University mental health support ‘desperately under-resourced’

Two-fifths of mental health practitioners who work with students in the UK are considering leaving their roles in the next five years, according to a survey, with pay, workload and the increasingly complex nature of cases adding to the stresses of the job.

The University Mental Health Advisors Network (UMHAN) said the results of its member survey should act as a “wake-up call” for university leaders, the NHS and government, with student mental health again under the spotlight as the High Court considers whether universities owe a legal duty of care to their students.

A total of 104 of the society’s members – who work as specialist mental health mentors, mental health advisers and managers – took the annual survey and 40 per cent said they were considering leaving, up from a third of respondents in 2022.

Pay was the most cited reason, ahead of workload, work-related stress, the responsibilities of the role and a lack of career progression.

Caseloads of practitioners either increased or remained the same compared with last year. On average, respondents reported supporting between 30 and 50 students, half of whom were defined as “high risk”.

Many highlighted the escalating number of students who are neurodivergent and were presenting with mental health conditions.

When dealing with the NHS, securing a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism was taking two years or more, the group’s members reported, which was adding to the higher levels of need among students they dealt with.

Waiting times to access crisis or acute mental health services were better – with most students being seen within 24 hours and a week, but access to GPs varied widely depending on area, with waits ranging from one week to six.

UMHAN concluded that its “members and the work they do to support students with their mental health is unacknowledged and unappreciated by university leaders and desperately under-resourced”.

The findings were reported as the sector awaits the outcome of a landmark hearing concerning the case of Natasha Abrahart, a University of Bristol student who killed herself in 2018.

Her parents successfully sued the institution under the Equality Act, arguing it had failed to make adequate adjustments so she could participate in her course; a ruling that was appealed by Bristol due, in part, to the ramifications it may have for the whole sector. The court is also considering an appeal by the Abraharts, who argued that Bristol owed their daughter a legal duty of care under the law of negligence.

The case – and others – has already led to various sector-wide initiatives set up in recent years including a Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce (HEMHIT) chaired by the vice-chancellor of Nottingham Trent University, Edward Peck, and the creation of a University Mental Health Charter (UMHC) by the government.

While UMHAN members generally welcomed these initiatives, many expressed concerns about oversimplification, duplication and resources being spread too thinly. More than a third of respondents did not know if their institution was participating in the charter scheme at all.

On the back of the report, UMHAN recommended that senior managers at university liaise more closely with mental health support staff, provide more support for practitioners’ career development and develop better strategies for evaluating the interventions that work.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com