Student Wellbeing at University of Nottingham
Your wellbeing, health and safety are important to us. At the University of Nottingham you are never on your own, we have a number of dedicated support services available to support you and your wellbeing, so that you can make the most of your university life and achieve your potential.
We believe in a whole university approach to student wellbeing and have a range of resources and teams who have a remit to support student wellbeing. The support we provide is underpinned by the University Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and we are working towards the Student Minds Mental Health Charter Award.
Why Wellbeing?
We all need to take care of our wellbeing. This takes practice and sometimes it can be hard to make sure your wellbeing is prioritised.
We understand that life at university can be challenging at times; the way you feel, or events that have happened in your life before you joined us, or that happen while you’re studying, can impact negatively on you. It’s very normal to need a little help, advice and support along the way.
The University of Nottingham’s Student Wellbeing Team work closely together to support you during your studies. We offer a range of interventions, from online support platforms, self-help resources and workshops through to specialist group and 1:1 support.
Wellbeing Services at UoN
The Wellbeing Team is made up of the Support and Wellbeing teams based in the faculties, a Counselling team, Mental Health Advisory team, Report and Support team, and a Health Improvement team.
We are a team with a range of backgrounds and expertise, working together to support you. We’re here whether you need:
- to learn more about healthy living and looking after your health
- advice on navigating a challenge
- a confidential space to talk through what’s on your mind
- help and support if you become unwell during your studies
- advice and support if you experience sexual violence, domestic abuse or harassment of any kind
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Student wellbeing services are free to access and confidential. We respect you, your right to access support, your privacy and your confidentiality. We understand that asking for help can sometimes be daunting and that it is important for you to know who will be made aware that you’ve accessed help, and of your support needs.
Please be aware that there may be differences in terms of the confidentiality we can offer you. For more details, please see our safeguarding policy.
Each team keeps digital records of student referrals and appointments which are held on a secure database. These records are essential to ensure we provide appropriate support to you.
Access to your data is limited to staff within the Student Wellbeing team. Your personal information will be stored securely and in line with the University of Nottingham’s Data Protection Policy. The system we use to record students accessing support is not accessible to academic staff. Further details of how the university process your data, and your rights, can be found in our student privacy notice.
Staff within the teams will only access your data where permitted and relevant to their role to ensure we provide appropriate and relevant support to you. We do not routinely share information with other university staff or with people outside of the university such as parents, employers or visa sponsors.
Who can see what and why?
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Information
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Who can see it
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Why do they see it
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Referrals between teams
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Wellbeing team members
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So that we can see an overview of what support you’ve accessed and so that we don’t duplicate referrals.
If you are referred to another wellbeing team but do not engage with support offered, your referrer will be informed.
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Notes from Support and Wellbeing appointments
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Support and Wellbeing team members
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If you’ve had contact with a member of the team before but they aren’t the person you see next time, it helps the team to understand what has already been discussed.
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Notes from Mental Health Advisory Service appointments
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Mental Health Advisers
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If you’ve had contact with a member of the team before but they aren’t the person you see next time, it helps the team to understand what has already been discussed.
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Notes from Counselling appointments
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The Counselling team
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If you’ve had contact with a member of the team before but they aren’t the person you see next time, it helps the team to understand what has already been discussed.
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Mental health team and support and wellbeing notes
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Senior staff who provide the university out of hours service
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The team will have access to wellbeing notes (excluding counselling notes) but will only access your notes if there is an urgent concern about you which arises out of hours. This is to help them to decide how best to respond to any concern raised.
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Notes from Report and Support Team including SVLOs and DALOs (these are held on a specialist confidential platform)
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The Report and Support Team
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The team review all reports to help ensure students receive appropriate support in a timely manner and will make notes on your report. Your report may also be assigned to staff members providing support to you to enable them to record their work with you. Report & Support may pass a report to ResX, Support & Wellbeing, School Safeguarding Leads and/or MHAS when a report comes in if it is felt they are best placed to offer support.
They can also assign to other parts of the University including, but not limited to, Security, Students Union, Conducts and Investigation Team and Counselling. They would usually seek permission to refer on to these areas but may not in the event of an emergency/safeguarding concerns.
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When we have significant concerns about your safety or the safety of others
If you share information with us that leads us to believe that you, or someone else, is at serious risk of harm, we may take steps to minimise this danger. This might be because you need urgent support that cannot be provided by the university (for example urgent NHS care, or a statutory safeguarding referral). If confidential information is to be shared we will usually discuss this with you first and inform you of what information will be shared and with whom. It is important to emphasise that no one will be told who does not need to know.
We also work closely with the Health and Wellbeing Residential Experience team who provide support to students living in university supported accommodation. Information may be shared without consent between this service and the wellbeing team where there are significant concerns about your wellbeing.
