A coroner has issued a warning to Southampton University over the “awareness, understanding and curiosity” of academic staff around the mental health of students after a student killed himself on the day his exam results were due.
Christopher Wilkinson, the senior area coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, said interruptions to academic work and to the rhythms of normal student life during and after the pandemic had had a significant impact on mental health.
The coroner issued a preventing future deaths report to the Russell Group university after the death of Matthew Wickes, an engineering student, in June 2022. An inquest in Winchester concluded that 21-year-old Wickes took his own life while suffering from an acute anxiety crisis.
Wilkinson said: “I am concerned about the level of awareness, understanding and curiosity of academic staff around the mental health of students, particularly in the post-pandemic climate where interruptions to their study and dysregulated student life have had a significant impact on their mental health.”
A number of universities have been criticised over the support provided to struggling students, among them Bristol University, which was ordered to pay damages to the parents of Natasha Abrahart, 20, who died a day before she was due to give a “terrifying” oral exam in front of teachers and fellow students.
A coroner strongly criticised the University of Exeter over the suicide of another student, Harry Armstrong Evans, claiming it failed to respond effectively to his “cry for help” after a disastrous set of exam results.
During Wickes’s inquest, Southampton University said all staff were offered training on mental health management and provided with guidance on how to support students. But Wilkinson said: “I am concerned that aspects of this are not made compulsory for academic staff … It remains unclear as to who or how many staff have actually viewed or undertaken the online training around student mental health.”
The coroner accepted that the university had taken steps to plan an “early warning system” for students. “However, I do have concerns that there remains an evident gap between the academic assessment of students and the pastoral support that they receive,” he said.
Wilkinson continued: “Where academic absence or performance issues are identified, I am not convinced, on the evidence heard at this inquest, that enough has yet been done to also consider how ‘reaching out’ to such students can be most effectively achieved.”
He said: “The evidence at this inquest raised concerns over the existence, frequency and accuracy of the recording and minuting of academic meetings with students. It was of concern to me that the university was unable to locate or provide clear minutes of supervisory catchups, progress checks or agreed guidance or actions for Matthew.”
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
