looking out for yourself at uni

It might be shocking to know, but 4 out of 5 people between the ages of 18 and 21 know someone who has experienced a mental health problem. A quarter of all people in the same age group are worried about the mental health of someone their age.

And, according to the NUS, among students, it’s an even more critical issue. 63% of university counselling services have reported an increase in psychological distress among students.

Which is why, even if you can’t imagine it ever being you, it’s good to find a university with solid support structures. These can often include any or all of the following:

• a university-run counselling service, often with specialist advisers on debt, mental health, legal issues, housing, relationship and personal problems and so on
• a students’ union-run counselling service (as well as or instead of one run by the university), often staffed by people on sabbaticals or permanent staff or both. Usually has the ability to help in similar situations as above, as well as academic or other disputes with the university itself
• ‘moral’ or personal tutors: academics, sometimes with special training, sometimes without, who’re supposed to take a special interest in their students’ state of mind
• chaplains: obviously for those seeking support with a more religious flavour
• mentors: students in their second or final years, assigned pastoral duties of a sort of older brother/sister kind
• psychiatric services: rarely available full-time or without being referred
• regular health services, including GPs, nurses, psychotherapists, etc.

The range of difference in the amount and standard of these services is vast. Some universities have all of the above and they’re run with an efficiency that would have put certain fascist states to shame. Others have some lecturer whose been told they’re in charge of welfare and whose attitude is, well, lacking. Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself in for.

Want some more advice on picking a uni that will have your back? Have a look at our Welfare page, or check out our other mental health blogs and the Independent's article on 'what students need to know about university and mental health'

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Author

LUCY HARDING  is the Editorial manager for Push. She is an English Literature grad and an MA Publishing student at UCL. She is passionate about international relations and cultural diversity, having worked closely with her university’s Erasmus society to support European students. She also spent a year abroad studying at California State University: Long Beach.