When we have a procedural, statutory or legal obligation to share information
For example, if a statutory service makes a formal request for us to share information this will be considered and actioned if appropriate. You would be included in, and supported through, this process wherever possible. If you are training to be a medical, health or social care professional or teacher the university also has a duty of care to the members of the public. In exceptional circumstances, where a member of the wellbeing team feels that the difficulties you are experiencing could impact on people in your care we would follow an agreed escalation protocol.
Supervision and case management
As a team of professionals, we all have relationships with internal or external supervisors (or both). In order to provide the university community with safe and effective services we discuss the work we do within teams and with our supervisors.
When you ask us to share information with explicit permission
There are lots of occasions where students ask us to share information outside our service, such as liaising with your course team, or sharing information to ensure you can access support from another university service or team, or to support a referral to a service outside of the university. What information is shared will be discussed and agreed with you.
There may also be times when we suggest it may be beneficial to share information on your behalf. In this instance we would check in with you first that you were happy with this and confirm who we are sharing the information with.
Example scenarios where information may be shared
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Situation
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Action
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Michaelo’s parent contacts the Support and Wellbeing team to say they are worried about him and cannot reach him.
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The Support and Wellbeing Team advise Michaelo’s parent that, due to confidentiality, they cannot confirm if their son is a student but reassure them that if he is, they will reach out to him to see how he is and request he makes contact with his parent. The Support and Wellbeing team try, but are also unable, to reach Michaelo. As Michaelo is living in accommodation supported by the Residential Experience (ResX), the wellbeing team contact the ResX team and ask them to complete a 'safe and well' check. The team visit Michaelo, who explains he has been struggling with anxiety and his academic work. He has not spoken to his family as he does not want to worry them, but will give them a call. The team are able to provide advice and support to Michaelo and signpost him to Support & Wellbeing. The ResX team feedback to the Support and Wellbeing team that they have made contact and what Michaelo is requiring support with. No feedback is given to Michaelo’s parent unless Michaelo gave explicit permission.
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Mohammed has been accessing counselling following the death of his older brother two months ago, he’s struggling to stay on top of his studies and has missed a few weeks of lectures due to funeral arrangements and supporting his family. He’d like his course team to be aware of his brother’s death and the impact it’s having on him. The student will always be encouraged to share their information themselves but on this occasion Mohammed does not feel able to tell them directly and asks his counsellor if they can help.
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In discussion with his Counsellor, they agree that the Counsellor will email Mohammed’s Personal Tutor and let them know about his bereavement, explaining that he’s accessing counselling through the university service and provide Mohammed with evidence to support his Extenuating Circumstances (EC) application.
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River meets a Support and Wellbeing Officer. They live in halls but have struggled to meet friends in their flat and they are feeling quite lonely. They also share that they have Crohn’s disease but haven’t accessed disability support as they were not aware Crohn’s is classed a disability.
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In discussion with their Support and Wellbeing Officer, River agrees that it would be helpful for the ResX team to know that they are feeling lonely, and for the disability team to know about their Crohn’s. After their appointment, the Support and Wellbeing Officer contacts each team with River’s consent to share the agreed information.
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Hao meets with a Mental Health Adviser following a referral from ResX. He has been struggling with his mental health for a few weeks and has recently experienced thoughts of suicide and has been hurting himself. He tells his Mental Health Adviser that he burnt himself quite badly and is worried the wound is getting infected. He doesn’t feel able to keep himself safe.
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The Mental Health Adviser tells Hao that as well as support at university, he feels that Hao needs some NHS support for both his mental health and physical health. The Mental Health Adviser speaks with Hao’s GP, and shares information related to Hao’s mental and physical health and arranges an appointment for later that day. The Mental Health Adviser and Hao agree a time to meet later in the week to think about what support at the university can help him alongside NHS support.
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Jessica is a PhD student with two young children. She accesses support via Report and Support as her children recently returned from her ex-partners home with bruises and said that their dad had hurt them.
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The Domestic Abuse Liaison Officer (DALO) agrees a support plan which includes sharing some information with Jessica’s supervisor, at Jessica’s request. The DALO also makes a referral to the children’s safeguarding team where Jessica lives to ensure the children’s safety can be supported.
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Daisy is in her final year. In her first year she sought support from a Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) after she was sexually assaulted by a friend on a night out. At the time she didn’t want to report what had happened to the police but has since changed her mind and reported the crime. When Daisy reports to the police she tells them that she has previously accessed support from the university and gives the contact details of the person she met with. The police contact the university and request the information the university holds about the assault.
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The police would be required to provide a Data Protection Act request to access the notes which would usually include Daisy’s consent to access their notes. The Sexual Violence Officer who saw Daisy would contact her to explain that we have had the request and to confirm she is supportive of the notes being provided. They would offer Daisy the opportunity to meet with them to look at the notes before sharing them with the police. If Daisy did not want the notes to be shared, the university may decide not to share them with the police but if the case went to court the presiding judge could require the university to share the notes with them.
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