Why the Student Wellbeing Service should be valued, not underrated.

An Anonymous student shares their positive experiences with the newly established Student Wellbeing Service in Bristol.

Navigating both the University and NHS mental health services can be challenging at the best of times; but when mentally ill, it can feel painfully overwhelming. Although the University still has a way to go with tackling its mental health crisis, it remains hugely important to highlight what services are working, which types of support we need more of, and which services may be useful to those who are currently struggling.

For students feeling a bit lost in the confusing sea of NHS and University support services, I would highly recommend making contact with the Student Wellbeing Service. They are a non-clinical advisory service who will listen, act as a support base for all students and sign-post specialist services. It is a new service; it came into being this year and it should be noted that it is distinct from the other new service, the Residential Life Service.

I have rarely been so pleasantly surprised with regards to the speed of the response I received.

Having started to feel disconnected myself towards the beginning of term, I quickly started to feel ashamed and despondent at my rapidly deteriorating mental health yet again. I emailed my Senior Tutor and asked him to point me in the direction of the Wellbeing Advisory Service, wanting to prevent my low mood from being further exacerbated.

Things were feeling pretty dire so I mustered up the motivation to email the service straight away, trying to deliver as much coherence and detail as possible – which ended up being an email consisting of one sentence, relaying that I belonged to their specific faculty and that I wished to access support if possible. I did not really expect much to come of it, and if it did I expected to be waiting until the end of my degree before it really got me anywhere.

I have rarely been so pleasantly surprised with regards to the speed of the response I received. I heard from one of the Wellbeing Advisors from my faculty the next day, offering me appointment times within a week. Granted, this was towards the beginning of the year before many people knew what the Wellbeing Service was or how to access it; I would persuade students not to feel despondent if their response is not quite so speedy – my particular example simply illustrates their dedication to student wellbeing, and their understanding of how important early intervention can be.

When I met with the advisor their tone was completely non-judgmental. This alone enabled me to relieve myself of some of the guilt and shame I was dealing with on top of my mental health problems. My obscure fears and disordered thoughts were not only met with kindness, but also with a great level of understanding.

I would urge students not to misunderstand the term ‘non-clinical’ to mean they exist only for students who suffer from poor mental wellbeing, rather than those who have diagnoses of severe mental health problems. ‘Non-clinical’ simply means that the advice they offer is not therapeutic or treatment based, but supportive advice in the context of a wide understanding of mental illness.

Everything I said seemed to genuinely make sense to them, even though I thought I was losing my mind. Nothing I said seemed to be out of the realms of what they might have encountered before. I felt normal, I felt less helpless, and I felt less afraid of what other people might think. They continued to follow up with me, made a doctor’s appointment for me when I was really unwell, and as time went on the pressure I was putting on myself to become instantly ‘fixed’ and not waste people’s time lessened.

I felt normal, I felt less helpless, and I felt less afraid of what other people might think.

Although it can be tough to pin down at times, there will always be people who react to any level of difficulty with kindness, not judgment. The one thing I would say about this service is that as the academic year progresses and distress levels increase, it could probably do with greater funding and better sign posting, so that students can access it more easily.

The service itself seems to be filling a vital role within the University’s support network. That is not to say that there is not more work to be done with regards to building a secure support system, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Featured Image: Unsplash / Eberhard Grossgasteiger