Mental Health and Wellbeing Statement

Transcription

1 Mental Health and Wellbeing Statement The promotion of good mental health is a University-wide concern. In a learning environment there are many opportunities for developing positive wellbeing, and there is a recognised link between this and academic achievement which explains the University s investment in this area. 1 The University of Bristol Student Counselling Service Mental Health and Wellbeing Statement aims to clarify the ways in which we will endeavour to support students in achieving their optimal mental health and wellbeing. It highlights our aspirations for the Service s intended direction of travel over the next 3-5 years. The statement organises possible future actions around key principles (which are not presented in order of priority.) At its heart is a desire to provide transparent systems and processes based on adherence to best practice guidelines, which ensure parity between different users of the Service and which help to support and shape the University s overall approach towards mental health and wellbeing. This Mental Health and Wellbeing Statement consists of 2 sections: A: Our key principles in relation to mental health and wellbeing B: Our aspirations and direction of travel towards meeting our overall key principles over the next five years (subject to funding needs and staff availability) 1 Being informed by National strategies (including Dame Carol Black s review in 2008 and the Governments Mental Health and Employment Strategy in 2009) NICE recommend employers Establish a strategic and coordinated approach to promoting employees mental wellbeing (which should involve the promotion of mental wellbeing into all policies and practices concerned with managing people)..and assess opportunities for promoting employees mental wellbeing and managing risk. p4 &5 of Promoting Mental Wellbeing at Work (NICE Nov 2009) AUCC Guidelines for University and College Counselling Services (BACP 2010) states It is important that institutions have, or be working towards, a mental health policy. This should not be seen as the sole responsibility of the counselling service, although counsellors will be able to make a major contribution to such a policy. Counselling services also need to consider how they can play a part in promoting mental well-being for the entire university or college community, not just for the minority of students and staff who may need special consideration and resources. P4.

2 We recognise that this document may become part of a growing discussion and development of policy and procedure within Student Services and possibly the University as a whole. It is also intended to dovetail into existing policies in the University. 2 A Handbook of Current Practice, showing how our current practice is informed by the key principles is also available. The Handbook is updated yearly. Section A The Key Principles designed to promote improved mental health and wellbeing amongst students are: 1. To offer early intervention, with appropriate assessment, triage and signposting to ensure those most at need are seen most quickly. 2. To encourage personal autonomy. 3. To focus on psychological difficulties which stand in the way of academic achievement. 4. To offer the least intervention needed to provide the maximum impact. 5. To offer a range of services which cater to the widest range of needs within the student population. 6. To help individuals and the University manage psychological risk appropriately (for example by making use of multidisciplinary working) 7. To provide psycho-education to University students and staff who have responsibility for pastoral care 8. To reduce the stigma of mental and emotional illness (by normalising student experience and encouraging a University wide dialogue about the needs of students with mental health difficulties). 9. To offer transparent processes, (including measuring our outcomes and sharing our discoveries with students and the wider University) 10. To support our staff team with continuing professional development and supervision (so that the Service can be well resourced and more able to meet best practice) 11. To establish professional links which support the development of our Service 12. To provide a calm reflective space (so students can step back and re assess their situation with the help of skilled professionals). 2 Such as Fitness to Study Policy and Procedure, Course Specific Fitness to Practice Policies, Healthy University, Positive Working Environment

3 13. To be open to feedback and to promote ongoing creative change for our clients and the Service as a whole Section B: The Student Counselling Services possible future actions towards meeting the Key Principles (for ) are 1. To offer early intervention, with appropriate assessment, triage and signposting to ensure those most at need are seen most quickly To continue to develop assessment and triage, risk assessment policy and practice (both within Student Counselling Service and as a shared Student Services task) To continue to consider ways to improve access to our Service and to improve referral methodology (including the management of perceived risk) To improve liaison between Student Counselling Service and Student Health Service via joint training To consider how to identify and disseminate early warning systems (particularly for International students in distress) 2. To encourage personal autonomy To ensure ongoing accuracy within advertising and information given to students prior to receiving support from our Service To continue to seek consent to liaise before and during engagement with clients To encourage students to be pro-active in seeking/achieving improvement in health and wellbeing To further expand self help literature and computer based therapeutic programmes

