Students Have Mixed Views on Counselling at University

For many students, going away to university can be an interesting and tough experience. But sometimes students have other more significant issues to deal with and as a result need support, so some go through counselling via the university they are studying at.However, there are mixed views on the counselling services at universities, varying from some students saying they found counselling at their university helpful to other students saying that they didn’t find it helpful at all.

Views and experiences from students who are having or have had counselling at their university:

ormaybeitsjustnarcissis:
“I found [counsellors] really helpful nice people. [My counsellor has] helped me talk stuff through, printed off a list of places like Maytree and emergency numbers, got me appointments with a psychiatrist and the university advisor that arranges one-to-one mentoring, and arranged for [someone] that runs group therapy to email me after Christmas, as well as trying to get me a CBT session.”

An anonymous poster:
“I briefly saw a university counsellor for CBT after making a suicide attempt. She wasn’t particularly compassionate and I got the feeling that she was bored during our meetings. I disclosed that I had a problem with cannabis which had contributed to my, or possibly even caused my mental illness and she said that if I smoked it again she would refuse to see me. Given that people who are mentally ill are more likely to use drugs, and that drugs themselves can cause mental illness, I think that’s somewhat narrow-minded. All in all, not helpful.”

~ Purple Rose ~:
“I had one uni counsellor for nearly three years who was absolutely brilliant, but at another uni I saw two at different times and they weren’t helpful at all. I also had a bad experience with the student NHS service, due to the person I saw there.”

So for some students, counselling services can be useful, but others agree that there is still room for improvement to make sure that all students receive the best support available from these services.