Support

Welfare support

Where can you turn to if you are not doing well?

There are many services – all free and confidential – that you can access if you hit a rough patch in your life, within college or outside.

Wardens in halls

No matter what is troubling you, remember that you wardening team is always there to help. They care about you and your wellbeing, are willing to talk about anything and listen to your concerns. Nothing is too big, or too small! So do feel free to approach any of them by email (details on the team page) or in person. If you are in a critical situation or facing an emergency, always call the duty mobile: +44 7740 918 599.
You are free to approach the person you feel most comfortable talking to; No matter what you decide to do, please do not suffer in silence: tell someone if there is an issue! Even if you tell the “wrong” person, they will be able to still help you, or redirect you to the correct place.

Within College

Within Imperial College, there are several people and services you can access. Particularly, if you are experiencing troubles related to your studies:

  • Departmental tutors – assigned to you at the start of your degree,
  • Senior tutors – each department has one, who are dedicated to dealing with students’ concern within your department.

Beyond these, and for anything non-academic related, there are the following:

Imperial College Union Advice Service

Imperial College Union Advice Service is a free, confidential, non-judgemental and independent service for all students studying at Imperial College. If you are experiencing a problem with your studies, your halls or you are looking to make a complaint against the College – the Advice Service is here to help. If we are unable to advise you with your query, we can point you in the right direction. Our advice Caseworkers can signpost you to the relevant service or organisation. Additionally, if you are a student facing financial hardship and are finding it difficult to afford food, the Advice Service can issue you a food bank voucher. Contact advice@imperial.ac.uk or go to www.imperialcollegeunion.org/advice

NHS services

If your problems are substantially impacting your quality of life over a period of several weeks or longer, you should seek medical help.
Within the NHS, any GP can give advice and assessment for mental health problems, and subsequently prescribe treatment or give a referral to specialist services, notably therapy. The most common ones are Counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
Find out more on the NHS’ student mental health page. There is also the option to do online self-help through the NHS choices’s moodzone.

In extreme cases, you can come to the point that you cannot cope, lost control, experience hallucinations, or have tried to self-harm or commit suicide. Those cases count as acute mental health crisis/emergency. When that happens, if that is happening to you or someone else, you should contact NHS 111, book an emergency GP appointment or visit A & E\call 999, depending on the severity of the situtation ( Dealing with a mental health emergency).

Outside of college

There are plenty of ressources online, across London and nationwide that you can refer to, if you need support, want to find out more information about specific topics or are interested in self-help:

(Thank you to the Warden of Beit Hall for creating and sharing this page)