Counselling and mental health

Dear Student,

As the COVID-19 situation changes, we are making changes to the way in which our Counselling and Mental Health services are offered, in alignment with government guidelines and to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

Our drop-in service has now changed to a call back service. If you need to speak to a member of the Counselling and Mental Health Team, please complete the  form below and send it to cmh@mdx.ac.uk. Without the completed form, we will not be able to facilitate a call back.

Call Back Request Form

If you are NOT registered with a GP, you can easily register online at Premier Medical Centre using the link below:

https://www.premiermedicalcentre.nhs.uk/register

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Introduction

Coming to university can be an exciting and rewarding time. It is also a time of change which can be stressful and a range of difficulties and dilemmas may arise that can affect your life and studies. Talking to a trained professional can help.

The Counselling & Mental Health team provide mental wellbeing support and a confidential individual counselling service to help you manage any challenges affecting you emotionally or psychologically that you might face while you study with us.

The Counselling & Mental Health team is made up of counsellors, psychological therapists and mental health advisors (experiences mental health professionals). We offer:

• One-to-one counselling/psychological therapy
• Mental health support and casework
• Group workshops, addressing such issues as starting university, stress management, overcoming procrastination and psychological blocks to study
• Referral to other services where appropriate

How to refer yourself for support:

To refer yourself to the Counselling and Mental Health Service, please complete the confidential form from the link below:

https://unihelp.mdx.ac.uk/counsellingandmentalhealth

Please give as much availability as possible so that a suitable appointment can be arranged for you

What happens next?

Once we receive your referral, we will offer you an initial assessment via email. Please be aware that our emails often go to people's junk email boxes so please check there regularly.

The initial assessment will provide an opportunity to explore your reasons for contacting the service, and help build up a clearer picture. The practitioner who is meeting with you for the initial assessment will then discuss next steps with you. For some students using our service, one or two sessions are all that is needed. For others, up to six sessions, in addition to the initial assessment, allow issues to be explored in greater depth. Sometimes a referral to another internal service or an external organisation is appropriate.

While you wait for your initial assessment, (or as a one-off appointment) you might find it helpful to attend one of our drop-in sessions.

Self-help resources while awaiting treatment

Middlesex university offers a range of support available for students to access at any point, and this includes when waiting for therapy or when actively participating in therapy, be that internally with the Counselling and Mental Health team or externally.

Fika is an evidence based mental fitness app which we have  purchased exclusively for MDX students. You can sign up using your MDX email account to access Premium content. With Fika you can access short, five minute ‘workouts’ designed to be done daily to help to keep you mentally fit. You can explore topics on homesickness, stress, sleep, anxiety, motivation, procrastination and more. With audio and video content, MDX students offering their insights and tips, and now with study hacks and content in light of Coronavirus to help you stay well remotely, this could be good option for some self-care while you wait for further treatment.

Big White Wall is an anonymous online support platform accessible any time of the day or night, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Big White Wall has a range of resources and programmes to enable you to express yourself in any way you choose – for example, through art and/or music therapy, self-help materials to explore your feelings and improve your own wellbeing, or simply to get things off your chest in a safe online space that’s moderated by trained professionals. You can explore self-help group and individual courses covering mental health and lifestyle topics, express your feelings by creating a ‘brick’ using words, pictures, and images to add to the community ‘wall’, and explore the library of useful articles and resources, plus helpful tests and features to set goals and track your progress. You can access Big White Wall by going to http://www.bigwhitewall.com and using your university email address to sign up.

Drop-in service

If you are feeling distressed, anxious or have a concern you would like to discuss, come and talk to one of our professional staff by just turning up at Sunny Hill House between 2-3pm, Mondays to Fridays - no need to book an appointment, but please bring your student ID along with you.

General Enquiries: For general enquiries and information you can contact the Counselling & Mental Health Team at: cmh@mdx.ac.uk

Wellbeing webinar series

The University runs a series of webinars to support students with overcoming procrastination, isolation, anxiety and mindfulness.

• First year wellbeing webinars – what makes it hard to ask for help? This webinar will give you the opportunity to hear about some of the common concerns for new students and the issues you experience with getting help.

• Postgraduate Research Degree webinars – we’ve created a series of webinars specifically designed for those currently on a Postgraduate Research Degree. For full details, please see towards the bottom of the Research Training and Development page.

Where to find us:

The Counselling & Mental Health team -
Sunny Hill House
Access via Greyhound Hill or
Williams Building car park - (postcode on Google maps for Sunny Hill House is NW4 4JS)

Postal address -
Sunny Hill House
Middlesex University
The Burroughs
London NW4 4BT

Please email our team administrator at: cmh@mdx.ac.uk or call 020 8411 4118 for more information.

If you are managing a longer-term mental health condition (for one year or more) you may be entitled to extra support:

Contact the University's Disability & Dyslexia Service at: disability@mdx.ac.uk for information.