yup. In my experience, the big, highly ranked Institutions are often worse for this kind of thing. The most student-centred place I've worked was a small post-92.
I know that doesn't help for her now, but there should be a Student Union, with officers who can help with student support. They are not technically part of the Uni, but work in alignment to support, and represent students.

Thankyou all for posting.
As we all know how important sports is for good mental health.
I’m soooo disappointed as is YP not to have got into any of the sports teams (they were very sporty at school) but the teams only interested in semi pro players. So the renowned facilities are out of bounds for them and a whole group of YP players who would enjoy the inclusion and interaction.

shame on the uni boasting about student satisfaction and top Uni status !!! Honestly I just don’t know why it’s so well rated. Yes it’s tuition is good and good employers rep, but they have to do some simple things for YP mental health….let them have a kick about for goodness sake it will get them out of the prison cells and meeting people and then possibly no need for counselling

Anyone who works in a uni on here ?

Universities are huge organisations and very varied in their approaches.
I can think of one that has wellbeing walks, one that has table tennis every Sunday, one that has decent availability of counselling.
It depends on how much money is available, the attitude of student services managers and as has been mentioned, students themselves setting things up.
Universities are really struggling for funding currently so I can't picture them setting new things up but a bit of research will show what already exists.
Libraries are often good places to relax. They have things like jigsaws or craft spaces

I don't want to out my dd ( coupled with other info i have posted) by saying which uni , but I wonder if it is the same one.

The unis can't get involved in what the SU does or doesn't offer - yes they provide funding (who else would!) but the point is that they are independent of the uni. That independence should be a formal part of their constitution.

I sympathise though, really. Covid particularly has hit our young peoples MH hard. And sadly, unis have no money to invest in much needed MH support. Heck, we can't even break even these days, hence the large number of courses and depts closing and mass redundancies.

Are there non-uni sports clubs where she is?

Yep. Scottish institution here. PM me if that’s of help.

All uni's have access to mental health support under the disability department for YP who are struggling.
They have access to specialist mental health mentors etc, although it is not widely known.

Not just at university level tbh.

Nobody had "forgotten their kit" when the weather was a total washout and we played dodgeball inside. All kids heartily involved, and it broke down social barriers as well with people getting behind team members they wouldn't normally be seen dead with.

For the vast majority of people it needs to be fun and energetic, not skilled.

That’s my point I think all that’s really needed for everyone is a reason to get out in the fresh air and play foottie and make some friends ie !!!

Before mental health support is really needed

yes it was the uni of the year !!!! But what the hell for ???? Oh top facilities but who for ??? Only the elites!!!! Ok what about the average students ???

I
think the uni says it has all theses clubs but it’s only on paper, and but not like Nottingham or Loughborough which actually has inter-house games and socials it’s like a holiday camp Nottingham and at Loughborough in comparison the cousins had fun there which I thought wouldn’t be the case at Loughborough is elite sports uni

My daughter's sport is provided far off campus, miles away and very late at night which means navigating deserted backstreets at nearly 11pm, whilst there is a kid's club fir the sport at the uni run by a non-uni sports club! Bonkers!
The sport thing she has enjoyed most is parkrun, which of course is nothing to do with the uni!
Her uni is all about appearances than substance, when it comes to wellbeing.

As PP have said, your disappointment should be directed at the students union, which runs societies. SUs are independent organisations, with their own governance and Boards, so should respond to the needs of the student population.

I would also say that this is a problem in sport as a whole. Sport is largely funded to fuel the competition pipeline. NGBs are less interested in participation for health / wellbeing / inclusion and more interested in formal sports teams, winning competition, medals etc. Look at the horrific report to come out of Swim England today. I guarantee that's happening in many, many other sports.

In summary, please leave very stressed university administrators alone and speak to the SU.

YANBU. Where my son went, they didn't even have a casual/fun football club! They had the official Uni teams of varying abilities (all being very good ability) and the "fun" club was still formal, i.e. on a full size pitch, with referees and linesman, full 90 minutes, etc., and played against the "fun" team of other Unis in some kind of "fun" league. Son went a few times and said it was nothing like "fun" at all. Even their 5-a-side "club" played formal games against other Unis!!

He'd expected, with it being a college Uni, that there'd be inter-college footie games, but they didn't do that either!

I think, as others have said, the sports clubs do tend to be uber-competitive for the really keen/able people and a lot of the other clubs are mostly online.

Son ended up joining the frizbee club as that was really the only one where people seemed to go for a laugh and to meet people, but even that had different levels of ability and competed against other Unis in the frizbee league games!!

I hear the PP say it’s not the Uni admin team’s issue as they are already stressed. But it’s under the University name so would expect the Uni to work with each other as they advertise in the glossy brochures about sports facilities and student social satisfaction scores????

I'd agree about getting put into community provision like parkrun or local footie if setting a club up themselves is too much.

Or think about volunteering. Nothing improves mental health more. There are often volunteer initiatives for sporty youth to get involved with - maybe supporting people with disabilities for example. There will be lots of adverts up for this kind of thing. They will need to find it themselves though - it genuinely isn't the university's job to find or even organise sport sessions for students.