Student mental health support

Mental health challenges can affect any student at any time. This page includes details of where you can find support, and explains the Office for Students' role. 

Ways to get support

• Student MindsExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window), the UK's student mental health charity, offers lots of information on the support available while studying.
• If you have a long-term illness, disability or mental health issue, you can apply for Disabled Students’ AllowancesExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) (DSA). You won't need to repay DSA and you can get them on top of any other student finance you receive.
• The mental health charity Mind has useful information about your rights to reasonable adjustmentsExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) (changes that your university or college must make to prevent your disability putting you at a disadvantage).
• Student SpaceExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) offers a range of expert online support and wellbeing advice for students.
• Your university or college may run their own mental health support services.

Urgent support

If you need urgent support for yourself or a friend, there are services that can help:

• The SamaritansExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) are open every day of the year if you need somebody to talk to about what you're going through
• MindExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window), the mental health charity offers support by phone or online
• PapyrusExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) will provide confidential help and advice to young people thinking about suicide and anyone worried about a young person
• Rape crisis serviceExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) provides specialist support and services to women and girls who have experienced sexual violence.

Medical advice

If you need medical advice you can:

• book an emergency GP appointment with your GP surgery
• call the NHS 111 (England and Wales) or NHS 24 (Scotland, 08454 242424) for urgent advice
• call 999 or visit your nearest accident and emergency department (A&E) if it's an emergency
• find out about longer term supportExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) available through the NHS.

What you can expect from the Office for Students

Universities and colleges are independent and have their own policies and processes. We don't prescribe how they should support their students, as the specific needs of students in different contexts and at different institutions will vary hugely.

We're also not able to support with individual cases from students relating to mental health or wellbeing.

Our role includes:

• championing and promoting safe, healthy and inclusive universities and colleges that support all students to thrive
• identifying systemic gaps in student support
• supporting universities and colleges to share good practice
• encouraging improvement and innovation in student mental health support by awarding funding to universities and colleges to run new projects.

Notifying us

Although the OfS does not have a direct role in dealing with individual disputes between students and universities and colleges, we use our ‘notifications’ process to receive information about institutions’ compliance with the ongoing conditions of registration (which is how we regulate the higher education sector). If you would like to notify us of a matter which may be a regulatory interest, you are welcome to share this information with us, although we would not intervene in an individual case.