Chapter 18 - Mental Health Services on Campus and in the NHS

Summary

Students and staff are provided with a range of mental health supports, many of them boasting excellent outcomes, but not always adequately connected up. Counsellors, Mental Health Advisors and Mental Health Mentors are available without fee to most university students. These are well researched and evidenced in the treatment of mild to moderate mental illnesses and in the support of people with longer term disorders. Chaplaincy takes many forms and is also a widely available but less well evidenced. There is still much work to do in terms of integrating different services around a vulnerable student. The challenge is greatest when NHS as well as in-house university services are needed. Students with severe mental disorders require longer courses of therapy than university Counselling services routinely offer, and arrangements for treatment during vacations are essential. Integrative models such as that piloted in Greater Manchester show promise, but smaller, less urban universities need different solutions. More than half of universities have no GP on campus. Workforce shortages and funding anomalies make it ever more difficult for GPs to co-ordinate the care of their university patients.