Mental Health Case Study ‘Maria’: an example of how a student might be supported through a mental health crisis in the initial phase:

Student (Maria) fails to submit an assignment.

The Lecturer responsible for marking the assignment informs Maria’s Personal Advisor who emails her to ask if she would come and see him to discuss this and see if any support could be offered.

Maria attends the meeting with her Advisor and it transpires that Maria is struggling to concentrate on her studying, has not been attending lectures and is not sleeping. She tells her Advisor that she has been depressed in the past but has not asked for any help from anyone.

The Advisor recommends she sees the mental health advisor in DoS and also her GP. Maria follows the advice and comes to see the mental health advisor who makes an assessment.

In their conversation, Maria discloses extensive mental health difficulties and that she is also hearing voices and feels very unsafe on her own. She is more behind with her work than she had admitted to her Advisor and fears she will fail. She has 2 assignments due in the next two weeks which she has not started. She feels she needs to go home for at least the following week but her mother cannot pick her up until the weekend, 3 days away. She is also worried that her lecturers will be angry with her if she misses any more lectures.

Maria gives the Mental Health Co-ordinator permission to contact any relevant people who can assist.

The Mental Health Co-ordinator telephones the duty doctor at the University Medical Centre, explains her current concerns and the duty doctor agrees to see Maria that afternoon.

The MH Co-ordinator also telephones and then emails the Teaching Office explaining that Maria will not be at lectures for at least a week and supports the extension request that Maria will be submitting.

The Teaching Office agrees to inform relevant lecturers and Maria’s Advisor.

The MH Co-ordinator contacts the Resident Tutor who agrees to visit Maria in her accommodation that evening to offer support.

The MH Co-ordinator makes appointment for Maria to see her the following day to review.

The duty doctor prescribes Maria some medication and has referred Maria to the Early Intervention Team.

Maria states she is feeling calmer and that she will be okay to wait until her mother arrives on Saturday. She has opened up to a housemate about how she is feeling and this has helped her to feel safer. An appointment is made with the mental health advisor for when she returns from her family home.

Once the crisis has settled, the MH Co-ordinator would discuss her support needs in more detail and encourage her to consider applying for a Disabled Student’s Allowance which would most importantly fund a mentor to support Maria through her academic work. Maria will be supported with her mental health, as needed throughout the remainder of her University life.