Mental health and suicides at uni.

[justasking111]

The report is of one uni. but is it their fault. We put two DCs through uni. from 1999 to 2003, one of their friends from school did have problems and came home. Is it the pressure of work, the pressure of money, or should some students not be expected to go to uni. would they be happier at a local day college??

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uea-student-deaths-mental-health_uk_5c8a47dfe4b0fbd766213fbc?ncid=fcbklnkukhpmg00000001&fbclid=IwAR26GrADNgCTpO5t24QH4QxVkBClSsQ3JwGn1eqSQifxNMmG_w1K4Dyf0z4

Maybe because I'm a lot of places first year doesn't count towards classification - all they have to do is pass?

justasking111 Sat 16-Mar-19 23:13:30
In this article I noted that students were at less risk in their first year. I wonder why this is. Could it be that halls of residence are better for students, or is the workload lighter in the first year.

My bet would be less stress about final grade, less worry about what happens after uni, what AgentCooper was saying about the stress of a very competitive market. Creeps up in 2nd year.

The difficulty about holding universities responsible for not checking up on students who are absent for a few days is that a very large number students absent themselves from time to time for no tragic reason at all: because they have a cold and can't be bothered to email their tutor, because they have hooked up with a new lover and are having passionate sex, because they are running late with an essay deadline, or are feeling tired or whatever. In my latest seminar half the class were absent: should I find out where they all live and go and knock on their doors?

What should we be doing as universities then:

prioritise spending on professional support (as lecturers we don't get to decide- but we can keep shouting)

keep banging on about our office hours and our pastoral support

chase up absentees through available means

What should we do as parents (and this is something I have thought a lot about with a child with MH moving away from home):

make it clear to our dc that they can always ring us at any time (dd has been known to ring very late at night)

make it clear to our dc that they are now responsible for their health from the start and that this involves:

register with a new GP

don't leave it until there is a crisis to get to know your tutor

find out what support is available, what happens if you fall ill:

Read any Information at the start of term!!!

go and introduce yourself to your tutor

make sure there is a record of any health problem and that you get in touch with Enabling Services if you need anything

contact your tutor at once when there is a problem

I agree with everything cory says above. That’s the kind of info that should be sent out to students and next of kin before enrolment.

I honestly think every school/faculty within a university should have its own mental health support team. We have mental health first aiders but basically all they can do is recommend the student joins the long waiting list for counselling or call the crisis team if things are looking dangerous. Our business school has a dedicated Mandarin speaking counsellor for their students but this isn’t replicated throughout the university. I know it would cost a lot but I think it would be very helpful.

Certainly more so than some of the initiatives my uni is spending its budgets on.

Excellent post Cory. I’ve just been doing a tour of the US talking to students who have applied to my university. One of the things I have emphasised is asking for help as soon as you need it. I also made a point of explaining that they should get to know their tutor before they need them and that they need to be proactive in this.

I also agree that every department should have very visible support from well trained staff, relying on academics with little or no training is not good enough. My own university has improved in this area immensely and in my own department we have good welfare staff (but sometimes they are so overwhelmed I fear for their mental health).

Dealing with students in crisis is very stressful and worrying it’s something that I haven’t missed while on sabbatical. I’m one of a handful of female staff in my department, the most experienced, and I generally spend a couple of hours a week with very distressed students. I have an afternoon’s training. I feel I have seen it all but sometimes it is very difficult, luckily our counselling service is always willing to talk through cases and have at times really helped me to process what I have heard from students, the most memorable being my first self-harm case. Some students have almost unimaginably difficult lives.