Your mental health is as important as your physical health and it is essential to seek help if you feel stressed, depressed or vulnerable.
There are a range of activities taking place to support World Mental Health Day today (10th October 2018) including art therapy, yoga and meditation and Big White Wall information sessions. You can find more information here.
There are lots of support services and resources available all year round for all students at the University if you need them at any time during your studies:
- University Counselling Service: The Counselling Service is available to help you address personal or emotional problems that get in the way of realising your full academic and personal potential. It offers free and confidential advice to current students.
- Advice and Counselling drop-in sessions are available between 11am-1pm every weekday in the Alsop building. The sessions are staffed by the Advice and Guidance team, our Counselling Service and our Mental Health Advisers. If you need some advice or support about welfare or wellbeing, please come along to a drop-in session. You don’t need to book. Simply turn up at the Alsop building and go to the Student Welfare Advice and Guidance reception.
- Mental Health Advisory Service: If you feel concerned that you or a friend may have more complex mental health needs then you can contact the Mental Health Advisory Service via email at mhas@liverpool.ac.uk or by calling 0151 7942320 between 9am and 5pm Monday- Friday.
- SilverCloud free online self-help modules: Space from Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Space for Positive Body Image are online self-help modules that you can complete for free. The programme – which is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – will provide you with tools and techniques to help you manage stress, anxiety and depression and bring balance into your life. You can complete the programme at your own pace and time, either at home or on campus. Please note that neither your response to, nor your progress within, any of the modules within this programme are monitored by the Counselling Service or the University.
- Big White Wall: An online mental health and wellbeing service that provides 24/7 online peer and professional support, with trained counsellors. Big White Wall provides a safe space online to get things off your chest, explore your feelings and learn how to improve and self-manage your mental health and wellbeing. Big White Wall is totally anonymous, so no one will know you’ve chosen to use it unless you tell them. More than three quarters of members feel better as a result of using the service and nearly 90% use Big White Wall outside of 9am-5pm. You can get support via the service at any time of the day or night, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
- Bibliotherapy resources: There is strong evidence to suggest that books can be effective as a form of self-help and this collection has been chosen by both healthcare professionals and readers who have benefited from them. Emotional and academic difficulties can be a common part of university life and this collection aims to provide information and support for dealing with a wide range of issues such as depression, anxiety, panic, building self-confidence and assertiveness. You can access the bibliotherapy collection in the Grove Wing of the Sydney Jones Library. The titles are listed on the Counselling Service website or can be accessed through searching the main library catalogue using subject words such as ‘anxiety’. Borrowing is confidential and information about your use of these books will not be disclosed to any outside parties.
- Relaxation Programme: The Relaxation Programme is available to stream and download and is designed to be used with a self-assessment relaxation diary (which can be downloaded here).
- Self Help Hub online: Access information about anxiety, depression, exam and academic worries, relationship problems, homesickness and bereavement.
There are also regular groups and workshops run by the Counselling Service. A list of other support networks you can access can be found on our Counselling Service webpages here including The Samaritans who offer a 24-hour helpline (116 123), the Students Against Depression website, and Liverpool Light – a mental health café which provides a welcoming and safe space for people experiencing mental health related crisis. The service is run by trained mental health support staff and operates from 6pm to 12pm, seven days a week, offering an alternative to the use of A&E for people at times of crisis or in need of targeted social support out of hours. Directions to the café can be found here.
If you or anyone else is in immediate danger, please call the police or ambulance service on 999.
The University is continuing to invest in mental health and wellbeing support for students and is in the process of appointing three additional wellbeing advisers, two additional mental health advisers and an additional disability adviser to enhance our central services.