FAQ
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What should I do if a student is distressed?
Listen to them, trying to remain calm and appear reassuring. Allow them time to become calm and regain control.
If you feel the situation is too much for you or is becoming out of control, contact a colleague for help and support.
Don’t make promises about confidentiality – whilst you wouldn’t normally break their confidentiality, you would have to do so if you felt that they were at risk of harming themselves or others.
Talk through with the student some options for further support, such as counselling, perhaps helping them to make an appointment – they could use your phone, or you could offer to accompany them.
If they need practical information – e.g. policy, procedure etc. – help them to access it.
Ask them to get back in touch by an agreed date so you can check on the situation.
If they don’t contact you, follow it up and escalate if necessary (consult School colleagues/Counselling Service/Disability Support Office/Occupational Health).
If, when they’ve gone, you feel you’d like to talk the situation through with someone do so, for example, contact the Counselling Service – you don’t need to divulge the student’s identity, and having another person’s perspective is usually useful.
Remember, you are not a counsellor and you are not expected to exceed the limitations of your knowledge.
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Are there any academic support arrangements available for students with mental health difficulties?
Universities can support students who have disclosed mental health difficulties by assessing what additional support they may need, and putting in place appropriate study support arrangements. This is likely to involve liaising with a Disability Support Coordinator, and other appropriate School staff. The student will be asked to provide appropriate evidence of their additional support needs.
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What should I do if I’m concerned about a student’s mental health?
If you are concerned about a student’s mental health, you may wish to encourage them to visit the Counselling Service, Disability Support office or Occupational Health office, and/or formally refer them to one of these support services with the student’s permission.
If a student is reluctant to seek help, you may wish to seek advice from the University’s specialist support services on how to support a student experiencing mental health difficulties.
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How can you tell if a student has a mental health problem?
Mental health difficulties, as with other illnesses, vary in degree. It can be chronic or temporary, severely debilitating or mainly manageable. When experiencing mental health difficulties, students may exhibit behaviour which is not usual to them, or be seemingly unable to manage their day-to-day life. Common impacts might include loss of concentration, unkempt appearance, sleeping too much or too little, or being withdrawn. Changes from their normal pattern of behaviour might indicate that something’s wrong.
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How do I approach a student I am concerned about?
Raise your concern sensitively (informally) and supportively with the student. Summarise the behaviour which is causing problems and explain the possible consequences.
Having a discussion allows you the opportunity to ask the student how things are going generally, is everything alright, and that you feel concerned. Such conversations often enable the student to divulge other problems which can then be addressed.
Sometimes a student simply doesn’t realise that their behaviour has been a problem and rectifies it. If you don’t feel confident about doing this yourself, you can seek advice from the Disability Support Office/Counselling Service/Occupational Health, you should not feel that you have to shoulder the burden alone.
It may be enough simply to signpost the student to the appropriate support services, keeping in touch with them as appropriate, or you may feel it necessary to formally refer the student to a specialised support service (DSO/Counselling/Occupational Health) with the student’s consent.
If there is no improvement, or more serious concerns are raised, it may be appropriate to invite the student to a case conference to discuss the issues. Case conferences are invaluable when supporting a student whose mental health difficulties are having an impact across all areas of their University life and/or who is experiencing symptoms which are much more extreme than the norm. You can initiate a case conference through your School office, which will contact the Office of Student Support and Services.
Case conferences typically involve key members of School staff, residential staff, the Counselling Service, Occupational Health, Head of Student Support and Services, as appropriate. They can also include external mental health professionals who have been involved with the student (with the student’s consent). Case conferences can take place either with the student’s knowledge/presence or, in more exceptional circumstances, without.
The case conference should result in an action plan, agreed by all present, which is intended to support the student and which will usually enable them to continue with their programme of studies. The action plan should also make clear what will happen if the agreed arrangements are not successful.
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I’m worried about the issue of confidentiality when supporting a student with mental health difficulties.
Details about a student’s health, mental or physical, are classed as personal information within the scope of the Data Protection Act. They must not normally be disclosed to external agencies or third parties without the student’s express permission. In normal circumstances, a student’s sponsor, doctor, family, friends or equivalent are seen as third parties.
Within the University, it would be usual to disseminate information about a student’s support needs on a ‘need to know’ basis, and this should be done with the consent of the student. The purpose of asking students to disclose their additional support needs is solely to enable them to receive the level of support to which they are entitled. Staff in receipt of such information will be briefed accordingly.
A student is entitled not to disclose such information, or might choose to provide evidence of the impact of mental health difficulties on them without disclosing exact details of the mental health difficulty itself (professional programmes are likely to require full disclosure, students who do not wish to make such a disclosure to someone who is not a medical professional should be referred to Occupational Health).
If a student makes a disclosure, but refuses to for example, register with the disability support office, or allow any further disclosure, this necessarily limits the support they can access and you may find it necessary to ask them to sign a statement which recognises this. This protects the University against a future claim from the student under the terms of the Equality Act which deems that the institution knows about the student’s disability if they have disclosed it to any single member of the institution.
You can seek the advice of the disability support office in general terms, without naming the student, and they can advise you of the best route.
It is expected that staff advising students will make it clear at the outset of any discussion the degree of confidentiality that can be expected. It is never possible to give an absolute guarantee of confidentiality because there are circumstances in which our duty to others might take priority. The most likely reason for breaking confidentiality would be when you have judged that there is a risk of an individual student harming themselves or other people.
Information should rarely be disclosed without the consent of the student. Except in an emergency, if you are considering such a decision you are advised to discuss the issues in general terms with more senior colleagues before taking any action.
Circumstances where disclosure without consent could be appropriate include:
• If there is a risk of harm either to the student or to other people
• If there is an obligation arising from Fitness to Practise requirements of a particular programme of study
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What do I do if a student tells me they are having suicidal thoughts?
If a student seems to be at immediate risk of suicide, or you think a student is going to hurt themself or someone else, or they are seriously physically ill, or their behaviour is extremely bizarre, distressed or out of character dial 999 and ask for an ambulance.
If you on University premises call Security and tell them an ambulance is on the way, giving details of your location.
If you are in a University Hall of Residence also contact the Duty Tutor/Warden.
Once help is on the way, reassure the student & wait with them until help arrives.
After the incident ensure that you take care of your own wellbeing:
• You may well find that you feel upset by what’s happened
• Talk about it with your line manager or other colleagues in your School (or equivalent)
• Talk about it with the Counselling Service
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Who can I contact for information and advice regarding a student I am concerned about?
You don’t have to disclose the identity of the student concerned in order to discuss the situation with colleagues in your School, Counselling, Disability Support Office or Occupational Health. Don’t feel you have to shoulder the burden alone.