Mental Health

 

Students experiencing difficulties with their mental health can access support through student wellbeing services; specifically, the Advice and Counselling Service and the Disability and Dyslexia Service.

Broadly, students with existing mental health diagnoses and conditions on the autistic spectrum, as well as students with conditions like ADHD, can access support through the Disability and Dyslexia Service to ensure that they can access their teaching and learning. Visit the section on Mental health and wellbeing for more information, as well as the DDS pages on support for students experiencing difficulties with their mental health.

Students in crisis, e.g. who are presenting as a risk to themselves or others, can access the various specialist staff in the Advice and Counselling Service.

Here is a description of what each member of staff provides and how students can access their support:

Mental Health Advisers

Our Mental Health Advisers are qualified clinicians who can advise students on how to manage their condition while studying. They also support students with no existing mental health diagnosis, but who are experiencing issues with their mental health. They are the most appropriate contacts for students experiencing a mental health crisis and presenting as a risk, as they can link up with NHS services as required.

Student Wellbeing Advisers

These new posts are in place to offer students mental health interventions and to help guide students to the most appropriate parts of Student Wellbeing services; they will also be doing more preventative work with our Schools and Institutes to promote wellbeing in its widest sense.

Disability Advisers (Mental Health)

Disability Advisers work with students with existing mental health diagnoses to recommend and implement reasonable adjustments so that they can access their teaching and learning, as per our duties under the Equality Act (2010). They will also advocate for students to ensure that they can access external funding via the Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) scheme and the support that this provides.

Counsellors and Therapists

Like most universities, Queen Mary offers short-term counselling and other psychological support (e.g. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) in recognition of the tumultuous issues that our students may be facing for the first time as they enter adulthood.

Sexual Assault and Harassment Advisers

The University has two full-time, permanent Sexual Assault and Harassment Advisers (SAHAs), who are based in the Advice and Counselling Service. These SAHAs provide 1:1 support to students who have experienced sexual assault and / or harassment and help them access appropriate support both within Queen Mary (e.g. counselling) as well as via external agencies (e.g. sexual health services, The Havens, Rape Crisis). They also support students who decide to make formal complaints using the University’s Code of Student Discipline and Student Complaints Policy 

If a student discloses that they have experienced any form of sexual assault or harassment the best advice is to ask them to report it using the University's Report and Support webtool. You can also view more information about the SAHA role.

Quick reference

• Students with existing mental health diagnoses should be referred to the Disability Advisers (Mental Health); they are based in the Disability and Dyslexia Service
• Students experiencing mental health difficulties for the first time should be signposted to Advice and Counselling
• Students who present as a risk to themselves or others should be referred to the Mental Health Advisers in Advice and Counselling
• Students who have experienced loss or bereavement may benefit from short-term counselling and should be signposted to Advice and Counselling
• Students who are reporting that they have been experienced sexual assault and / or harassment are advised to make contact via Report and Support

Contacts

Advice and Counselling Service

Students can also access this service by completing a registration form on MySIS.

Email: welfare@qmul.ac.uk

Disability and Dyslexia Service

Email: dds@qmul.ac.uk

Report and Support