Wellbeing support - how good in practice?

[Suffolker]

I’ve been attending open days with DD, and noticed how much more emphasis there is these days on student wellbeing, certainly compared to 30 years ago when I was a student.

It’s great there is more support on offer for students who need it. I’m just wondering how good the support is in practice, and whether it’s just a cursory tick box exercise for some institutions.

Particularly interested in hearing about any experiences of Edinburgh, Sheffield and Birmingham universities.

It’s a tick box. It’s fine if the students actively seek it out….. But those truly struggling never do..

It really varies between universities. Not the most helpful response I know. But our experience.

Experience of Edinburgh mixed. My DD was being hassled by boy in next door room. No joy with hall warden but departmental student support adviser so on top of it. DD would also commend the MH support a flatmate got but it took a very serious incident to kick in (positive also that they gave my DD compulsory councilling as she was 1st responder to incident). DDs personal tutor also very supportive (mum vibes) but left and replacement not so great but think they were only meant to provide academic support anyway (separate personal support if needed)

Birmingham plough a lot of resources into student wellbeing. So all schools within the uni have a dedicated wellbeing officer/s.

How you contact them may vary slightly per school though but the students are told how they can contact them.

The wellbeing officer is there to offer appointments to students for issues such as students experiencing bereavement, students who are having trouble adjusting to uni, advising students who may need an extension, students who need signposting to Student Disabilty Services (of the student has disabilities or neurodiverse conditions).

The Student Disabilty Service will be the team your child will speak to if they need to implement a Reasonable Adjustment Plan. Bear in mind they can get very busy but your child will get their adjustments in place if they need.

The adjustment plan can be updated as and when - for example if a student has a medical condition which gets worse and requires some further support (an example being a student who requires extra time or large print exam papers).

when students (new and returning students) arrive at the start of the academic year we have welcome week and the wellbeing staff hold sessions outlining their services, these are a good opportunity for students to ask questions about welfare.

It’s a tick box. It’s fine if the students actively seek it out….. But those truly struggling never do..

^ This. There is currently a really interesting thread in the academic staff room topic. Loads of lecturers saying that Uni leaders will promise the earth and then expect the academic staff to provide the support when that is not their job and they do not have the time for it anyway. I guess that all the current Uni redundancies will only make that worse.

And I agree, I have seen so many threads on here from parents of ND students who seem to expect the Uni to keep an eye on their children and reach out to help them when in reality, it is for the student to seek out help if they need it.

A lot of support requires the student to ask for it and be aware of what they need so it works OK for NT students but not often for ND / those that need the most support. It also depends on staff. DD is at Oxford and one academic she says is like a Mum, another like a big brother, she has college parents students in year above (a lovely Dad who gives her free food but a rather absent Mum) and everyone can go to weekly group sessions where there are free £3 doughnuts so they are well attended. For her that's been fine. For an ND child who is high needs, socially anxious, may have alexithymia so be unaware before crisis point and has say previously had a parent advocate for them its much tougher. I would imagine at universities with budget cuts its getting increasingly challenging.

That’s interesting, thanks for all the info. We went to the UoB open day last and came away very impressed.

Wish you and your Dd the best - I hope she will enjoy uni, whichever one she chooses please, please tell her to reach out in the first instance. It can be difficult but it’s so important to seek early support. Best wishes.

Thank you so much. She’s keen to go but not very confident and I feel that it’s really important to find somewhere that’s a good ‘fit’ for her, and can offer support if she needs it. Difficult I know in the current financial situation.

It’s mixed for my fresher. She sees well being regularly, but they focus on her weight - former anorexic who slips back to not eating in times of stress - rather than taking a more holistic approach to her well being. Study skills support ans MH support doesn’t seem to be in place but that’s because autistic dd doesn’t have the communication skills to ask more about chasing them up.