What is Mental Health and Wellbeing?

In many ways, mental health is just like physical health: everybody has it and we need to take care of it. Good health and wellbeing are also essential for our students to achieve their aspirations.

Good mental health means being generally able to think, feel and react in the ways that you need and want to live your life. But if you go through a period of poor mental health you may find you're frequently thinking, feeling or reacting, which will become difficult to cope with. This can feel just as bad as a physical illness.

Mental health problems affect around one in four people in any given year. They range from common problems, such as depression and anxiety, to rarer problems such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

What we can do to help

Mental health difficulties affect the ability to learn, the way in which learning takes place, communication, socialising, ability to cope, friendships and relationships. If you feel that you are affected by a mental health problem, please have a chat with a member of our well-established Mental Health and Wellbeing Team. We can support you on your journey at college and ensure reasonable adjustments are made throughout your time here.

These can include:
· Specialist Mental Health for 1:1 support
· Adjustments with deadlines/coursework
· Exam considerations
· Access to Counselling
· Referral to external charities and support organisations

Referral process – what happens when a referral is received?

· A member of our team will contact the student directly for an initial assessment.

· During the assessment we will ask if they have a Mental Health diagnosis, do they have any other disabilities and/or working with ALS, have they had support in the past, are they working with any external professionals, symptoms and how their MHI effects them day to day.

· Ask the student would they like their tutors to be aware – if so, we would draw up a Learning Support Agreement with Reasonable Adjustments in place for that student in class. Such as time out, extra time in exams/separate room, extensions for assignments etc.

· We would provide specialist 1:1 sessions with the student – this can be weekly, bi-monthly, as and when. During these sessions we will discuss coping strategies, update the tutor (with the students permission) on how they are coping when things are going well and when they are struggling, early interventions will enable them to continue at College and feel supported.

· Refer/signpost to Counselling Service and external support agencies such as Mind, Papyrus, Early Intervention in Psychosis.

· Liaise with Curriculum staff/attend review meetings if required.

· Attend professionals’ meetings around the student and how best to support moving forward and what is best for the student.

Who to contact in college

If you feel are struggling with your mental health, you can speak to a member of our Mental Health and Wellbeing team for support.
Call 01274 088999 Email wellbeing@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

It's important to look after our mental health and wellbeing whilst staying at home, the Mental Health Foundation have put together a list of their top tips here.

We have also put together the details of various resources to help support mental health and wellebing, you can find these here.