Support for staff in student-facing roles
The Mental Health Advice Service provides liaison, advice and practical support to University and College staff in student-facing roles. Staff can ask for advice on:
-
how to work with individual students who might present with mental health issues, challenging behaviours or are difficult to engage
-
post-crisis care for students who remain in College following a mental health crisis
-
behavioural management of students whose behaviour may be impacting on the wider College community
This can help to engage the student better in available support and integrate them into the College community. This in turn would aid in preventing high levels of distress or crises.
Mental health advisers require informed consent from students to disclose or exchange information. However, other staff working with the student may supply additional information to the mental health advisers. This helps advisers to gain a more complete picture of the issues the student may be facing.
'Support to Study' and 'Fitness to Study' procedures
Students can be referred to the Mental Health Advice Service as part of a 'Support to Study' or 'Fitness to Study' process. This can help to ensure identifying and addressing potential underlying mental health issues.
Advisers will not make a decision on fitness to study. However, they will be able to advise if the student is likely to have an underlying mental health issue which is impacting their ability to function, and if this can be mitigated to help academic progress.
If a student has been referred to the service as part of a 'Fitness to Study' procedure, the service will contact the student. The service will seek their consent to disclose information for this specific purpose. This enables the service to provide a comprehensive report including recommendations to the College.