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Support thread for students, mature and otherwise...

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swittle Jun 2019 9:08am, 13 Jun 2019 55,300 posts	Quote Pin swittle Discussion on Radio 4 about universities being able to contact parents - and presumably carers, close friends, other relatives etc. - when a student's mental health is considered a cause for concern. HE Policy Institute, with Advance HE, has published a report on students' perception of 'wellbeing' and 'value for money'. bbc.co.uk It may be less easy for these findings to be kicked into the long grass than the recent Augar report on reduction of tuition fees.
Grast_girl Jun 2019 9:52am, 13 Jun 2019 694 posts	Quote Pin Grast_girl I think it's a very fraught issue. The survey also showed 18% who didn't want parents contacted under any circumstances. I think a balance can be struck between those who want parents to be contacted and those who don't by asking in the initial registration paperwork what their preference would be (and checking back maybe once per year). Are students never going to be treated as independent adults?
Sam Jelfs Jun 2019 9:58am, 13 Jun 2019 348 posts	Quote Pin Sam Jelfs Its an interesting discussion - Universities have a duty of care over the students, and stress or depression must come into that, but whether or not the parent is the right person to be contacted, or if a healthcare professional would be a better bet in the first instance I am not sure. I know some students feel that if they are struggling that they are letting their parents down, especially so when the parents are making significant financial contributions, so I can see that the uni letting the parents know, or the perceived risk of it happening, might just add to the stress.
swittle Jun 2019 12:14pm, 13 Jun 2019 55,309 posts	Quote Pin swittle Having retired from teaching a year ago, your comments, G_g and Sam, are interesting and informative. It's not taken me long to 'leave the loop'! An opt in doesn't seem to be without merit and caused me to think about what happened when a student was arrested: can parents/carers be informed? I realise concern for health is quite different but the barrier in the radio discussion appeared to be protection of privacy. There was a BBC TV programme, 'Dying for a degree' a fortnight ago in which the parents of Natasha Abrahart who took her own life at Bristol Univ. just over a year ago. It's uncomfortable viewing and her parents' anger is palpable. bbc.co.uk
Grast_girl Jun 2019 5:05pm, 13 Jun 2019 695 posts	Quote Pin Grast_girl The problem will always be where to draw the line. If there's a grey area, you will always get people saying "You should have told us", when it wasn't clear cut. Most universities have much more support available than any other context, but you can't force students to access them (assuming you're even aware there's a problem). We have the Wellbeing Centre, Students Union, Student Support Services, the Chaplaincy (including humanist), Wardens, Peer Mentors, Additional Learning Support, an on-site GP surgery and Nightline, in addition to Samaritans etc that everyone can access. Plenty who are depressed or anxious manage to mask any symptoms well enough to get by for the short time that we're with them (a lot of academics do too), so it's impossible to know what is happening until it's too late. I think it's unfair to blame staff and universities, just as it would be unfair to blame the parents.
swittle Jun 2019 5:17pm, 13 Jun 2019 55,317 posts	Quote Pin swittle You're right: no-one can be made to seek help. The TV programme was made mostly from the parents' perspective. The coroner disallowed much of their evidence about what they saw as the university's shortcomings. Some academic staff feel reluctant to share feelings of deterioration in their mental health - truly, it's 'hidden' - but there's also the fear of not being considered strong enough to cope, with the assumption that 'Everyone else seems to manage'. And that is simply not acceptable.
early bird Jun 2019 9:37am, 15 Jun 2019 12,480 posts	Quote Pin early bird Nightmare last night I was watching my results being loaded as the tutor was going through my presentation. I saw my score start out not too bad and I was happy with it. Then it started to get reduced and I had comments like you might as well not have bothered to include those slides they aren't adding anything meaningful. I'm really disappointed you didn't do x, y and z etc woke up dull panic mode only to realise it was just a dream phew!
LindsD Jun 2019 2:54pm, 15 Jun 2019 28,132 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Oh no!
Grast_girl Jun 2019 3:43pm, 17 Jun 2019 698 posts	Quote Pin Grast_girl At least it was just a dream EB!
early bird Jun 2019 11:20pm, 17 Jun 2019 12,485 posts	Quote Pin early bird Looks like I'm going to fail my placement. My mentor and I haven't been working together very much and as such haven't done my summative assessment in time. I'm still in Greece, it's due to go to the board on Wednesday. Three of the tutors are on leave the one that's available is trying her best to help me but best she can offer is putting in for mitigation. I'm not convinced looking at it I'll get it. I've been emailing everyone and cc'ing as many people as I can too. Tomorrow I'm planning on telephoning the ward and seeing if there's anything at all that can be done (best case scenario mentor is working and can do it at some point) worst case scenario I don't want to think about! Lying awake worrying like mad over it!