One in four students suffer from mental health problems.
It feels as though I’ve only just finished my first year at the University of Salford doing a BA Hons in Photography yet my days are somehow burdened with the thought of summer drawing to a close, autumn beginning and me heading back to uni for my second year.
People told me these years would be the best of my life but I’ve spent the last 6 months feeling so overwhelmed with the amount of ‘adulting’ I’ve had to do. This isn’t an article begging for pity and a sea of ‘U WILL BE OK’ comments and messages.
You’re not alone
This is a ‘You’re not alone in this’ article. Although mental health is becoming spoken about more and more every day I still think there’s a lot of people, parents, even other students that don’t understand how ‘student life’ and experiences like living in university halls can make you feel so low, alone and very quickly have a negative effect on your mental health.
As you can probably tell, my first year at university wasn’t at all what I hoped it would be. Even in a flat with 4 other girls that I got on quite well with I had never felt so alone. Halls just weren’t for me. I was surrounded by flats full of people that spent their weekdays gearing up for a weekend of binge drinking until the nights turned into a hazy blur. If you’re reading this and think ‘Hey! That’s me! I’m offended!’ please don’t be. If that’s what makes you happy, I’m happy for you! However, being around this community made me feel like such an outcast in the student system. This all became so clear to me during freshers. I went to one freshers event; a bar crawl. I had a reasonably good time but couldn’t bare to watch people dance on the table tops in Bierkeller for long and was tucked up in bed by 12:30.
Mental health problems
In YouGov’s survey of students in Britain 27% of students reported they were suffering with mental health problems whilst at university. This is over a quarter of students! Luckily, the majority of students in Britain are well aware that their university have a wellbeing service and offer counselling for them to sign up for as and when they need.
Personally, I haven’t felt the need to go and use the AskUS service that Salford University provide as I’ve found a lot of use in speaking to my course tutors and would urge anyone and everyone to do this (if you feel comfortable).
I just want to remind everyone, whether you’re going into your first, second or third year, that there is always someone to talk to and there’s always someone that can just sit there and listen to whatever is going on.
