NHS mental health nurses have been based permanently at Cardiff University to help tackle the student mental health crisis, made worse by Covid. The ground breaking Mental Health University Liaison Service is available for all the 50,000+ students living in the Cardiff, including those at Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of South Wales and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Students are seen by one of the NHS nurses within 10 days of being referred either by student services. their GP or , NHS adult psychiatry. Appointments are held at Cardiff university’s Centre for Student Life.
The Mental Health University Liaison Service (MHULS), which has been running since April 2022, was publicly launched in the Senedd last night (JUNE 21). An average 30 students a month are already being seen under the pilot scheme which is a first for Wales .
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Ben Lewis, Cardiff university’s director of student support and wellbeing said the service is “already changing lives”: “We know it is catching people who are really unwell and getting them the help they need,” he added.
MHULS, launched by the South East Wales Mental Health Partnership, “sets out to provide solutions to the growing demand and risk surrounding student mental health and is aimed at students with moderate mental health problems or more complex long-standing mental health issues,” Cardiff University said.
“The MHULS specifically addresses an identified gap between a university’s mandate for supporting students and the threshold for gaining access to services provided by the NHS, where students often require an NHS referral or assessment.”
Under the scheme NHS mental health nurses are based on campus to provide students from all four HE providers in Cardiff with a means to be assessed, referred and guided through NHS mental health service s. Their universities are also involved in ongoing support plans.
Support includes detailed mental health assessments, completing safety plans for students, onwards referral and signposting to other services, as well as reviews. Mr Lewis said students needing mental health services could get caught in gaps waiting for NHS appointments because they tend to move between home and university and change addresses at university.
Students referred will be seen by community mental health nurses under MHULS if they meet certain criteria including suicidal thoughts, self harming, clinically diagnosed mental health issues and traumatic experiences.
The widely reported rise in youth and student mental health problems has been made worse by the isolation and disruption of the pandemic. Mr Lewis said his university alone has seen a 30% rise in requests for help from in-house counselling and wellbeing services. and this will be reflected at other universities.
More than 4,000 of Cardiff university’s 30,000+ students (15%-20%) access the separate university counselling service each year, but that is on a spectrum from those seeking time management and exam stress help to those with more serious issues such as suicidal thoughts. The new MHULS is not only available to other students in the city , but is also aimed at the more serious mental health problems.
“What we are piloting is a wider led NHS service for students at Cardiff, Cardiff Met, USW and the RWCMD. What this does is move student demand out of NHS community mental health into this service,” explained Mr Lewis.
“MHULS funds the nursing teams, not the NHS. This is to recognise that universities bring in new populations.
"Students who meet the criteria will be seen by an NHS community mental health nurse within 10 days at our Centre for Student Life and, in time, on the other university campuses. We have seen an increase in mental crisis presentation during Covid and more students are coming forward for help.
"There is an increase in demand and a greater recognition that higher education students go through a period of change in leaving home and losing support networks. Some of the reason for the increase is Covid and also there’s more awareness that help can be found.
"If they are told to wait 12 weeks for an NHS mental health appointment, by the time it comes through students may have gone home. This services also bridges that gap.”
One major benefit is that students are seen in a familiar environment, he added: "The most common reason for seeing people are trauma, suicidal thoughts and clinically diagnosed, pre-existing mental health issues. They can now be seen by NHS mental health nurses in their environment by people who see only students and work alongside each other.
MUHLS, the first scheme of its kind in Wales, is being funded by the Higher Education Funding Council Wales with Welsh Government money. The £660,000 pilot cost runs until December this year. If successful the scheme will continue.
Similar programmes already run in Liverpool, Manchester and Belfast but MUHLS is unique because data is being shared with the NHS, Mr Lewis said.
One student who has been among the first to get help through the MUHLS service, said: “I’ve been back and forth with nothing happening until now. Nobody ever understood the whole picture in the way that you do.”
Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Director of Student Services, Kirsty Palmer said: “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to collaborate with university and NHS colleagues to set up this new service. The Mental Health University Liaison Service represents a huge step forward in mental health support for students in Cardiff, and we hope will be a template for work across Wales.”
Phase one of the pilot is available to students over 18 who are studying at one of the four HE institutions in Cardiff and living in the catchment of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
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