The Journey to Student Wellbeing Success

Ahead of National Mental Health Awareness Week, Jan Daley, Head of Student Wellbeing at Leeds Beckett, talks through the initiatives that have overhauled the way we provide support to our students.

"At a time when university counselling/mental health/wellbeing services are facing an exponential rise in demand (cited in some sources as 130% over the past five years) from students for support with emotional or mental health issues, student wellbeing at Leeds Beckett has been ranked no 2 in the UK by students taking part in the Autumn 2015 Student Barometer, and no 5 across all participating institutions globally.

"So what is the story behind their success? In 2012 it was recognised that both sector drivers, such as the introduction of the new fee regime and the drive to widen access, plus societal changes in attitudes towards mental health, could only result in greater demand and expectation for the support universities could offer their students. A new post of Head of Student Wellbeing was introduced with the brief to bring together the well-established and respected University Counselling Service with a new post of Student Mental Health Coordinator, to further integrate the work of the Chaplaincy team, as well as to develop partnerships with the NHS and other key stakeholders within the University and the city. The aim was to develop a more integrated approach to support for students, with the focus on short-term interventions, as well as providing consultancy and advice for staff in dealing with student mental health concerns.

"In the academic year 2013/14, the fledgling Student Wellbeing team moved from our City Campus to our Headingley Campus, appointed two more full-time mental health practitioners and a bank of sessional counsellors. They also moved away from paper records and an antiquated database system to using the CareerHub CRM system (internally referred to as ‘myHub’) to enable students to register 24/7 via an online registration form. Students access the form via the extensive Student Wellbeing web site, which includes details of sources of urgent support and a wealth of self-help resources, including the online Silvercloud CBT-type resource, a self-help page of useful links as well as the NHS-branded self-help guides. The team also introduced a telephone support line service which staff faced with an urgent student concern could call for professional consultancy and advice in managing the situation.

"In order to address the challenge of increasing demand, new ways of working were introduced which included a four-session model of counselling, the offer of one-off ‘Wellbeing appointments’, specific mental health appointments, and the availability of a limited number of same day appointments on each campus. The outcome has been that, whereas many universities have been reporting increasingly long waiting lists, the majority of students seeking support at Leeds Beckett have been seen within 3 weeks of registering, and many much sooner, including on the same day, where significant concerns have been raised.

"Students registering online are guaranteed that their registration form is read the next working day and they will be offered an appointment within 2-3 weeks. Practitioners, staff and students had to get used to this new method of accessing the service, rather than the old system of dropping in to the 'Open Door', but it soon became apparent that students took this change in their stride, welcoming the chance to write about their concerns at any time of the day or night, from wherever they were, and to know they would be responded to the next day. Maybe it took staff and practitioners a little longer to get used to the change, but delivering a programme of mental health awareness sessions for staff, Mindfulness sessions, and awareness raising events such as Time to Change and University Mental Health Day, have all helped to raise their profile across our university and communicate to colleagues and students what is on offer from the Student Wellbeing team.

"The team and the service is now well known and respected across our institution and, with student demand for our support increasing annually by over 30% for the three years we have been operating in the new model, the team finds itself once again at the point of being at the limit of its capacity and looking at the ‘what next?’ question, including how to access some of the additional funding announced recently by HEFCE for disabled students and those with mental health difficulties to enhance the institutional approach to embedding support and inclusivity. One of the next steps in the quest to provide integrated, holistic support for our students has been to bring our Disability Advice and Student Wellbeing teams together so that students experiencing mental health difficulties, whether for the first time amidst the pressures of modern university life, or as part of a long term condition, sometimes co-morbid with other disabilities/learning difficulties or long-term health conditions, receive support that is appropriate to their needs and enables them not only to cope, but succeed in a higher education environment."

David Freeman, 26, studies MSc Sound and Music for Interactive Games and has accessed our student wellbeing services in the past; in fact some of the wellbeing initiatives link to his studies.

He said: “My research for my masters involves looking into the link between music and mindfulness and how it can be used to influence the practice of mindfulness. So when I saw some information about a mindfulness workshop in our student newsletter I went along. I had practiced mindfulness for a couple of years but had never tried a group practice and thought I’d give it a go. It brought a whole new side to it for me, incorporating movement into mediation which I had never done before. I was quite self-conscious at first, but I’ve had some of the best experiences ever. Mindfulness is really good at helping to free your mind from worry and stress.”

David found the mindfulness workshops easy to access as they are run as drop in sessions. He has also used the counselling service in the past.

“I was away from uni for a while and had a really bad time when I was coming back. Counselling really was invaluable at a really stressful time; I could offload and it was someone impartial to talk to. I think it’s reassuring to know all these things are there if I ever need them.”