Student wellbeing service

Supporting your role as a personal tutor

Personal tutors are often the first point of contact for students experiencing personal difficulties. You can signpost your tutee to the Student Wellbeing Service if they are expressing concerns about their wellbeing or mental health, or need help to access another service such as the NHS.

The Student Wellbeing Service offers confidential one to one wellbeing advice, counselling or mental health advice, as appropriate, from a single point of contact, as well as a range of other forms of support (see below).

Who can use the Student Wellbeing Service?

All students following a course at the University of Portsmouth can use the Student Wellbeing Service. The service can sometimes also be extended to a student who has just suspended their studies, in order to help them find appropriate support from other services.

How to signpost a student to the student Wellbeing service

Students access the Service via self-referral. Students should be given a copy of the Service information leaflet, and/or advised to search on MyPort for ‘How to access counselling/ wellbeing/ mental health advice’. They can also be directed to the registration link above which opens a simple Google Form where they can enter their name and contact details and accept the Service terms and conditions.

Please note that it is generally NOT appropriate to ‘require’ a student to register with the Student Wellbeing Service, and use of the Service must not be made a condition of any course-related action or assessment. Also note that the Service will only be able to confirm whether or how a student has made use of the Service at the student’s request.

If you have concerns...

In exceptional circumstances, for example if you have serious but not immediate concerns about a student’s safety, then it is possible for you to complete the registration form on their behalf, also providing your own name and contact details in addition any relevant referral information. This should, as far as possible, take place with the student’s permission but at the very least they should be informed that you are making the referral and that the Student Wellbeing Service may make contact with them.

In such cases you may also consult the duty wellbeing practitioner for advice or guidance on 023 9284 3466. The duty practitioner system is available to support or de-brief anyone impacted by or concerned about a student.

In cases of serious or immediate risk, contact the Security Lodge

Where immediate and urgent action seems to be required e.g. a student is threatening suicide or to harm others, or is displaying signs of severe mental health problems, contact the security lodge on 3418 and they will be able to contact the relevant emergency services in the first instance.

Recording incidents of harassment, bullying, discrimination or violence

If a student discloses to you any incident of bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence, including serious incidents such as sexual violence or hate crime, then this should be recorded on the new SpeakUP online recording tool, currently being piloted. This can take place anonymously if the student prefers, but they should be encouraged to provide their name and contact details in order to receive appropriate confidential support and advice.

See also the quick guide above regarding managing disclosures of sexual violence.

Student Wellbeing also offers:

• Wellbeing courses and workshops
• Online resources (such as WhatsUp?, Silver Cloud)
• Links to wellbeing resources for specific issues
• Wellbeing Cafe

Resources

• Registration with the Student Wellbeing Service
• University guidelines for staff / student wellbeing and students causing concern
• http://learning.cwmt.org.uk/e-learning/higher-education/
• SPEAKUP STEPUP