Counselling and Advice

The College and the University offer a wide range of counselling services for any situation.

JNet has a section on Health and Welfare, including this page which has an extensive list of wide ranging support for things like bereavement, anxiety, BME specific support, depression, eating disorders, and more. Reporting harassment and assault is also a page on JNet which you might find useful. It has:

Welfare Tutors

The Welfare Tutors are available to listen and to offer help with any problems that are not purely academic or administrative. Undergraduates and postgraduates are welcome to contact any of them. Every day in term time there is a Welfare Tutor on duty who can be contacted whatever the hour in case of an emergency or urgent problem via the Porters’ Lodge (339339). Out of term please contact either the Porters’ Lodge or the Tutorial Department (N Staircase – 339468).

MCR Welfare Officers

if the prospect of speaking to a member of staff is also daunting, the MCR Welfare Officers would provide a listening ear or get started with procedures on your behalf. If your complaint is about a Welfare Tutor or Officer, you can still speak to us and we will do everything we can to ensure that you feel heard.

Mental Health Nurse

Our new College mental health nurse, Rachel Michel, will be offering welfare support, assessments and advice on a range of mental health and wellbeing concerns, from academic stress to emotional difficulties. Rachel will be holding regular drop-in hours (term-time only) from I Library Court, Room 1 on Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30-3.30pm and Tuesday and Fridays, 10-11am. Alternatively, please email her to arrange an appointment. Looking after your mental health and wellbeing is really important and this service is not limited to people with diagnosed conditions – it’s available to all students who would like support to cope with any aspect of life. If more specialist support is advised, Rachel can sign-post you in the right direction.

Additional information on surgery times and contact details for the College nurse, mental health nurse and physiotherapist can be found here.

Library Resources

The library has a Personal Welfare section in the building at classmark PYW. These books cover topics ranging from study help to personal welfare and may be browsed and borrowed as normal. We welcome suggestions to improve and expand this section.

You may also be interested in the following:

During Easter term the library has a collection of relaxation aids that are left out in the Garden Room, including colouring books, origami, jigsaws, and puzzles.

University Counselling Service

The University Counselling Service provides free, confidential and professional counselling to all students. You can make an appointment online by filling in a pre-counselling form, or you can download a form; feel free to give as much or as little information as you are comfortable with. Any information you give will remain confidential within the Counselling Service and once you have submitted a form, the Counselling Service will contact you to arrange for you to see a suitable counsellor at a time that you can manage.

The Student Union provides a Student Advice Service for confidential advice ranging from making friends through academic support to student finance.

Linkline

Linkline is a telephone listening and information service (01223 744444) run by students for students in Cambridge. The telephone lines are open from 7pm until 7am each night during full term, and there will always be both a male and female volunteer available. Linkline is not a counselling service and so the volunteers won’t tell you what to do, but they will provide a confidential listening ear.

Samaritans

The Samaritans say: “Talk to us any time you like, in your own way, and off the record about whatever’s getting to you. You don’t have to be suicidal. If you have any concerns about our service before you try it, we want to reassure you about them here. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, just get in touch and ask us about it. Please don’t suffer alone.” Call 08457 909090.

Support within Cambridge (and beyond)

Please do take a look at the list of various kinds of support accessible to all students here. The list includes support for a range of difficulties including mental health struggles, and race, disability and/or gender based hate crimes.

Professional Counsellors

There are many professional counsellors around Cambridge. Counselling Directory provides an easy way to find them.

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