Support Week is coming to an end, but the message lives on...
All week we’ve been focusing on the support available to you, and encouraging you to have the confidence to speak up if ever you’re feeling down – reach out to your teammates, flatmates, coursemates, friends in your student group or your family. You can also access our professional support services at the Guild or at the University – but please don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.
Whether it’s your first week on campus or you’ve been here for years – you’ll soon know that student life is full of ups and downs! It’s normal to feel overwhelmed, homesick, stressed or a combination of the above when you come to university. The most important thing to remember is that you are not alone, and there’s always help on offer if you need it.
Here at the Guild…
Guild Advice and Student Mentors are on hand if you need support coping with university life:
Head to Guild Advice if you’re feeling anxious or need some guidance, as they cover everything from wellbeing advice, to academic, housing or financial support, and are here to help you throughout your uni journey.
If you’re feeling homesick, struggling to adjust to uni life or just want a friendly chat with a fellow student – speak to the Student Mentors, who offer confidential support to students living in halls. They even provide budgeting, revision and shared living advice and tips, which you may find useful later on.
If you've relocated to Birmingham from across the world and want the chance to make new friends, Global Buddies are a team of students who offer peer-support to our global student community to help with anything from homesickness to culture shock.
University support…
The support doesn’t stop there, as you can also go to the University for advice and guidance. UoB use a system called ‘feelings first’, asking you to first identify how you’re feeling, before providing tailored mental health advice and information about the best support for you.
They also offer online wellbeing support for all students, which you can check out here.
This information may be really relevant to you right now or it might be something that you use later in your uni journey, either way the lasting message we’d like to leave you with is not to be afraid to access support. Whether you talk to us, your friends or your family, there is support out there, and we want you to feel confident to ask for help if ever you need it.
Check out our Guide to the Guild for more information about available support.