Placement Year: Wellbeing

While we hope your placement year goes swimmingly, you may hit the odd bump in the road. We’re here to help!

The On-Placement Support Team and your Placement Tutor are here to help you get the most from your placement experience, and you’ll often find that your problem is easy to sort out once shared.

Support from the On-Placement Support Team

Aston has its very own dedicated On-Placement Support team. You can reach out to this friendly team if you need support of any kind. You can email or call them on +44 (0)121 204 4141 from 9am–4:30pm, Monday to Friday.

For any approval related queries click here.

Placement Tutor 

Your placement tutor will be allocated within your first term announced on your Blackboard placement module. Their role is to support and guide you with your academic placement assessments and to provide any pastoral support you may need during your year.  

Your tutor will also conduct a virtual visit between yourself and your placement supervisor this year. It is your responsibility to arrange this meeting, so do get on top of this early on. 

Student Welfare 

Even whilst on your placement year, you can still access support such as Counselling, Mental Health & Wellbeing Support and Disability & Academic support from the Student Welfare team. They can be contacted via email studentwelfare@aston.ac.uk  and directly during working hours at The Hub reception desk or via phone call 0121 204 5100.  

The Counselling Service is not an emergency service. If you are at immediate risk of serious harm, or are with someone who you feel is, call 999 and ask for an ambulance.   

If you are overseas and have a medical emergency, email or call Global Response on +44 (0)2920 662425 and quote the details of Aston’s travel insurance policy provider. They'll tell you where to go to get medical advice in your location. 

Emergencies

If you find yourself at immediate risk of serious harm or are with someone who you feel is, call 999 and ask for the appropriate emergency service/s.   

When it is safe and feasible to do so, please also update The On-Placement Support Team via email or call them on +44 (0)121 204 4141. 

If an incident occurs out of our standard operating hours, you can also contact and notify Campus Safety on 0121 359 2922, this team is manned 24/7 even on public holidays. 

The closest NHS Walk in Centre is Halcyon Medical, Unit 8, 24 Martineau Place, Birmingham B2 4 UH, and is open:  

• 8am–6:30pm, Monday to Friday  
• 10am–2pm, Saturday  
• 11am–2pm, Sunday  

The closest Accident and Emergency Centre to campus is Birmingham City Hospital, Dudley Road, B18 7QH.  

Where to turn for support

Student Support Services at The Hub

You can get a wide range of support and advice from the various teams that form The Hub at Aston University. If you need support with your mental health, the Counselling and Mental Wellbeing Service can help. They are experienced in supporting students with a wide range of issues including anxiety, academic stress, low mood and depression, relationship difficulties, and bereavement.

You may also benefit from making use of Aston’s multi-faith chaplaincy team – they offer meditation sessions, as well as Listening Ear which is a pastoral drop-in service which offers confidential, non-judgmental listening to students regardless of religious affiliation.

Support with Travel Insurance 

If you require a personalised insurance letter to support your visa application, please request this through insurance@aston.ac.uk stating your travel dates.

Disability and Academic Support Team

The Disability and Academic Support Team offers confidential advice and support services for students with disabilities. You are welcome to contact them both during your placement search, and whilst you’re on placement. They can arrange certain support to make things more manageable, including making adjustments in the workplace, and advising on software. You can get more information about how the Disability and Academic Support Team can help you with your placement, here.

Aston LGBTQ+ Staff Network

While you’re not able to join the Staff Network as a student, we are happy to take questions via email about what it’s like to be LGBTQ+ in the workplace, or how to navigate coming out at work.

You might also like to read this blog post, written by Daniel Burrell, Chair of Aston LGBTQ+ Staff Network. Daniel shares his experience of identifying as LGBTQ+, and how that affected him at work. 

Staying healthy at work

Here are some tips for staying healthy while on placement:

• If you’re working from home, you might feel disconnected from others. This could be exasperated if you have moved away from home. The good news is, you’re not on your own, and it’s normal to feel this way from time to time. Make sure you speak to your line manager, or another colleague if you’d prefer. 
• Try taking the time to chat with colleagues, and getting to know them as individuals. This may take a bit of courage at first, but remember most people are nervous when speaking to new people, so they may feel the same. 
• It may be that your placement provider offers a buddy system, whereby they’ll put you in touch with someone else in the team who will be a support for you. Ask your line manager if you’re not sure if this is something they offer.
• Take regular breaks, even if you feel really busy. Get outside for five minutes if you can. If that’s not possible, just have small breaks from looking at a screen, maybe by going to make a warm drink or by stretching. 
• If you do feel overwhelmed you can approach your line manager or a trusted colleague about your concerns. Alternatively, you can talk to the On-Placement Support Team who can provide you with a friendly face and listening ear!

