The Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has
released a new report today looking at the issue of mental
health among students. It notes that they are less happy than the general
population, that depression and loneliness now affect one in three of them,
and
that the number of suicides among this group is rising. We spoke to the
report’s author Poppy Brown, a third-year psychology and philosophy student at
the University of Oxford, who outlined some of her recommendations for
universities:
- Conduct a self-review and create an action plan
“Universities can really learn from each other, a
lot of them do have good schemes,” Brown explains. “The University of York has
created a very comprehensive action plan recently. Collecting
data on things other than students reports is important; they have ambulance callout figures for self harm and suicide
attempts, and they spoke to students’ GPs. It’s about working out which
processes are working and which not, and then looking at what else can be done
- Train all staff on mental health policy and awareness
“I haven’t found any examples of universities
having it fully right on training for mental health, but they are definitely starting
to realise its importance. Imperial College London employed mental first aid trainers and now
have about 30 or 40 mental health first-aiders on site. There’s also a pilot at
Nottingham Trent which is training accommodation staff about mental health,
which is important – if a student is
struggling, they may retreat to their accommodation.”
- Allow students to be registered with doctors at home and at university
“Unfortunately, this is probably one of the hardest
things to achieve, but is one of the most important. This is a problem for all
students, whether it’s a physical or a mental problem. I know that if I want to
see a GP out of term time, it’s going to be a nightmare. You really need that
continuity of care, which just isn’t there at the moment.”
- Increase funding for counselling and support services
“Some universities do spend enough: for the coming
year, the University of Sussex is due to spend about £465,000, for example. But
that’s not all universities. The ones who are currently spending the least need
to review that. The economic advantage is there; Ruth Caleb, the head of
counselling at Brunel University, estimates that the service says the
university about £2.5m a year in fees that would otherwise have been lost.”
- ΓΌ Provide support for students with a history of mental health problems
“Disclosure is completely up to the student, as far
as I’m aware, but universities are encouraging
them to declare issues upon application or entry. But a lot of students
still worry about doing that in case it hinders their application. It’s
difficult; a university can’t force a care plan on a student, but there needs
to be better communication and clarification of policies.”
Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, said: “Going to
university can be stressful, especially for first-in-family students.
Typically, you lose your established support networks, move to a new part of
the country and take on large debts. Occasionally, it even ends in tragedy.“It is vital that people entering university for the first time know
that support is available, that any problems can be shared and that asking for
help is normal. University support services, academic tutors, student unions,
other students and the NHS can all help. But we must do more if we are to meet
demand.”
Article courtesy of the guardian
Way forward;
Universities in Kenya should take up these lessons
from the West since the students in Kenya are also facing various mental health
issues. Advocacy inclusion of evidence based mental health programmes in the Universities
in Kenya should be strengthened.
No comments:
Post a Comment