Counselling for students ‘may be damaging’

UNIVERSITIES risk “damaging” students by giving them unnecessary counselling for mental health issues when they just need to join a society, according to a new report.

The Higher Education Policy Institute has urged institutions to distinguish between well-being issues and mental health conditions so that students are given the appropriate support.

Students with mental health issues may need to see a counsellor or potentially be referred for treatment on the NHS. Meanwhile those who have low levels of well-being could do more to help themselves – for example, by joining a club or society, taking up a new hobby or confiding in a friend.

The number of students contacting mental health facilities is up by 50 per cent in five years, an analysis last year found. Students seeking help rose from 50,900 to 78,100 between 2012 and 2017, while budgets for mental health services increased by 40 per cent.

“Some universities are merging their mental health and well-being services,” said Rachel Hewitt, the author of the Institute’s report, Measuring Wellbeing in Higher Education.

“It can be damaging, in the sense that people are potentially not getting the right treatment they need.

“We don’t want to be in a position where students who are just suffering from low levels of well-being are being medicalised.” When universities fail to differentiate between mental health and well-being it can lead to students misdiagnosing themselves, Ms Hewitt said.

Universities should collect

‘It can be damaging, as people are not getting the right treatment’

their own data on student well-being so they can design more targeted interventions, the report said.

A Universities UK spokesman said: “There is rising demand for student support services, driven in part by the underprovision of NHS mental health care for young adults. There is no evidence of disinvestment in support for students with mental health difficulties in favour of wider well-being initiatives at UK universities.”