Sussex is the fifth best uni in the UK at dealing with mental health

The University of Sussex has come fifth out of 30 universities in The Tab’s inaugural 2016 Mental Health Rankings.

Sussex’s ranking is a result of solid scores across the board, with particularly high student satisfaction – the sixth best in the UK. The university spends more than £33 per student on the counselling service, more than £10 above the national average. The university also got one of the highest outreach scores, tenth in the UK, meaning that the people feel comfortable telling the university that they are unwell.

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The Tab’s 2016 Mental Health Rankings are the first ever attempt to judge universities on how they treat mental health, with the aim to improve standards nationally, reward good universities, and highlight underperforming universities. Some 30 of the best universities in the UK are included.

Some 72 per cent of students did not apply for extenuating circumstances, despite being ill. It’s a pattern reflected in other  universities: over 86 per cent of Oxford students did the same, while the national average was 74 per cent.

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The new rankings are the result of increased media coverage over student’s mental health. Until now, there had been no detailed examinations of how universities across Britain are coping with increasing numbers of students struggling with mental health issues.

Demand for mental health services has shot up at a time when there are less resources to go around. The NHS is facing front-line cuts that affect students particularly – GP practices at universities get less money than other general practices. The lack of trained psychiatrists across Britain, plus the “cascade” of cuts down the NHS, mean that universities have been pushed into the front-line.

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According to Jeremy Christey, who works in the Sussex University Counselling Service as well as running StudentAgainstDepression.org, NHS cuts have had a staggered impact on mental health care:

“The NHS threshold has gone up, which means that it’s harder to get access to treatment in all parts of mental health services. There’s less money for inpatient services, so more complex people are in the care of crisis services, which means that more people go from crisis to lower-tier services. There’s a cascade effect that impacts students, and as NHS trusts know that students have a university counselling service to go to, people can often be pointed back in our direction.”

This means both doctors and counsellors are working harder than ever to treat as many students as they can. Nationally, stories abound of students who haven’t been seen in months, or who have asked for help only to be turned aside, at both counselling services and doctor’s offices. Glasgow has a waiting list of seven to ten months, and York has had to re-evaluate its entire mental health provision.

Other universities have turned to ‘wellbeing services’, and slashed counselling – despite counselling sessions still being the “heart of the services” according to Student Health Association’s Honorary Secretary Dr Dominique Thomson.

A spokesperson for the university said: “Mental Health is an extremely important issue and we want to ensure that we continue to support our students and make improvements to our services, wherever necessary.  At Sussex, we’ve seen our best results when students and staff work together on promoting good mental health.

“The ‘Time to Change’ pledge is one successful example of this, as the University and Students’ Union jointly signed up to help reduce the stigma around mental health among students.  In the three years since the initiative started, students at Sussex have become much more aware about looking after their mental health and we have been more proactive about signposting the support we provide.

“We have employed more specialist student-support staff and counsellors, and co-ordinate a team of Student Wellbeing Volunteers, who raise awareness of sexual health, alcohol, drugs and sexual violence in the student population.

“This year we are working with our Students’ Union on a new outreach initiative – ‘Sussex Welfare & Awareness Network’, which is run by students, for students, with the aim of increasing student resilience to mental health problems proactively through outreach work.”

Despite the somewhat negative national outlook, Dr Thomson still stressed the importance of going to your GP: “Often with psychiatric or psychological care of any kind, there’s a waiting list. It’s important for us to say to patients, look: “You’re on the list, you will be seen.” In the mean time, we offer bridging work, often with third sector organisations, like group work or a couple of one-on-one counselling sessions, that provide some level of care before they can get treated properly.”

If you are struggling with mental health, please reach out. Organisations like the Samaritans are here to help.