The first question most students ask is the service confidential? Yes. We won’t disclose details about you, or any support you receive, without your consent, unless there are exceptional circumstances where there may be a significant risk to the safety and wellbeing of yourself or others.
Even in those circumstances we would still attempt to seek your consent before taking further action.
Queen Mary has dedicated Disability Advisers (Mental Health and Autism) who are the first point of contact for students with a mental health diagnosis at any stage during their studies.
If you would like to discuss support for Mental Health Conditions and the impact of this on your studies, please contact DDS to make an appointment to meet with an Disability Adviser (Mental Health and Autism).
Students with no existing mental health diagnosis but who are experiencing issues with their mental health should contact the Advice and Counselling Service to see a Mental Health Adviser in the first instance.
Our Advice and Counselling Service includes experienced Welfare Advisers who have specialist training to offer you professional advice on a range of financial, legal and welfare issues. Their aim is to advise you about possible solutions and options relating to these issues, so that you can concentrate on your academic progress. More information about Welfare Advisers is available from the Advice and Counselling Service.
Information about insurance and regulations relating to immigration advice
Counsellors within our Advice and Counselling Service may be able to support you whilst you are studying at Queen Mary.
Appointments can be face-to-face or online. If you don’t have a confidential space to attend an online appointment, you can use one of their zoom-rooms at the Mile End campus, a private room for video counselling. Please see information on the Advice and Counselling Service's website for more details.
If you are currently living outside the UK, the Advice and Counselling Service are offering wellbeing checks and shorter support calls via MS Teams. You will need to provide an emergency contact within your country.
For more information about registering for counselling please see here.
We would also recommend making an appointment with your GP if you are feeling psychologically unwell, so that your GP can support you and, if necessary, assist with specialist referral within the NHS.For academic support with your studies or Extenuating Circumstances, contact your Student Support Officer (SSO) in your department.
The PhD Support Group is run by the Advice and Counselling Service and the Researcher Development team. It aims to provide a safe, confidential space in which PhD students support each other with personal, emotional and relationship issues that are holding them back. For more information about the PhD Support Group please see here.
More information about how we support our researchers
If you have concerns about your own mental health and its impact on your studies please contact us to make an appointment to meet with a member of the team.
The Mental Health team can also provide information, training and advice to staff within Queen Mary in relation to student mental health. Members of staff who have concerns about the mental health of a student should refer to the Supporting students in urgent situations [PDF 618KB] guidelines
This is a grant from Student Finance England. Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs) help pay for extra costs a student might have as a direct result of their disability, including a long-term health condition, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. They must meet the definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010
If you have a diagnosed mental health condition you may be eligible for support through the (DSA). A member of the team can help you apply.
More information about DSA is available on our dedicated DSA webpage.
More information about the £200 award toward the cost of a DSA funded computer.
If you are worried about someone else and feel unsure about what to do, you may find it helpful to read through this information.
You might decide that you need to take a break from your studies for personal, medical or financial reasons. At Queen Mary, we call this ‘interrupting’ your studies. You may interrupt for a minimum of one month and a maximum of two years in total. Interruptions for a period longer than this will be granted only in highly exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the Queen Mary Academic Registrar. More information about interrupting.
Many of our students write to us requesting support in the early hours of the morning or at weekends and we acknowledge it may take a few days to receive a response and even longer to actually see someone. Togetherall provides immediate support whilst you’re waiting for an appointment to see someone in Student and Academic Services. If you access Togetherall there is no negative impact on your wait for support through our services; it’s just another option that you may want to explore.
More information about Togetherall can be found on our dedicated page.
Student Minds have developed a new platform, Student Space, collaboratively with services, higher education professionals, researchers and students to make it easier for you to find the support that you need during the coronavirus pandemic.
There are three ways that Student Space can help during the pandemic: