16th October 2019 14:45
By Blue Tutors
A student support charity has seen an increase in university students requesting help, and claim that students are worried about using their own university’s counselling service. Reported on the BBC, “Off the Record”, a charity in Bath, said that students are worried that their academic record will be affected if they speak to someone in their university. Hundreds of students from both Bath and Bristol university seek help from OTR each year.
Jayme Sims is a student at Bath, but has a unique insight into the issue because she has a work placement at OTR as part of her course. She used the university support service herself and said that because universities have an interest in students not dropping out of their course, she worries that the advice they give is not always in the best interests of the student. This was denied by Dr Cassie Wilson, vice-president for student experience at Bath, who said that their students were the priority when making decisions, not the recruitment or student retention services.
Ms Sims said she has spoken to students who think that their situation is not serious enough to qualify for help, which is why more don’t seek help from the university. There can be a feeling that using the service prevents someone else from doing the same; unless something acute has happened like trauma or abuse, you are not deserving of the help on offer.
Anxiety about academic performance has become the top reason affecting students’ mental health according to Dominique Thompson, a former GP and now national advisor to universities. With the increased tuition fees and related financial burden on students and their families, there is a growing fear about letting people down and not being good enough. A recent study suggested that many universities are naive about the mental health support needed by many of their students.