Mental Health & Wellbeing

Here to help

Access our Student Welfare Support Request Form

We are not a replacement for emergency or statutory services and students in immediate need of emergency support should contact Campus Safety emergency on 0121 359 2922 or local emergency services on 999.

Aston University’s Mental Health and Wellbeing team provides effective and specialist support to the University’s students, to meet their basic mental health and wellbeing needs, giving them the best opportunity to successfully complete their studies and have a positive student experience.

Service Overview
  • Provide specialist advice, guidance and collaborative working with other areas of Aston University including academic personal tutors, supervisors and other staff to ensure students make the most of their time at the University.
     
  • Triage and screen referrals to the service – in any referral where there is any mention of immediate risk of harm, the student will be contacted and screened. In the case of confirmed risk to self, students will be advised to attend NHS services.
     
  • Offer signposting support to other services, both internal and external to Aston University, including psychological and psychiatric services.
     
  • Offer a safe space to discuss personal or emotional challenges students may be experiencing, including mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions.
     
  • Offer practical support, information, education and resources relating to individual challenges and diagnoses, such as anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions.
     
  • Work collaboratively with other areas of Student Welfare (including other services within Student Welfare such as Counselling, Disability & Academic Support, and Chaplaincy) to ensure student needs are met.
     
  • Provide information and advice if a student is considering an interruption of study for reasons of mental health or wellbeing.
     
  • Support return to study following an interruption for reasons of mental health or wellbeing.
     
  • Between the hours of 10:00-16:00, a Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist is available to provide crisis support where students are at risk of immediate harm to themselves or others prior to signposting to more appropriate statutory services.
What we do not provide
  • Protracted emergency or crisis support in place of statutory services.
     
  • Counselling or therapy (this is available through Aston University Counselling service).
     
  • Low-level pastoral support – this is provided by Chaplaincy for students of all faiths and no faith.
     
  • Drop-in or ad-hoc sessions for routine challenges.
     
  • Continuation of counselling services once a student has competed the offer of six sessions with Aston University Counselling services.
Who we support
  • Current registered Aston University students.
     
  • Aston University students who are identified on University systems as being beyond their expected end date of study but are still completing academic work (i.e., continuing to study).
     
  • Aston University students currently on placement in the UK.
     
  • We offer support to students preparing to go on placement, either in the UK or internationally.
Who we cannot support
  • Former Aston University students who have now completed their studies and are beyond their expected end date of study (i.e., having submitted their final piece of academic work or attended their final exam).
     
  • Aston University staff.
     
  • Family members or friends of students or staff that are not registered Aston University students.
     
  • Aston University students on placements in other countries. These students should access support using the Global Student Assistance Programme (see below):
Students in crisis

At any time, Campus Safety remain the first point of contact in any emergency and will contact emergency services as required. During normal working hours, Campus Safety and the Hub may directly contact the duty Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist to seek assistance, guidance and support. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist on duty will meet the student concerned if there is a life-threatening or high risk situation.

If deemed appropriate, the attending duty worker will offer immediate support to the individual and colleagues and assist the student to access the most appropriate services:

  • Arrange routine referral to Welfare services.
  • Encourage attendance at GP or use of 111.
  • Signpost to local mental health services.
  • Recommend attendance at A&E
  • Recommend 999 be called requesting an ambulance.
  • Offer follow-up from Aston University Welfare services as appropriate.

Note: Any direct contact should be supplemented by a routine referral form completed through the usual referral process to ensure the student is properly registered with the service.

Referrals 

Urgent referrals

Access our Student Welfare Support Request Form

If the student has been referred through normal referral channels and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist on duty reviews the information and considers the situation to be urgent, attempts will be made to contact the student for triage risk screening assessment within one working day. If contact proves impossible, other actions will be taken to attempt to ensure the safety of the student.

Following contact via MS Teams, email or telephone, the duty worker will:

  1. Request appropriate information to clarify the need for immediate support.
  2. Offer advice and guidance to address the immediate needs of the student (and/or staff member).
  3. If there is an immediate risk to life, the Mental Health and Wellbeing duty worker will offer to attend and meet with the student to offer support to ensure immediate safety signposting to appropriate support.

Outside the normal working hours of the Mental Health and Wellbeing team, Campus Safety should be contacted to ensure the safety and wellbeing of any individual of concern.

  • Campus Safety emergency: 0121 359 2922
  • Campus Safety non-emergency: 0121 204 4803
Routine referrals

Access our Student Welfare Support Request Form

Electronic referrals are completed by the referrer who may be the student themselves, a member of staff or a friend or relative.

A screening assessment tool is sent to the student – this allows the Mental Health and Wellbeing team to make informed decisions regarding appropriate support.

On return of the screening assessment tool, this will be forwarded to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Duty inbox for review and then discussion in the clinical meeting.

Requests for Welfare and Wellbeing Checks

There are times when the service is approached by staff or family to check the welfare and wellbeing status of a student. Contact may come via email, phone or through a reporting form. Additionally, there may be times between appointments that a practitioner within the Mental Health and Wellbeing team becomes concerned for the safety or wellbeing of a student. This leads to the need to contact the student.

Several options are available to the team:

  1. Contact via telephone call or MS Teams.
  2. Contact using email (if deemed low risk).
  3. If appropriate, liaison with the other services involved (Counselling, Disability and Academic Support, Visa Compliance, Student Advice, etc.)
  4. If living on campus, the service may contact Residence Advisors to conduct a welfare check.
  5. Contacting a named and trusted person identified on the student’s record.
  6. Check the student’s last use of MAP.
  7. Contact Campus Safety to enquire as to last use of the Student ID card.
  8. Contact the police and ask for a Safe and Well check if living off campus (only if considered an imminent and confirmed risk to life).

NOTE: It is unlikely that Mental Health and Wellbeing will refer to the police for a Safe and Well check; if the referrer feels this is warranted they should contact the police or encourage the student to attend their GP or local A&E department.

Staffing and Engagement

Mental Health Specialists

Qualified mental health specialists holding a first-level registration in health or social care, i.e. as mental health nurses, social workers or occupational therapists. Each will have significant amounts of experience working in clinical settings within mental health. Specialists take on the role of duty worker on a rotational basis ensuring that a senior member of the team is available to offer advice and support in times of crisis. To ensure that the duty worker is always available on these days, no routine student contacts are booked on these days.

Key aspects of the Specialist role:

  • Operate as Duty Worker
  • To be first point of contact for staff when contacting the mental health and wellbeing team
  • To support students with complex issues or longer term, diagnosed mental health difficulties
  • To work with students presenting with higher risks and vulnerability
  • Increased collaboration with other departments
  • Providing practical support, information, education and resources
Mental Health Advisors

Advisors have a variety of experiences but are particularly experienced in the field of mental health promotion and support as well as psychoeducation and mental health resilience skills training.

Key aspects of the Advisor/Practitioner role

  • To support students with less complex issues
  • To work with students presenting with low risk
  • Focus on delivery of practical support and developing individual resilience
  • Development of information and resources

 Methods of Engagement

Emergency Appointments

These take place when a student is identified as being in immediate and urgent need and at high risk of harm to self or others (usually requiring referral to local statutory services).

Planned Appointments

These can be in-person or online.

Group Workshops

These are person-centered, in-person and online workshops focused on specific concerns and challenges. In many cases, these workshops will be the first intervention offered to most students presenting to the Mental Health and Wellbeing service after initial screening.