This appendix presents some useful links and resources concerning institutional provision for students with mental health problems. The resources that follow approach the topic from diverse positions. They have been selected with a view to further highlighting issues explored in our review of the literature and offer practical resources.
Reports
Recent reports on student mental health include:
■ Student mental wellbeing in higher education: good practice guide –
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/StudentMentalWellbeingGuide .aspx#.VYlevPlViko
■ Understanding adjustments: supporting staff and students who are experiencing mental health difficulties – http://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/understanding-adjustments-mental-health/
■ The mental health of students in higher education –
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/publications/collegereports/cr/cr166.aspx
■ Grand Challenges in Student Mental Health – http://www.studentminds.org.uk/grand-challenges.html
The following publications may also be of interest:
British Psychological Society Reports:
Students with mental health problems may be having unusual experiences that are difficult to understand, and/or have fluctuating mental health issues. Two recent reports by the British Psychological Association may assist staff or students seeking better to understand such experiences:
■ Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia: Why people sometimes hear voices, believe things that others find strange, or appear out of touch with reality, and what can help – http://shop.bps.org.uk/understanding-psychosis-and-schizophrenia.html
■ Understanding Bipolar Disorder: Why some people experience extreme mood states, and what can help – http://shop.bps.org.uk/understanding-bipolar-disorder.html
Towards a social model of madness and distress? Exploring what service users say:
This Joseph Rowntree Foundation report explores mental health service users’ views about social approaches to madness and mental distress and their relationship with the social model of disability. It provides an invaluable introduction to issues which may affect the decision to disclose.
http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/mental-health-service-models-full.pdf
Toolkits and online resources
Action on Access Disability Guides:
This list of resources provides a series of guides and advice relating to the broader issues of disability, it includes targeted information and checklists that may support staff with a range of responsibilities, for instance marketing, library services, facilities.
http://actiononaccess.org/resources/publications
Developing an Holistic and Joined Up Approach to Mental Wellbeing:
This online resource – part of the Healthy Universities Toolkit, developed by the UK national Healthy Universities Network - aims to promote a whole university approach to addressing wellbeing issues in their broadest sense.
http://www.healthyuniversities.ac.uk/toolkit/guidance-package-subsite.php?subSite=6
The Disability Archive UK:
The aim of the Disability Archive UK is to provide disabled people, students and scholars with an interest in disability and related fields, access to the writings of those disability activists, writers and allies whose work may no longer be easily accessible in the public domain. It is hoped that the documents available via the Archive will help to inform current and future debates on disability and related issues.
http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/library/
Higher Education Support Toolkit: Assisting Students with Psychiatric Disabilities:
This US resource aims to assist students to clarify the issues that the barriers to academic success and satisfaction, and to address them.
http://cpr.bu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Higher-Education-Support-Toolkit.pdf
Mental health: A university crisis:
Mental health issues have become a growing concern for both students and academics. This Guardian series aims to uncover what it describes as ‘a hidden side to university life’. It is worth reading, both for the articles and the comments upon them, as it can help highlight the diverse attitudes to mental health which staff and students may encounter.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/series/mental-health-a-university-crisis
Post-Secondary Student Mental Health: Guide to a Systemic Approach
The framework presented in this Canadian guide outlines a systemic approach to the creation of campus communities that foster mental well-being and learning.
http://www.cacuss.ca/current_projects_mental_health_report.htm
Mental Health in Higher Education hub:
This resource aims to enhance networking and the sharing of approaches to learning and teaching about mental health across the disciplines in UK higher education:
www.mhhehub.ning.com
Its membership includes educators, students, student support staff and users of mental health services. The MHHEHUB has collated a collection of student mental health links, including some student blogs which may help raise awareness of the lived experience of students with mental health problems: http://bundlr.com/b/student-mental-health
Videos
Animated Minds:
A series of short animated documentaries that use real testimonies from people with experience of different forms of mental distress. A single aim underpins all the films: to help dispel myths and misconceptions about ‘mental illness’ by giving a voice to those who experience these various difficulties first hand.
http://animatedminds.com/
Being a student is mental: normalising mental health issues:
Based on the results of a project carried out for Aimhigher Sussex, this video explores the relationship between mental health problems and progression to Higher Education, and how those providing outreach activities can make them accessible and relevant to students with mental health issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOQJIFFrxo
Equally Connected:
In the summer of 2010 a group of international students at Heriot-Watt University in
Edinburgh made this short film about the challenges of leaving home, to live and study in a new country, and the strategies they employed to ensure their wellbeing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGz6wih3TLs
Tony’s Story: towards a mental health promoting University:
This video shares the story of one mature student with mental health problems, raising issues that Higher Education Institutions need to address if they are to deliver
environments that promote wellbeing and success.
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/social-policy/ceimh/film-resources/tonys-story.aspx
University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day – ‘I Chose to Disclose’:
The Support Services & Student Union at Aberystwyth University asked staff and students how they would respond if someone disclosed a mental health difficulty to them. See how they reacted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJL0_Ot5vsQ
Websites
The Alliance for Student-Led Wellbeing comprises organisations that aim to raise awareness about the importance of good mental health, reduce the stigma associated with anxiety and depression, and provide practical and emotional support to
university and college students, working alongside campus and public services.
The website contains links to a range of other useful sites including Student Minds, Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education, the University Mental Health Advisers Network and Nightline.
http://alliancestudentwellbeing.weebly.com/