Students taking their lives should not be overlooked. Here’s how you can fight for universities to have legalised duty of care.

There’s been a number of extremely sad cases of suicide at various universities across the UK. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time, and parents are fighting for change.

The most recent cases at the time of writing, are the deaths of Natasha Abraharts and Harry Armstrong Evans – and have encouraged serious action. So much so, that a university was successfully taken to court.

But what’s actually happening and how can we make the duty of care legalised in Higher Education?

Why is there a plea for legalised duty of care?

According to an interview with Evan’s parents, The Guardian stated they wanted the Department for Education (DfE) to be granted additional power to investigate and place universities in special measures where a suicide rate exceeds that of the national average.

What does this mean? This would essentially make it mandatory for all personal and academic tutors to publish their attendance of mental health awareness training.

But that’s not all…

The Abraharts, earlier this year, took the University of Bristol to court and won their case, on grounds of the university had discriminated against their daughter, Natasha, which consequently lead to her suicide.

At the time of writing, the university has submitted a second appeal to the high court, citing the appeal “is not against the Abrahart family”.

Clearly, there’s a call from parents and many others for universities to have a duty of care in safeguarding students’ mental health.

How do I fight for legalised duty of care for student mental health?

While universities are believed to have a duty of care, it isn’t formally, and sadly, isn’t legalised. Meaning there is no real system in place to safeguard students’ mental health.

A petition was created last year, which has since ended and been debated in Parliment in June. You can see the results discussed and the outcome here.

What are schools and unis doing?

The latest suicide prevention strategy discussed by the government has over 100 actions many of which will be rolled out in both schools and unis.

Potential initiatives suggested in the latest suicide prevention document include:

• A national alert system to highlight new methods of suicide to schools and unis with instruction on how to safeguard people who could be affected
• Medical experts to review whether reducing the amount of paracetamol people can buy in shops could help to bring down suicide rates
• The Department for Education to examine whether suicide and self-harm prevention should be part of the curriculum
• Crisis text lines to be rolled out in all areas of England
• Half of schools in England to have mental health support teams in place by 2025
• All pregnant women and new mothers to get support at every contact with health professionals who must update a risk assessment at each appointment
• A potential tax for betting companies to fund research, education and treatment of gambling harms
• More support for bereaved families

While there is still a long way to go, this latest document shows that the government are taking the issue seriously and has plans to roll out new strategies that could benefit students who are struggling.