Health / UWE
UWE Bristol ask: Is there a student mental health crisis?
Mental wealth, partnerships, community, support for students and opening dialogs were some of the salient themes that came out of the discussions at the public event organised by UWE Students’ Union welfare committee, asking the question: Is there a student mental health crisis?
To open the discussion, Sian Hampson, vice-president of community and welfare at UWE Students’ Union presented findings from a university-wide survey focusing on student wellbeing. The survey ran during October 2017 and was open to all students, attracting almost 2,000 responses. The survey gathered information about students’ mental health, if students accessed support, and, if not, what barriers prevented them from accessing support.
In the survey, over 60 per cent of UWE students reported having had lived experience of mental ill health and half of those respondents experienced problems whist at university, with students from Black, Asian or minority ethnic communities fairing worst of all. The sobering results from the wellbeing survey certainly set the tone for the discussions of the evening.
is needed now More than ever
The panel L-R: Laura Brain from Off The Record, Izzy Lenga from NUS, event chair Derya Khalilpour, vice-chancellor Professor Steve West, Leila Groves of UWE Nightline and Ilyas Nagdee from NUS
The audience of assembled guests from the city’s mental health organisations, along with students, posed thought-provoking questions to the panel. Are universities too business-focused rather than caring for students as humans? And what can universities do to reduce the number of suicides that happen?
“You cannot look at mental health in isolation; you have to understand it in the context of healthy living, and the environments that students work, study and live in,” said Professor Steve West. As well as being vice-chancellor of UWE Bristol, he also chairs the Universities UK Mental Health in Higher Education Working Group.
“These factors have an impact on general health and wellbeing. Universities are looking at how to both support student and staff communities. We hope to understand how best to support students understanding the context in which they are living, working and socialising in.”
UWE are certainly looking to address many of the issues that are raised in this timely discussion around mental health, having announced late in 2017 that mental health would be a strategic priority for the university over the next five years. The university says it is committed to opening a larger conversation to create a national change within the university sector, by linking students concerns and voices to the university policy makers, and continuing to launch new initiatives and gather more information.
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