4 3. To focus on psychological difficulties which stand in the way of academic achievement Continue to prioritise support for students who are at risk of academic failure To target specific faculties/departments to discover areas of possible joint preventative work 4. To offer the least intervention needed to provide the maximum impact To carry out research into the impact of specific types of intervention To consider additional staff training in areas such as Solution Focussed Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT). To continually broaden our range of practitioners/practitioner skills 5. To offer a range of services which cater to the wide range of needs in the student population. To create videos, pod casts and MP3 guided relaxation, guided tours of the Service, and video based information (in conjunction with other Support Services where possible). To continue with our group work and workshop developments. To consider ways of engaging more fully with students who do not currently receive a service (such as use of twitter, face book, e-counselling, phone counselling where appropriate) To consider developing more self-help and self-organised groups (including documents in alternative formats, and other languages and various forms of peer support) To consider extending our opening hours

5 6. To help individuals and the University manage psychological risk appropriately (for example by making use of multidisciplinary working) Continue the development of Student Services welfare liaison (through Clinical Lead and other SCS staff attendance at Complex Case Meetings for example.) To consider the wider use of care planning and multi-disciplinary meetings (with student involvement) To develop more shared training and discussion forums with Student Services staff To work on developing shared psychological therapy groups with Student Health Service 7. To provide psycho-education to University students and staff who have responsibility for pastoral care To continue offering staff training and to further engage with students and staff who have pastoral care responsibilities (including researching into what psycho education they require over the next 3-5 years). To develop/disseminate guidance documentation around supporting students with particular needs To make resources from the current workshop programmes accessible to all (via our website for example) 8. To reduce the stigma of mental and emotional illness (by normalising student experience and encouraging a University wide dialogue about the needs of students with mental health difficulties). Along with the rest of the University we will retain our commitment to providing a service that has equality and quality at its core 3 To work collaboratively with Student Services and the Students Union (SU) to aim for a shared focus and development theme for each academic year Equality Act requires HEIs to actively promote disability equality rather than merely react in response to individual student requirements.

6 To work with appropriate forums which seek to discuss issues of equality and mental health within University of Bristol (and other institutions of learning) To consider ways to embed Service user representation within our service development To consider collaborating with others to write a Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the University 9. To offer transparent processes, (including measuring our outcomes and sharing our discoveries with students and the wider University) To continue to work with CORENet; To consider ways we might liaise with other Student Services to streamline overall outcome measures To continue to work on policy development and statements of how we work (by offering separate signposting and guidance for staff, students and concerned others for example) To work with Student Services to disseminate information and expertise on mental health and wellbeing issues To publish and make accessible the SCS annual report, the current Handbook of Practice and other relevant policy, practice and procedure documents (by including documents on the Student Counselling website for example) 10. To support our staff team with continuing professional development and supervision (so that the service can be well resourced and more able to meet best practice) To consider expanding the what sustains us, forum to include other Student Services staff To further develop the idea of Reflective Practice Meetings within the Student Counselling Service

7 To contribute to the University of Bristol s bank of psycho-social research when appropriate To continue to collate and disseminate relevant research (looking at improvements in wellbeing and mental health for young people and students studying within the UK for example). To continue to develop the Student Counselling Services internal audit of skills and experience and to contribute to any developments around similar audits within University of Bristol Support Services in general 11. To establish professional links which support the development of our Service To consider developing conferences and/or training events To develop joint NHS/SCS projects via collaboration with the Students Health Service To continue to liaise with Heads and relevant staff from other Student Counselling Services in places of Higher Education To actively work towards all counselling staff becoming individually accredited and to achieving service accreditation with The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapists (BACP) 12. To provide a calm reflective space (so students can step back and re assess their situation with the help of skilled professionals). To continue to offer individual and group programmes that highlight and value reflective engagement To work with the Multifaith Chaplaincy and others to learn how to bring reflective stillness into the Service To continue our commitment to Green Impact (by further developing the Bringing the Outside In campaign to encourage students and staff to engage with nature and care for the natural world for example).

8 13. To be open to feedback and to promote ongoing creative change for our clients and the service as a whole To consider further ways to capture student feedback and engagement To consider ways of bringing the feedback into a dialogue form rather than being a one way communication (i.e. at present student writes his/her views to Service) To further consider ways to disseminate to staff and students the feedback already being received To update The Handbook of Current Practice in relation to meeting the objectives within the Mental Health and Wellbeing Statement on a yearly basis To review and amend the Overall Statement of aspirations in 2017 (forming the basis of the next five year direction of travel) The following are notes and explanations which can be read in conjunction with the above document. End note 1: Our overall aim expanded Our overall aim is to support students in reaching their full potential within the University and life in general. We recognise the uniqueness of human experience and therefore offer a service which is tailored to the particular needs of any student who approaches us, rather than a one size fits all provision. We strive to offer students the highest quality professional and personal contact, within a safe and nurturing environment. We hope that our responsiveness, flexibility and knowledge of resources allows students to feel met in their distress, enabling them to feel heard and make good use of the range of services on offer from us, (and where appropriate from other University and Bristol wide support services). The Student Counselling Service forms part of the University of Bristol s Student Services Division which seeks to work collaboratively to provide the highest possible standards of care for our students by offering services that are responsive, accountable, collaborative and innovative. 4 Our service is intended to sit alongside and complement the support available in the rest of Student Services: 4 See Appendix for the full Bristol University and Bristol University Student Services and Student Counselling vision and mission statements.

