Mental health services at university
What wellbeing and mental health services are available at university?
I sit down with Josie Bannon, Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner at the University of Exeter to talk about the services the university offers to students. We talk about exam stress, adapting to life at university, and the whole spectrum of wellbeing from feeling overwhelmed to needing to mitigate exams.
The services at Exeter are truly exceptional in this regard, but your campus will have similar services. If you feel that any of the issues in this video series are relevant to you please consider getting in touch with your campus mental health or wellbeing services. Don’t suffer in silence or wait for your mental state to become ‘serious enough’. These services exist to help you, and they would want nothing less than a student to suffer and worry and not get in contact.
Your mental health is incredibly important and you deserve to be well in yourself. If you need help to be that, then that is no reflection on you as a person. Asking for that help shows huge strength.
Link to Exeter’s wellbeing services: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/wellbeing/
A video outlining the support available at Oxford University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScE_bQNER74
I talk about my experiences with mental health in my Draw My Life video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1KphCUrqJQ
Next video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k0dUdEbOpY
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiZiIJMDh4ynsIwGRXEIKGl-8djnBK1d3
———- II ———-
I am Simon, a third year PhD candidate at the University of Exeter. I upload videos on bits of science which are relevant to what I do, and sometimes just because they’re really cool.
Vlogs from Oxford students – http://www.youtube.com/oxvlog
My twitter – http://www.twitter.com/simonoxfphys
My facebook – http://www.facebook.com/youtubesimon
Thanks to Vlogbrothers for their sponsorship of this video. Money from the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck contributed to equipment used in this video.
21 Comments
First
In March, I was feeling depressed and had several other mental health issues, all of which I'd experienced before in my life. So one day I spontaneously went to my uni counselling, hoping to just talk to somebody about it (was feeling isolated at the time).. Never regretted anything as much 😟 In short, I wasn't allowed to leave their office for four hours, was forced to cancel my meeting with a supervisor that day and my work placement next day, was told – in a ridiculously patronising tone – that I apparently "just can't think clearly" and "don't understand what's best for me".. and so they wouldn't let me go home or on public transport without supervision (I managed to escape thanks to one friend). That woman I was speaking to for hours (on the phone) threatened me with calling police if I leave. Etc-etc-etc. All the other therapists I spoke to since categorised me as mildly-moderately depressed, ultimately, nothing severe or dangerous. Basically, it was one of the worst experiences of my life.. that woman made me feel so powerless and voiceless. No moral to this story.. I just hope other universities have better counsellors ☺
This is such an important topic and I think it's great that you are offering a platform to students to inform themselves and talk about their problems!
Ugh, I need to get councelling
As someone who is s mental health consumer and a college graduate, I want to thank you for this video.
Great video Simon this is so vital especially with exam pressure high then ever!!
For me, this is by far the most important video that you have made. This is incredibly important and I cant thank you enough. Interestingly, UCL has now removed any mental health issues as a reason for extenuating circumstances (for exams) unless one has recently been diagnosed. This was passed through very sneekily as they only emailed the changes to those that applied for extenuating circumstances the year before. Hence, very few people knew of the changes until they were too late. Thoughts?
Very interesting video thank you! I would like to see a video more related with your life or physics, but again great video
Your videos are amazing ♡♡ keep going ♡♡
Try counselling online at mentalhs.com.au (Australian Central Standard Time)
Hi
I am in year 9 and I am not very smart
I was wondering if you could give me help on revising for science,maths and English in year 9 and in GCSEs
By the way how did you revise in year 9 and GCSEs
Please reply
Thanks
Hi
I am in year 9 and don't know how to revise could you tell me how you revised in year 9 and also how to revise for maths English and science
Thanks
Excellent video! And kudos for being so frank about your own mental health. I would absolutely adore to see this turn into a series. I'll be keeping my eyes firmly peeled 🙂
most important video, well done!
This is a wonderful video Simon, and I hope you are very proud of it. Not only did you highlight such a pivotal issue for so many (myself included) the manner in which you worded your questions demonstrated great care and attention. Kudos!
very important, thank you for sharing, and best of luck with your own journey!!
I recently posted a video about my experience living with bipolar disorder.
Feel free to check out my video on my channel! ☺️
I think this video is one of the most important ones you've made, a huge thanks for doing it. I know that many people, myself included, who struggles with well-being issues during uni tend to isolate themselves and think amongst the lines of "I'm the only one who has these problems". Of course, that is not true, but it's very easy to go down that path. This video shares some light on the subject and I think it has potential to reach and in long terms help students to help themselves. Thanks Simon.
I really loved you video
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Great video, I hope you won't mind I've linked in a survey I'm doing for my dissertation. There's a lot of students out there struggling with their mental health but there is very little research into this. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/W38PCPM.
I am an avid #MentalHealthAwareness advocate and performer, and I love this so much. I travel the country trying to bring that awareness on stages, in classrooms, hospitals, and on my YouTube channel, so I get excited when I see other advocates. 💙❤