Supporting students: Mental Health Journeys

Amber

Age: 21

Course of Study: Preparation for Health and Social Care

Your relationship to student: Lecturer

Personal info:

Amber has a nine month old son, and lives with her partner. Amber left school at 16 and this is her first time returning to education since then.

Health:

Feels strees and under pressure. Has low self-esteem and low self-confidence. Often experiences anxiety.

Issue student presents to you:

Amber missed class last week due to issues with childcare. She is worried about the upcoming assessment. You only have five minutes to chat to her before heading off to a departmental meeting.

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Number of participants
How do you respond to Amber?
- Tell Amber the class notes are available online - you don’t have time to go over them now but if she reads over them she should be able to catch up. You know she lacks confidence but is doing well in the course.
- Explain to Amber you have to head off to a meeting now and so don’t have time to go over the notes with her right now, but ask her to email you.

Impact
Amber reads the notes and doesn't understand a lot of what is in them. (She emails you to let you know this).
Option 1 summary
What next?
- You have limited time to help Amber. You send over a few bullet points - in any case there is a forum on the virtual learning environment (VLE) where she can ask other students.
- You reply to Amber’s email reminding her of the access to the virtual learning environment which she has
Impact
Amber doesn't get in touch with you because she doesn't want you to think that she is even further behind.
Option 2 summary
What next?
- You decide to email Amber and ask her to make time to meet you during the week
- You don’t follow up

Impact
Amber doesn’t have strong IT skills and finds navigating the virtual learning environment tricky. Problems with anxiety and prevent her from speaking with classmates properly sometimes so Amber doesn’t actually know about the forum on the VLE.
Option 1-1 summary
And then?
- Amber doesn’t turn up to class the following week. She has missed quite important parts of the module now. You invite her to meet with you.
- Amber arrives in class late and seems completely disengaged.
Impact
Amber wasn’t familiar with the forum- she let’s you know this and you are able to connect her in with the student learning team who can support her in finding out more about the college IT systems- what a difference!
Option 1-2 summary
And then?
- Amber uses the forum to chat with other students outside of class time
- Amber spends a long time going over the notes from previous weeks to catch up
Impact
Amber agrees to meet but has to bring her son with her as childcare has fallen through at the last minute.
Option 2-1 summary
And then?
- Amber seems stressed but you don’t want to probe too much about her personal life
- You decide to be quite direct in asking Amber how things are going at home as she seems stressed.
Impact
Amber doesn't turn up to class the next week- she has missed quite important parts of the module now.
Option 2-2 summary
And then?
- You check your records and this means that Amber has missed three classes in a row- this is automatically something reported to the college as an attendance issue. You don’t want to be too strict her as you know this is probably due to childcare again. The college will deal with it anyway, hopefully they can send Amber a letter so she will make it back to class.
- You decide to have a look at other classes Amber is signed on to and check in with lecturers to see how she is getting on

Impact
You overhear someone in class mentioning that Amber is dropping out of the course
Option 1-1-1 summary
And then?
- You email Amber and ask her what is going on and if she received the letter from the college about attendance.
- You email Amber with her assessment mark from two months ago- she performed really well.
Impact
You aren’t sure what is going on for Amber but become concerned that she may be at risk of dropping out of the class- you finally have time to chat with her after class.
Option 1-1-2 summary
Result
Taking the time to speak with Amber you discover that she has been having real problems with anxiety made worse by issues with childcare. She wasn’t able to catch up on the notes and is now really worried about her course work. You know there is a service available through the student support department offering support with anxiety so encourage Amber to book an appointment.
Impact
Having a space to bounce idea off of other students is really helpful- Amber’s confidence grows and she feels that she is really learning even outside of class time.
Option 1-2-1 summary
Result
Amber finds other student parents on the forum and is able to arrange a social-study meeting with them.
Impact
Amber still hasn’t taken advantage of the other aspects of the VLE like using the forum to help connect her with the key concepts of the course- this would be really helpful.
Option 1-2-2 summary
Result
Amber definitely feels more up to date with course work but still worries about her ability to do revision.
Impact
Having a face to face meeting has been really helpful for Amber- she had no idea about some of the services available to her or IT solutions that can help with course work and missed classes.
Option 2-1-1 summary
Result
You agree that notes for classes can be given to Amber in advance so that she can read them before class- that way she can come prepared with any questions and feel much less worried on the day.
Impact
Amber is really grateful to finally be able to talk to someone about how she is coping.
Option 2-1-2 summary
Result
You recommend that Amber visits the student support services- you have limited time to chat with her like this but are happy to support any suggestions they make that will help Amber in her studies.
Impact
You overhear someone in class mentioning that Amber is dropping out of the course.
Option 2-2-1 summary
And then?
- You email Amber and ask her what is going on and if she received the letter from the college about attendance.
- You email Amber with her assessment mark from two months ago- she performed really well.
Impact
You get a better picture of Amber’s patterns of absence- your class is usually first thing on a Wednesday morning – you get in touch with Amber to find out if there is something that prevents her from getting to class on a Wednesday and if there is anything that can help change this.
Option 2-2-2 summary
Result
You find out that usually Amber’s mum would take care of her son on a Wednesday morning after finishing nightshift but recently has been held up at work frequently- this has impacted on Amber’s attendance

