Thank you for your article highlighting the challenges to mental health that many students may face and outlining potential self-help measures (Self-care to support: how to look after your mental health at university, 15 September). Sadly, it came a little too late for my son, who attempted suicide in June. He was supposedly at the end of his second year of a physics degree, but, unbeknown to me, he was withdrawn from the course last January for lack of attendance. He continued in his student digs, and in phone calls intimated to me that all was going more or less OK. He felt unable to open up to me, and his levels of desperation accumulated to breaking point.
I am immensely grateful to the police, who attended him very promptly, and the ambulance service and the NHS for subsequent care. I do worry about the news that the police may now not respond to mental health scenarios. He is now at home, and gently considering future options with family and community support.
