Bristol Uni plan to cut student wellbeing roles by 14 per cent and restructure services
Services are due to be restructured despite staff concerns over student mental health
Laura ButlerBristol University plans to restructure the wellbeing service from September which includes cutting 14 per cent of roles. This restructuring will see the wellbeing services reduced however new mental health advisors and a sexual assault liaison advice team have also been suggested.
Some staff members have suggested this restructuring is a money-saving decision which will cause more students to “fall through the gaps.”
This comes 2 years after the Bristol County Court ruled that the university had contributed to Natasha Abrahart’s death, a Bristol student who took her own life in 2018. The court ruled the university discriminated against Natasha on the grounds of disability and her parents said the university had received “worrying information” the day before her death.
12 students including Natasha took their lives at Bristol Uni between 2013-2018 and Bristol World reports 14 students have taken their lives at Bristol Uni since 2018.
The ongoing consultation is about assessing how the services should look going forward in response to student feedback.
The new suggestions include increasing the amount of specialist mental health adviser support available, replacing the current request form with a self-service booking system and creating a dedicated sexual violence liaison team.
In this restructure the access team would be scrapped for the online booking service. The access team currently manages applications to support students, assessing their needs and signposting them to the correct service.
The wellbeing team is here to help students dealing with difficulties with their mental health, however, it is not a specialist mental health team.
Staff concerns are around the service becoming more impersonal, not allowing for meaningful contact with students instead resembling a production line approach.
No changes have been implemented yet and the consultation and review process is dynamic and open to changes. The university has said the changes are aimed at repurposing and rebalancing the services to keep them running effectively for students.