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Student Mental Health Services

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Source: Guardian.co.uk

Students are under a lot of stress and that stress is increasing; having a lot of work (some of it with short deadlines) and looming exams can and do take their toll on young people who until that point may have experienced little stress in their lives. You can’t sleep, you’re away from home for the first time and leaving family and friends. It can affect your relationship with your family or partner if you’re in a long distance relationship too. The media reported a 33% rise in the number of students consulting mental health services between 2008 and 2013 – most of them going onto waiting lists for counselling.

Core Student Mental Health Services

Thankfully, counselling is not the only option available to students. Each university has its own network of student mental health services, but there are places on the web where students can get extra help.

Nightline: Nightline Association is a national charity that supports and promotes Nightline services in the UK’s universities. What are Nightlines? Initially set up to reduce student suicide numbers, they are dedicated helplines offering a listening ear to the problems of their peers. Student volunteers staff the service - people just like you - so they know what you are going through and have probably used the service in the past. Be advised that Nightline volunteers cannot give you advice or tell you what to do – they are there to listen. You may contact them by phone, text or email. As the name suggests, they run through the night at times when other support services are unavailable.

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Source: Nightline.org.uk

NHS Mood Zone: Student mental health services are far better today than they have ever been and the NHS has areas for people just like you. They have links to useful self-help guides on the web, including recommended self-help books. Realising we live in a digital world and that students may not have the time to sit and read a book to deal with their stress, the NHS has podcasts on a dedicated student page on the Mood Zone section of their website. This has proven highly useful, and you can put them on your mp3 player or computer.

UMHAN: The University Mental Health Advisers Network provides a place for student mental health service professionals to network and offers help and support to students in need. But there is plenty of information for students too – including videos from national charities such as Time to Change featuring people in situations just like yours. Other pages give advice on entitlements and self-help. They also promote an annual University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day – which takes place in February every year. You can check to see if your university is involved.

 Beyond Student Mental Health Services

There are other student mental health services available; your university health centre should have further details, but the above are just some of the most important and most readily available for you.

If you suspect you are suffering from depression or any other mental clinical condition, then it is strongly advisable you visit your student health centre and see a GP. If you are depressed, they can refer you for counselling or prescribe antidepressants. The following list of services is for sub-clinical mood issues, that is, low-level stress, anxiety and depression. They are no substitute where there are clinical conditions.