Features / Bristol24/7 Student Guide 2020
Bristol24/7 Student Guide 2020: Mental health
Stepping into adult life, especially during the current climate, is a big step: so well done for getting here!
Problems you may face will feel much easier to solve when you speak to someone – don’t bottle up how you’re feeling. Don’t assume that everyone else is doing so much better than yourself – it’s often untrue.
There are a huge number of resources available to students in Bristol, here’s some of them:
is needed now More than ever
All students in the city
● Togetherall – an online community available all hours of the day
● Samaritans – call 116 123
● Shout – a text-based counselling service, text Bristol to 85258
● The NHS mental health crisis team at www.bristolmentalhealth.org
University of Bristol students
You can access one-to-one counselling through the University of Bristol’s Wellbeing Service. Each department at the university also has a team of Wellbeing Advisors who can provide non-clinical advice.
UWE Bristol students
If you’re at UWE Bristol, you can access Kooth Student for anonymous, free, online counselling during evenings and weekends.
UWE Bristol also has a very useful page where you can filter the kind of support you want. Here, you can also find UWE’s Wellbeing Service, which provides counselling to students.
Both universities have useful websites. Photo: UWE Bristol
Remember that things might not be how you expected
There are always going to be things about university you can’t control. The coronavirus will already have helped you to manage those heightened expectations of university – don’t expect a life straight out of Fresh Meat or Starter for Ten!
Also, the people you meet during fresher’s week won’t necessarily become your lifelong friends, and that’s OK.
Everyone else, to some extent, is going through something similar. University is a big step. It’s not structured the way school is, and there’s a lot to learn about adult life.
Pressuring yourself to constantly feel like you’re having the best time ever while working out how to navigate the complicated world of unstructured learning, cooking rice and making sure you’ve got enough clean underwear is a sure fire way to get you down. Make sure to allow yourself some downtime.
University can be hard, and that’s okay. Photo: UWE Bristol
We can often feel alone if we avoid talking about our issues – we’re only human, and it’s okay to feel emotion. It’s good to speak.
Allowing a bout of loneliness to prolong itself by not reaching out to someone else will only affect you for longer.
Remember that in a city of thousands of people, there’ll be at least one person who can relate to you, as long as you reach out.
Main photo: Lowie Trevena
Read more: Staying healthy
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