As Universities adapt to the seismic changes brought about by Covid-19 and plan Higher Education in a new age, it’s worth reflecting on the impact on student’s lives.
"I'm 'vulnerable' and at home while trying to study. I haven't been able to go out for more than two months and am finding it hard to get my uni work done." Service user.
"Feeling like I wasted my 1st year at uni. I put studying before enjoying myself. I wish I'd made more friends. With the lockdown, I worry that I'll feel the same at the end of next year" Service user.
Since the pandemic began, Kooth Student has had 1218 students access a mixture of support from reading and contributing to self help content and participating with peers in community forums, to accessing professional counselling until 10pm every evening.
The Universities that have already commissioned Kooth Student have the assurance that their students’ emotional wellbeing has been supported during the pandemic with over 5,900 logins in the past 12 weeks. Over 30% of these students are from the BAME community, an increase from 21% during the previous 6 months.
Students are now hearing about Kooth Student more through academic staff which indicates that tutors see the value of signposting their students to our BACP accredited service. With students predominantly presenting with anxiety and stress at counselling sessions, our online team has supported students to achieve an average counselling goal movement of 6.95* during these unsettling times.
“We were looking to enhance our current offer of counselling and mental health support for students so that we could provide different modes of support and ensure students had access to this during evenings and weekends.
We anticipate that demand for online support and counselling will increase given the current social distancing measures in place during the coronavirus pandemic and were thankful that we had Kooth Student well established prior to lockdown.”
Sarah Tomlinson, Head of Student Wellbeing, Leeds Beckett University