Research by Student Minds, the UK's student mental health charity, has found that more than half of UK university students have a mental health problem. /Reuters/Russel Boyce.
Emmy Kelsall's job is to listen. Each morning she logs into her laptop and begins flicking between social media channels and scrolling through the feeds on her screen.
"I basically stalk people online," she jokes to CGTN. But this isn't idle procrastination, it's a monitoring task known as social media listening. Her aim is to find out what UK students are saying about their experiences at university and any problems they may be dealing with.
Kelsall, 22, is an intern at Student Minds, the UK's student mental health charity. The aim of the organization is to empower students and members of the university community to look after their own mental health, support others and create change.
In a 2022 survey carried out by the charity, 57 percent of respondents self-reported a mental health issue and 27 percent said they had a diagnosed mental health condition. A shocking 30 percent of students said their mental health had worsened since starting university.
The consequences of mental health issues for students range from poor academic performance and dropping out of university, to self-harm and suicide.
In 2022, six students at Cambridge University committed suicide, whilst in the 2020 academic year there were 64 suicides among students in higher education in England and Wales. But that number could be even higher - research carried out by National World revealed that more than half of UK universities fail to record the number of suicides at their institutions.
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Student's mental health problems stem from a host of issues. /Reuters/Hannah McKay.
Why are Gen-Z students struggling?
The causes of students' mental health struggles are varied. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, factors that contribute to students having poor mental health include moving away from home, academic and financial pressures, and the absence of familiar social and emotional support networks.
They're problems Kelsall understands well. "I experienced a lot of anxiety and suffered from depression before I started university," she says. "I found it very difficult, it was isolating and suffocating at times.”
The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of students to decide whether to stay in university accommodation or return home. For many, including Kelsall, it exacerbated existing mental health problems.
"The last couple of years have been an extremely lonely experience for a lot of university students," she explains. "I moved from Belfast to London during the pandemic and it was horrible. You couldn't go to class, you couldn't meet friends, a lot of the time you were just alone in your room. A lot of my support was back at home and I had to keep in contact with everyone online.”
Cost of living crisis
The cost of living crisis has added another layer of complexity to student life. In the Student Minds survey, 59 percent of students surveyed said that managing money was a cause of stress 'often' or 'all of the time’ - an increase of 13 percentage points compared to 2020/21.
A staggering 83 percent of students surveyed were either 'very' or 'quite' concerned about the current cost of living crisis and 41 percent said this was having a negative impact on their wellbeing. "Millions of students are struggling to pay rent and even afford to eat," says Kelsall. "Some are having to choose between heating and eating - that isn't right.”
As part of her studies, Kelsall's final year dissertation explored Generation Z in the context of marketing to find out more about the generation's challenges, interests and motivations and came to a telling conclusion.
"The biggest thing that I found was that Gen-Z is very progressive in terms of ideology but extremely pessimistic in terms of the future," she says. "I think it's the serious physical implications of the economic future that a lot of uni students and graduates are facing that is having a significant toll on their mental health."
What are universities doing to help?
The mental health problems plaguing students at UK universities are clear but solutions are more complex and difficult to access for those in need. “I tried to go through the NHS before I went to university but the waiting lists were between nine and 12 months and that was before the pandemic,” says Kelsall.
Students at UK universities are facing similar problems. Student Minds' research found that one in four students wouldn't know where to go to get mental health support at university if they needed it.
The UK government is trying to change that by giving students access to a mental health and wellbeing hub called Student Space, funded by a £3.6 million ($4.57m) grant from the Office for Students.
The hub provides dedicated one-to-one text and web chat support services, as well as mental health and wellbeing resources. The service is part of a £15 million ($19.04m) fund allocated towards student mental health in 2023/2024. This funding will also be used to give additional support for those making the transition from school or college to university, in particular through counselling services.
'Universities need to start by listening'
But the biggest step change could be an initiative created by Student Minds that is now being pushed by the government. The University Mental Health Charter Programme has been designed to give universities a five-step roadmap to implement a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing.
But Kelsall says the first step to helping young people doesn't cost a penny. “Universities need to start by listening to students," she says. "They need to take a look at social media and listen to what students are saying. They're saying they're not being heard and they're not being taken seriously.”
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