Conclusion
Amber emails you back and lets you know that she received the letter and decided that she had missed too many classes across all of her modules. There was too much pressure to catch up so she has decided to drop out of the course. Amber mentions that she was sure she hadn’t performed well in assessments so the course maybe wasn’t for her.
Conclusion 1-1-1-1, Conclusion 1-1-1-2, Conclusion 2-2-1-1
Conclusion
Exploring the reasons behind a student’s absence or lateness can be important. There may be external factors such as child -care but could also relate to mental health issues. Finding out more about the signs of common mental health issues and appropriate responses can be helpful. Looking at the mental health continuum featured in our Self Management guide is a good place to start in thinking about the signs of students who are struggling to manage their mental health and studies.
Conclusion 1-1-2-1
Conclusion
Getting to grips with the VLE has made an impact on Amber’s ability to participate in class, be confident in her course work and make new connections that support her studies and wellbeing. Not everyone will be confident in the use of IT but a little bit of signposting can really help.
Conclusion 1-2-1-1
Conclusion
While there may be existing IT solutions available to students, they may not always be fully aware or comfortable using them. Assuming that everyone has access means some students may miss out. The access to notes outside of class time has given Amber some flexibility with her study timetable but she may still have to explore options about getting feedback on her work- if she can’t explain that this is a point of stress impacting on her work then there is little the college and staff can do to help her without being aware. Having open conversations about mental health and what reasonable adjustments are can create an environment Amber and other students can thrive in.
Conclusion 1-2-2-1
Conclusion
Changing the way Amber can access course notes is just one example of the kind of reasonable adjustments that can have a profound impact on a student’s ability to make the most of their education. If the college becomes an environment where students feel they can come forward about the challenges they are facing without judgement then it can be easier to accommodate adjustments like this. You can find out more about the effect stigma and discrimination of mental illness can have on a student in our Ending Stigma and Discrimination guide.
Conclusion 2-1-1-1
Conclusion
Amber accesses student support services and the advisor there works with her to develop a plan to support her studies. Amber works to create a strong timetable to plan her studies and works out where she might need flexibility to prepare for the possibility of childcare issues. She also speaks with all of her lecturers about timely feedback on her assessments which will help her confidence and planning of revision.
Conclusion 2-1-2-1
Conclusion
Amber gets back in touch and lets you know that knowing her mark in the assessment was a real boost to her confidence which she had been struggling with. She also lets you know she has been anxious while waiting for her marks. With a little bit of flexibility around attendance and getting notes in advance for classes Amber should find it easier to get on with her work. Now that you know what is going on for Amber it is much easier to offer her support and work around any childcare issues.
Conclusion 2-2-1-2 Conclusion 1-1-1-1
Conclusion
Exploring the reasons behind a student’s absence can be important. There may be external factors such as child care but could also relate to mental health issues. Looking at the mental health continuum featured in our Self Management guide is a good place to start in thinking about the signs of students who are struggling to manage their mental health and studies. In this case there is a practical solution to Amber’s attendance issues- access to childcare. This will then also impact on her issues with anxiety and stress about course work.
Conclusion 2-2-2-1
Thank you for guiding Amber through this session.

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NUS Scotland’s Bairn Necessities report looks at the issues facing student parents as they try to balance childcare, work and study. You can read the report here: www.nusconnect.org.uk/nus-scotland/policy/the-bairn-necessities

NUS Scotland’s Think Positive Self-Management resource is a useful document to help students identify ways to support their own mental health and to enable staff to support them too. You can find the resource here: www.thinkpositive.scot/resources