Guidance for colleagues

If you are a University colleague in a student-facing role you should have a good working knowledge of the support available to students through our 'Stepped Care Model'

The Mental Health Support Team are a specialist mental health service who work with students across a wide spectrum of mental health needs. We request that in most cases you advise students to self-refer as this helps them feel involved and engaged in the process right from the start.

Self-referral form is open from 9.00am on Monday until 4.30pm on Tuesday, and from 9.00am to 4.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You can direct students to complete our Self‑Referral Form during these times.

We are happy to support students with Mitigating Circumstances applications when their mental health has impacted their ability to study.

However, we ask that students are not routinely signposted to the service solely to obtain ‘evidence’ unless they are also interested in engaging in support.

Please also signpost students to Disability Advisory and Support Service as appropriate. 

Students may make an active choice not to engage in support even when there appears to be a need. There is likely to be a multitude of reasons for this. Students may not feel ready to open up or may be sceptical that things can change. Unless there is reason to be very assertive in offering help, you should respect a decision to not engage. However, we do ask that you gently challenge scepticism and check that students are not experiencing a sense of stigma as a barrier to accessing help.

There may be circumstances where you feel a student needs more help with accessing support because they appear to be very unwell, vulnerable or possibly at risk. You can bring these cases to the attention of our Duty Practitioners (see the following drop down).

Duty Practitioners can facilitate access to mental health support for students who are vulnerable, potentially at risk, or unable to self‑refer through the usual process. 

Where the above concerns are not present and students are struggling to make a self referral students can contact MHSTgeneralenquiries@manchester.ac.uk.

Duty Practitioners can:

• Respond to colleague concerns
• Speak with colleagues or students via email, phone or TEAMS
• Provide space to understand what might be happening for a student
• Provide advice on next steps either within our service or via NHS urgent care pathways.

Duty is responsive and supportive, but it is important to understand its limits:

• It cannot replace urgent care – for live emergencies 999/A&E should be considered (see information below).
• It cannot provide immediate or in‑the‑moment ‘counselling’
• Availability may vary depending on other concurrent duty demands

There are two Duty Practitioners available each working day (aside from the summer when there may only be one member of Duty staff available).

If you are bringing a student of concern to our attention we will need the following information:

• Student ID (we only need this detail to identify a student but if you are unsure please provide a name/contact information)
• Reason for Duty contact:
  Please describe:
  
  • The nature of your concern
  • Why the student is unable to access the service via the usual self‑referral route
  • Any specific information that may indicate risk or vulnerability
  • If your concern is based on something the student has written, please include the exact wording or a copy. This helps us understand the source and context of the concern.
• What the student knows: We generally advise that concerns are shared with the student’s knowledge, as this supports transparency and trust. However, do not let this delay you taking action if you believe the student is at risk or requires a more assertive approach to support.

How to contact us:

Please note that the quickest route to a Duty Practitioner is via email.

• Email: MHSTDutyPractitioner@manchester.ac.uk
• Call: 0161 275 2864

Please see our Crisis Pathway document for details on how to respond to a student who poses a risk to themselves.

If there appears to be a live emergency or need for rapid medical attention:

• On campus: Call 999 and contact University Security on 0161 306 9966 via the red button on the Safe Zone app.
• Off campus or if there is immediate risk to life: call 999 straight away.

If you have contacted emergency services or you have recently managed a case of significant concern, please do not hesitate to inform us. We understand that these situations are extremely challenging and we can provide advice and support either while a situation is being dealt with or in the aftermath.

Other access to support internal and external to the University:

You may have a concern about a student that does not meet the threshold for urgent care, but you would still like them to have options for support. Please see our Help in a Crisis page for information on services including those that are out of hours.

Talking to students about their mental health and risk:

The University of Manchester is informed by the Student Mental Health Charter, and we are committed to a whole-university approach to mental health: UMHC Framework - Student Minds Hub

All colleagues should adopt a non-stigmatising approach and be open to having a dialogue with students and others about their mental health. For general tips on having a conversation about mental health please see: MHF TT Talking Tips Resource.pdf

Open and supportive conversations about mental health can allow honest dialogue about a student’s sense of safety and risk. If a student discloses ideas that suggest they or someone else may be at risk, it is important to ask direct questions. Direct questions don’t 'put ideas in someone’s head' - they create space for honesty. The following are some suggestions on things you can ask to establish risk and form a plan to keep someone 'safe for now'. You are not expected to hold responsibility for someone else’s actions and behaviours and you must always pass information about risk onto MHST or specialist NHS services as soon as you can (see the Crisis Pathway document).

If direct or indirect reference is made to risk, it is important to ask explicit questions to establish its nature and severity of the risk. For example, you could ask 'Are you having thoughts about ending your life /hurting someone else?'

Suggested questions:

'Are you having thoughts about ending your life or hurting someone else?'

• Establishes whether any risk is present.
• Opens the door for the person to speak plainly.

'Do you have thoughts about how you might act on this?'

• Assesses planning, which is an indicator of increased risk.

'Do you have access to the means?'

• Determines practical capability (such as, medication, weapons, locations).
• Helps identify immediate steps to reduce danger.

'Do you feel you are at imminent risk of acting on these thoughts?'

• Clarifies urgency and whether emergency intervention is needed.

'Are you able to keep yourself safe until tomorrow?'

• Tests whether the person can commit to keeping themselves safe in the short-term.

'What will help you keep yourself (or others) safe?'

• Encourages the person to identify protective factors and coping strategies.

'Who else knows how you feel?'

• Identifies the person’s support network.

'Can we contact anyone to allow them to support you?'

• Supporting the student to connect with their support network which may offer safety in the short-term.

'Shall we look at the ‘Help in a Crisis page’ and think about services that could be helpful to you?'

• Allows an exploration of services that are available to offer support in and out of working hours.

'I am concerned about you and have a duty of care – I am going to seek some advice from a professional service.'

• If someone is unable to agree a plan to keep safe for now or is resistant to ideas about seeking support from either informal support networks or professional services, please be transparent about the limits of your role and your need to seek advice from Mental Health Support Team or specialist NHS services: (see the Crisis Pathway document)