9 The Students Health Service (SHS) which offers the full range of Primary care services and access to NHS secondary mental health services Disability Services (DS) which offers specialist advice and support for disabled students including those with severe and enduring mental health difficulties Multifaith Chaplaincy (MFC) which offers a range of pastoral care opportunities Careers Service (CS) which offers careers advice and information Vulnerable Students Support Service (VSSS) which offers a route to multidisciplinary working with academic departments and other professionals We also aim to work as partners alongside academic departments, student residences and other parts of the University and Students Union (SU) so that students can experience a joined up approach to support. End note 2: The importance of supporting people s mental health and wellbeing Mental wellbeing has been described as: A dynamic state in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others and contribute to their community. It is enhanced when an individual is able to fulfil their personal and social goals and achieve a sense of purpose in society. 5 Supporting mental health and wellbeing is important to us. We believe that everyone has the right to good mental health and wellbeing. We know that many people living with longer term and known mental health issues lead productive and meaningful lives and have no need of support or already have good support in place. 6 However some people experiencing reduced functioning due to acute or chronic difficulties may be in need of greater levels of support. We are also aware that the stigma surrounding mental health may prevent people from coming forward to receive help. Intervening at an early stage can prevent serious mental health and wellbeing difficulties from developing. Early intervention within a university setting can reduce the negative impacts of declining mental health and 5 Jenkins et al, quoted from Healthy Universities: Developing an Holistic and Joined up Approach to Mental Wellbeing, Page 2. See Appendix) 6 Association Guidelines for University and College Counselling Services Guidance 2010 states that Many students and staff with pre-existing mental health diagnoses are already well supported through a combination of medication and community mental health services and therefore they may not need to use services such as counselling or mental health advice offered by the institution. Page 4 see appendix for full report.

10 wellbeing on the lives of students and staff, (and their family, friends, peers and the wider community). Maintaining wellbeing is therefore a conscious act of prioritising personal resources to enable people to reach their full potential. Student Counselling Services can play a key role in helping students manage their wellbeing. End note 3: Current research about the impact of counselling: Qualitative and quantitative UK based research on the impact of counselling on academic outcomes for 6,800 HE/FE students (2012) found that 81% of students considered counselling to have helped them stay at university or college, 79% considered counselling had helped them do better in their academic work, 82% considered counselling to have improved their overall experience of being at university or college, and 78.1% considered that counselling helped then to develop skills useful for obtaining employment. 7 End note 4: The drafting process: The Mental Health and Wellbeing Key Principles, and The Handbook of Current Practice are designed to provide information for students University staff and other interested parties. It has been developed by counsellors in the Student Counselling Service in consultation with other professionals within and beyond the University. The documents have developed through an iterative and reflective process. At this consultative stage the documents are being discussed with students and University staff before becoming finalised developments: Training and staff development: SCS joint training with Student Health Service Staff SCS participation in Support Service training on Autism 2 individual counsellors starting CBT (Oxford) training SCS staff training on Solution Focussed Therapy SCS offers support and facilities to 6 trainee/placement counsellors SCS staff attendance at Support Services What sustains us joint meetings General Service provision: SCS introduction of photographs, working hours and areas of responsibility onto SCS web site 7 Quoted from page 8 of The Impact of Counselling on Academic Outcomes: the Student Perspective - Final Research Findings, Implications and Future Developments by Patti Wallace (AUCC November 2012)

11 SCS introduction of Mindfulness groups SCS introduction of Wellbeing group for students with severe and enduring mental health needs SCS development of bespoke supported self-help for students with low to moderate depression and/or anxiety SCS Policy and Local Rules around Health and Safety (with inclusion of guidance to mitigate work related stress) Services designed to improve access and support for international students SCS involvement in the simplification of wording in the What is counselling? document SCS acquisition of MIND leaflets in Mandarin SCS offered a summer time support group for lonely and isolated international services SCS staff involved in The University Of Bristol Internationalisation working group. SCS regular liaison with BISC