Reporting sickness or absence

Your placement provider may have a process in place that you should be aware of if you are too poorly to work. However, if you're off sick for more than a week, please make your Placement Tutor and the On-Placements Support Team aware.

Disability and the workplace - things to consider

Aston graduate, Amy, learnt a thing or two about handling a disability while on placement. Here are her tips for navigating your placement with a disability.

My placement year in an Educational Psychology Service was a fantastic experience! It also gave me the opportunity to figure out more about the support I need in the workplace as a result of my disability. I have a chronic pain condition which developed during my studies at Aston and, with that, comes mobility issues, exhaustion and brain fog (on days when this is really bad, I call it “pain brain”!), amongst other things. Here is what I learned:

Preparation is key!

Before my first day, I enquired about accessible parking and accessible toilets, where the lifts were and other things that I knew I needed to be able to work there. It eased some of my first day nerves (which are absolutely normal, and most people have them!) and it meant I wasn’t late on my first day trying to figure it all out when I got there.

Help them to help you.

Just because things are obvious to me, that doesn’t mean they are to others. For example, on a school visit with a colleague, the meeting room we were booked into was upstairs and way way way at the other end of the school. I was on my crutches and I managed it, but a pretty bad pain flare-up followed. It wasn’t obvious to my colleague that stairs and distances were tricky for me…because I hadn’t told her. Now I know, going forward, that sharing this sort of information helps others to help me.

Be upfront and honest.

I have regular healthcare appointments to attend, usually during working hours. If this is the case for you, employers and placement providers appreciate the heads up. It will also give you the chance to find out what the policies and procedures are for time off for appointments.

Don’t be afraid to speak up.

Discuss with employers/placement providers what support you need and allow them to tell you what is feasible. This two-way dialogue is really important. If you have been told that certain things will be put in place to support you and these things don’t actually happen, (politely) remind whoever it is that agreed to it or the person who needs to action it. It may just be that they need a gentle reminder!

Things can change.

Your health condition may change. Your symptoms or the severity of them may change. What support is available to you in the workplace may change. Where appropriate, it can really help to have regular mutually agreed reviews to discuss any changes in terms of your disability or the support that can be offered. On placement, I had monthly supervision with the same person and we incorporated these discussions into those meetings.

Working from home may be an option.

With my disability, I am sometimes physically unable to get somewhere but am mentally/cognitively able to get work done. So, I asked my placement provider about the possibility of working from home. Many of the team already worked from home sometimes anyway, so it was easy for them to provide me with a laptop and link phone for me to work from home when I needed to. One good thing to have come out of COVID is that working from home has become much more commonplace now. There will, however, undoubtedly be some jobs where working from home just is not feasible, perhaps because of the nature of the job or because of confidentiality issues – in these cases, have an open conversation with your employer about what can be done.

Wellbeing resources

Aston University’s self-help guides

Aston University has a variety of self-help guides which you may find useful. Produced by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, they cover a range of topics including anxiety, controlling anger, sleeping problems and stress.

Togetherall

Togetherall is an online support community for your mental health. You can talk anonymously about how you’re feeling, access the service 24/7, get support from trained practitioners, take advantage of a range of self-guided courses to do at your own pace, and more.

Student Space

Student Space aims to make it easier for you to find the support that you need during. They offer access to dedicated support services by phone, email, text or webchat and information and tools to help you through a variety of challenges you may be facing. Plus, they’ll help signpost you to the support available here at Aston.

ComPsych | Global Student Assistance Programme

The Global Student Assistance Programme from ComPsych offers counselling, legal and financial consultation to students free of charge, no matter where you are in the world. 

Student Minds

Student Minds is the UK’s student mental health charity. They empower students and members of the university community to develop the knowledge, confidence and skills to look after their own mental health, support others, and create change. There are lots of useful resources on their website including information about their peer support programmes and where to find support.

Mental Health Foundation

On the Mental Health Foundation website, you’ll be able to find a range of content designed to give you more information about mental health and how to look after yours.

Birmingham Healthy Minds

Birmingham Healthy Minds is an NHS primary care psychological therapies service for people with depression and anxiety symptoms. To access their service you must be registered with a Birmingham GP.

Mind

Mind have lots of useful information on their website including tips for everyday living, guides to support and services, supporting someone else with a mental health problem and helplines you can call.