Introduction to WELLBEING SUPPORT SERVICES

Wellbeing Support Services Disability Counselling Mental Health & Wellbeing Student Support Support for students with disabilities, including specific learning differences or long term medical conditions. Offers a range of services in a therapeutic context to help process and understand a wide range of emotional and psychological issues. Support for students experiencing a wide range of mental health and wellbeing issues and mental health disabilities Practical advice and help accessing other services.

Disability Services www.warwick.ac.uk/disability Advice, guidance and support to students with disabilities such as sensory impairments, long-term medical conditions, specific learning differences, ASD, etc. Information on available funding including the Disabled Student Allowances Reasonable adjustments including special exam arrangements to facilitate study Advice and support for academics who have student with disability in dept. Questions – Finance – (no budget centrally) environment – estates resources – dept. and library e.g. changes to course handbook, note-taking support – via DSA (NB. Changes to DSA) Student engagement – expectation that student will take charge of own disability. Must discuss issues and needs Each dept. has disability contact Example: student declared Aspergers – no mention before. What does that mean for you as p.t? As dept? (instructions/ changes/ sensory difficulties/ group work/ recognizing anxiety) www.warwick.ac.uk/disability

Disability Services One to one specialist support and practical enabling support (mentoring, specialist study skills, note taking etc) Raising awareness of disability, accessibility and inclusive teaching & learning practices for all Offering staff awareness sessions

Counselling Service www.warwick.ac.uk/counselling Dedicated team of professional counsellors Range of therapeutic interventions to help explore and understand a wide variety of emotional and psychological issues: Face-to-face Email Counselling Group therapy Workshop programme Self-help resources on line UCS works with a range of issues including depression; anxiety; interpersonal relating; self confidence and esteem and so on UCS works with a range of severity of issues, from mild (where a difficult situation is contained and functioning is only mildly affected) to severe (where distress is very high and functioning is significantly affected) Our aim is to help people develop understanding and insight into their issues so they can increase their capacity to effect change leading to improvement in psychological mood and functioning - so they can engage fully in their academic tasks and student life. Range of services – all services can be registered with through the website: Face-to-face – is generally brief, focused therapy for those who want to talk individually with a professional in person about their issues. This service is very popular with students, from registration to appointment will tend to be approximately 2 weeks (see the website for details), although those who register will be offered a brief pre-counselling consultation session opportunity with a professional counsellor in the UCS team within 5 days of registering. Email Counselling –helpful for those who find exploring their concerns in writing with a trained professional and getting responses each week, without having to keep to a specific appointment time. Group therapy – valuable for those who benefit from regular, longer term therapeutic input and helpful as a space to consider interpersonal relating Workshop programme – a range of topics such as managing procrastination, building confidence and self esteem, stress and anxiety reduction. One-off, 2 hour workshops throughout the year. Self-help– available 24/7 on line – a list of 60 issues with information about the topic and links to further help and support and a range of self help resources such as e-books to help explore issues further. See the ‘testimonials and tips’ webpage to read how others have found their experience of the UCS – over 90% of those who use the service would recommend it. Example – grandparent dies over Christmas – difficulties in summer term (exploring/ understanding issues) www.warwick.ac.uk/counselling

Mental Health & Wellbeing Team Support, advice and information to assist students in managing a mental health disability or severe and enduring mental health difficulty at University Refer to and liaise with external support where appropriate GPs Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment Team Community Mental Health Team Early Intervention Team Access to mentoring under Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) and arranging reasonable adjustments to study Guided self-help material and brief psychological interventions Advising academics if concerned about a student’s mental health Counselling or mental health? NB. the University is not able to provide long term support to students unless they access DSA (which can pay for mentoring.) International students do not have access to this, so we do need to plan differently for their longer term support needs Crucial to manage expectations – not just those of students, but also the expectations of academics – there is a limit to the level of support the University can provide. NOT an emergency service; can be wait of 2/3 weeks. Role is consultancy; not ongoing support (monitoring not treating) Everyone’s health, both physical and mental, varies from time to time and may sometimes cause problems for the individual, or those around them Living away from home/ transition to adult life/ culture shock/ family issues/ relationships/ work pressures State of wellbeing – good diet/ exercise/ sleep pattern/ not too much alcohol etc Important to disclose if there is an ongoing disability issue – can’t provide long term support Example: no previous MH difficulties – experience episode of mental ill-health. Short spell in hosp. – home to recuperate – see MH co-ordinator on return to discuss strategies for managing stress, identify support needs www.warwick.ac.uk/mentalhealth

Mental Health & Wellbeing Team Wellbeing sessions Brief sessions to problem solve a wellbeing issue and identify a specific practical strategy Wellbeing Workshop Sessions Including healthy lifestyle, work-life balance, managing stress, improving sleep and so on Wellbeing Promotion in departments www.warwick.ac.uk/wellbeingservice

Student Support Offering support to students on non-academic difficulties Initial assessment & signposting Advice to academic staff Example: international masters student – not concentrating on studies/ can’t sleep/ cultural issues/ no appetite/ query re. how to go about essays. Referrals to MH/ GP/ Skills/ PT www.warwick.ac.uk/studentsupport

Remote support Counselling – email Other teams – email, telephone and Skype

Network of support: www.warwick.ac.uk/studentsupport Residential Life Team Dean of Students Office Personal tutors Health Centre Student Funding International Student Office Chaplaincy Security/ Police Student Careers and Skills Students’ Union Advice Centre Local services NB. Global Engagement covers Immigration Service, Police Registration, Banking, Trips and Social events www.warwick.ac.uk/studentsupport

Further information on accessing our services  024 7657 5570  studentsupport@Warwick.ac.uk www.warwick.ac.uk/studentsupport Professionals offering wide range of services- each service is in communication with the others where relevant to ensure a comprehensive support package for students. Warwick offers a supportive environment, recognising that they are all adults, who need to take responsibility for their own actions, and should they need support, will need to engage with us, and poss. other statutory support services (acknowledging the limits of what can be expected of an educational establishment). If they do so, then we will offer the support we can.