Mental Health and Wellbeing: 05 May 2017

31 delegates from 18 different universities and organisations attended the Stand Alone training conference  hosted and chaired by the University of Wolverhampton.

The morning focused on research. Stand Alone discussed elements of our research on students accessing counselling and therapy. Connie Craig from Queen's University Belfast presented her research on estrangement. Her four case studies of current estranged HE students highlighted different circumstances leading to estrangement and the resulting difficulties these students experienced in progressing to higher education.

The afternoon was taken up with workshops.

One of the highlights of the day was again the student panel. Three current students from 3 different universities talked about their experiences based around the following panel questions:

Who / What made you confident to enter Higher Education?

What was the turning point for you - when did you realise that completing higher education was possible?

What kind of support have you accessed at university?

What encouraged you to get help at university?

What has been the most helpful support?

What would be the most effective intervention from university to support you?

How would you encourage students to make use of a counselling service?

How can universities actively engage students facing estrangement / estranged students?