You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more. The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. We understand that helping a friend or family member with mental health issues can be difficult. Its findings report will be published by Spring 2025 outlining good practice and areas for improvement around suicide prevention in higher education. Every student death is a tragedy and preventing suicide and self-harm in our student populations is a key priority. To support this target the Office for Students (OfS) is providing £400,000 additional funding to Student Minds to support expansion of the Programme.
Figure 10: Progression rates of full-time students who did and did not report having a mental health condition, by sex
In the past year, issues student newspapers have highlighted have included opaque ‘fitness to study’ procedures, the lack of flexibility in mitigating circumstances, and the lack of counselling staff from ethnic minority groups.48 We also use funding to promote and support effective and inclusive practice (for example the Challenge Competition Mental Health projects, and supporting the University Mental Health Charter), and the identification and sharing of effective support practices. They are often further away from family and existing support networks than their UK peers. As in the NHS figures, a disparity between men and women is evident in our access and participation figures. To deliver this project, the university will work with the Children’s Society, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, and Forward Thinking Birmingham. In 2019, through the OfS Challenge Competition, we funded 10 large-scale projects to achieve a step change in mental health outcomes.
Mental Health Awareness and Education
‘I sought mental health support after an incident where I had a massive falling out with a mate of mine after having too much to drink. In collaboration with their Students’ Union, the university run London Nightline, a telephone advice service accessible at night when other services are closed. Look at the support services a university offers when choosing where to study so you know where to go for help. These services offer practical advice across a number of stress-filled topics, from financial concerns and accommodation issues, to academic support and mental health concerns. If you are a student studying in the UK, Student Space has a university search directory where you can find out what support is available on your campus. Although universities and organisations like Student Minds will provide tools and resources, you’ll need to understand where you can access them.
‘I think I knew there was a counselling service, but I went out of my way to look for it as I’d had it before at college and independently. They were always great about timetabling me in and letting me know if any problems came up.’ The service is available to any student across London and is a great resource. They offer an online chat service for those without access to a phone. This confidential service is run by highly-trained student volunteers, who are happy to give advice on any topic.
But if you feel anxious all the time and this is stopping you from sleeping well or meeting up with friends, you might need help. But when our mental health is not so good, we can find it much harder to cope. When our mental health is good, we feel motivated and able to take on challenges and new experiences. Sometimes we feel well, and sometimes we don’t. We all have mental health, just like we all have physical health.
- Join our fight for children and young people’s mental health.
- The latest year of data shows that full-time students with a reported mental health condition have a higher attainment rate overall than students without.
- DfE is funding the charity, Education Support to provide free, professional supervision to school and college leaders.
- Find resources to help you develop a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
- Peer support networks for school and college mental health leads (PDF, 187 KB, 3 pages) has further information and a list of nationally available networks.
- The completion rate differences between female and male students with a reported mental health condition have fluctuated throughout the time series.
Career finder
Mental health challenges can affect any student at any time. It kept me sane at a time when I had no family support and kept me at uni when I felt like just giving up.’ They will be able to support you in finding the professional services you need. Visit your university’s website to find out what specific support is available. There are a range of different types of support available to you as a student. Building new relationships, moving to a new location and studying at a new level can all affect your mental health while at university.
The disparities for continuation and progression rates have been narrowing for both groups across the time series, but more quickly for mature students. Mature full-time entrants to higher education (aged 21 years and over) are more likely to report a mental health condition than their younger counterparts (aged under 21 years). Disaggregating by different student characteristics suggests that having a reported mental health condition affects specific student groups differently. The increase in students reporting a mental health condition mirrors evidence of increased prevalence Fairbanks mental health drop-in center in wider society.
