Students with mental distress: supporting teaching staff

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Students with mental distress supporting
teaching staff

• Sophie Corlett, Mind
• March 2005

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Introduction - students with mental distress

• 1 in 4 of general population experiences mental
  distress - even more within the student
  population
• International students and women at greatest risk
• Most common - anxiety, depression or combination
• Self harm on the increase in young people
  (especially women), but apparently not within
  student population
• Eating disorders rare (1) but higher among young
  women
• Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, phobias and
  other sever mental illnesses rare and even rarer
  among students
• Suicide - highest among young men, but less
  prevalent in student population

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Why do teaching staff need support?

• Second most likely person that a student
  experiencing distress will approach
• Fear
• Stigma
• Lack of knowledge and experience
• DDA
• Stress - their own!
• To become part of the solution, not the problem

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Which teaching staff need support?

• All teaching staff! (tho their needs may vary)
• Full-time
• Part-time
• Sessional tutors
• Visiting tutors
• Placement supervisors
• Post-graduate teaching assistants

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Supporting teaching staff

• Sticks or carrots
• which elements of a package should be compulsory
• how to make training attractive
• encouraging staff to seek help

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What support do teaching staff need?

• Awareness and information
• Institutional policies/procedures
• Role clarity
• Support with responding to individuals
• Availability of institutional student support
• Contact details for further information and
  referrals
• Reassurance, advice and debriefing
• Pastoral and line-management support
• A mentally healthy environment

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Awareness and information

• Key messages
• mental health problems are very common
• students experiencing mental distress are very
  rarely dangerous
• information about common mental health problems
• how to spot a student experiencing mental
  distress

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Reading the signs how to spot a student
experiencing mental distress

• Losing interest
• Feelings of worthlessness/hopelessness
• Episodes of anxiety/panic
• Low energy/changes in sleep patterns
• Changes in eating patterns
• Withdrawal
• Misuse of alcohol or drugs
• Hearing voices, seeing things
• Desire to self harm
• Troubled/unresolved feelings

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Institutional policies and procedures

• Disability officer/mental health support worker
• Equal Opportunities Policy and the DDA
• Examination policy, procedures around placements
  etc
• Confidentiality
• what to pass on to other staff
• what to pass on to concerned friends and family
• keeping records
• when to break a confidence
• when confidentiality leaves you without
  information

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Role clarity

• DDA - individuals role within the institution
• Boundaries
• making adjustments within own remit
• generally supportive
• not specialist support or counselling
• Practicalities - how to refer a student

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Support with responding to individuals (1)

• How to approach a student
• identifying trigger points
• ideas on adjustments
• flexible deadlines
• alternative assessment methods
• additional briefing/debriefing for assignments
• adjustments for different settings
• (studios, performances, examinations, outdoors,
  placements etc)
• keeping in touch if someone takes time out
• planning for possible crises

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Support with responding to individuals (2)

• Limitations
• teaching staff are not the specialist
• teaching staff may have limited information

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Availability of institutional student support

• Internal
• disability officer/mental health support worker
• counselling service
• adjustments
• External
• disabled students allowances
• GP
• NHS or non statutory mental health services
• emergency services

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Contact details

• Easy to access information
• more about mental health problems
• where to access institutional policies and
  procedures
• key staff - disability officer, mh support
  worker, counsellor
• external counselling/mental health services
• emergency services (and when these are
  appropriate)
• web resources, booklets and publications, Mind
  resources, internal contacts, local voluntary
  groups and statutory services.

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Reassurance, advice and debriefing

• Reassurance about ongoing support in difficult
  cases
• Advice about future action
• Debriefing, especially after difficult episodes
• Reminders to keep going

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Pastoral support and supervision

• Appropriate line management and supervision
• External/independent mentoring or counselling
  support
• Role clarity
• Manageable workloads

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A mentally healthy environment

• Importance of the wider context
• Work-life balance
• The curse of perfection