Local lockdowns threaten students’ mental health, charities say
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Charities are warning of the risk of local lockdowns on students’ mental health.
PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide says lockdown during their first weeks of university creates further uncertainty students who saw their end-of-school education disrupted by school closures, cancelled exams and results errors.
In response to the concerns over the impact of restrictions on young people's mental health, PAPYRUS and Universities UK (UUK) have published guidance to help prevent student suicide, which includes advice on prevention and intervention.
The Suicide-Safer Universities guide includes a checklist highlighting how institutions of higher education can make their student communities safer and how they can develop a strategy focussed specifically on prevention.
PAPYRUS is also appealing directly to university and college students to look after themselves and help each other through the critical weeks and months ahead.
Ged Flynn, chief executive at PAPYRUS, said: “Right now students who have never been to university, or have been away from university and gone back, are suddenly plunged into a new reality that very few of us have ever encountered.
“Some are in rooms, some are in halls, some are in new accommodation with people they know or don’t know.
“Some are frightened, away from home, trying to navigate new ways of learning and new relationships and that’s incredibly challenging for anyone.
“I say this to all students who are suffering; as a national charity we are here for you and I know that my colleagues in other charities want to say the same. You, as a young person, matter to us and you are not alone.”
Case study
Ben Brown, a 22-year-old engineering student from Gloucester, took his own life in April while studying at Loughborough University.
His mother, Helen Hartery-Brown, says students need to support each other, share their feelings and look for signs that could indicate someone is having thoughts of suicide.
“I firmly believe that had we not gone into lockdown Ben would be alive today. It gave him too much time with nothing to do but think. He was completely overwhelmed and didn’t speak to anyone about how he was feeling.
“Ben was his own worst critic. He thought his problems were the worst and to him they were insurmountable. Even though he was a very intelligent young man he chose not to ask for help and we don’t know why.
“We all have to open up, talk about mental health and learn about suicide first-aid, how to listen and spot the signs.
“I would hate for another family to feel like we do and if these words make one young person stop and think, then Ben’s death will not have been in vain,” said Helen.