Why is getting help for your mental health so damn hard (and expensive)?
With access to NHS mental health services for 18-25-year-olds almost a fifth higher in 2021/2022 than it was pre-pandemic, it's clear that now more than ever that more and more people need help and we're in a student mental health epidemic.
While admitting that you need mental health help or support might seem like the hardest thing to do, actually getting the help now appears to be even harder. Of course, in the UK we're lucky to have the NHS which as amazing as it is, is extremely underfunded and understaffed meaning that those in a mental health crisis can't always get the support they need.
Yes, you can get free therapy and treatment in the UK, but you can bet you'll be waiting a long time for it. In fact, even before covid students were already waiting up to 12 weeks for help—a timeline we're sure has grown exponentially since then. The alternative? Pay around £130 an hour for private therapy, an eye-watering amount that the average young professional couldn't afford, never mind students.
Why are we in a student mental health epidemic?
Starting university is a difficult enough experience on its own and many students with existing mental health problems can struggle to settle in at uni. However, when teamed with the cost of living crisis, a student housing crisis, and a pandemic that interrupted the studies of many students, things have got even worse for young people across the UK.
Both the impact of lockdown as well as the cost of living crisis have had a huge impact on students across the UK, and, ironically, both of those things have contributed to it being incredibly tough to receive the mental health support you need in the UK.
Thanks to a huge backlog of appointments during lockdown, waiting lists have got even longer and with more and more people feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis on their mental health, it's leaving students facing endless waiting lists just trying to be seen by someone to talk about their mental health.
How long does it take to get mental health support on the NHS?
Waiting lists of up to 18 weeks as a minimum or even longer for mental health support are common within the NHS and with such a high demand for the NHS services these waiting lists are consistently long. By the time many students get offered treatment, their mental health has often completely deteriorated, and tragically the suicide rate among university students has grown significantly over the last few years.
Unfortunately, it's not just the NHS, as uni mental health services also often have long waiting lists due to the high demand compared to the available mental health professionals.
Long waiting lists have been associated with negative psychological and psychological responses, such as worsened anxiety, depression, stress, anger, fear, frustration, emotional distress and reduced self-esteem which worsen the longer someone has to wait to be offered treatment.
It doesn't help that the resources available to you depend largely on where you live. This is because each local NHS area determines its own mental health budget from its overall funding allocation. This means that while some areas might invest heavily in mental health services, other areas of the country have very little to offer.
How has the cost of living crisis impacted students' mental health?
Two-thirds of UK therapists have reported that the cost of living crisis is having an impact on people's mental health, with many anxious and worrying about being able to pay their bills. For students, the cost of living crisis has caused a huge surge in rent costs leading to the student housing crisis. This has left many facing homelessness or resorting to sofa surfing due to an inability to secure accommodation within their budget, or at all due to high demand.
The irony is that the cost of living crisis is causing more and more people to suffer from poor mental health and it seems the only way to get good mental health support is to pay to go private, which most people can't afford to do. While this should not be the only option––we have free healthcare after all—for many people, there is no alternative.
When faced with long waiting lists or therapy options that aren't suited to the problem, going private is the only way many people would be able to receive adequate and suitable help. However, this is something that the average person cannot commit to, so the long NHS or uni waiting lists for short-term care are the only alternatives.
How has the cost of living crisis impacted therapy affordability?
Before the cost of living crisis, some students may have been able to put money aside for private therapy or counselling. For many students, their student loans would've been enough to cover their rent and bills with enough left over for personal spending. For students who are in a mental health crisis, while having to pay for private therapy or counselling isn't ideal, it could've been doable.
However, thanks to rising rent, bills and food costs most students find their student loan is no longer enough and have to work part-time to supplement their income. This often means skipping uni to pick up shifts or being extremely overworked while balancing a job and uni, leading to even worse mental health. For those who did manage to put aside money for private therapy, this is now considered a "luxury" which more and more people are having to skip.
My own experience
As a student, I dealt with long waiting lists, uninterested GPs and a struggle to find support. When living in London I was faced with the problem that I was only allowed to access mental health services in my borough, which had very little to offer me. I was told I wasn't allowed to access a treatment centre 15 minutes down the road from me, as I wasn't a resident living in that borough and I had to use resources in my own postcode.
When I did manage to find something, it was for a course of 6 weeks of CBT something which wasn't really suggested for my personal mental health problems, but I thought it would be better than nothing. After registering I was told I'd be put on a waiting list and contacted when they had availability. A few months later I got a phone call saying they had space for me to come in for an initial assessment in a few weeks, this was in February.
It wasn't until late November that I got a call back saying they would be able to assign me a therapist off the back of my assessment 10 months prior. While I'm grateful to have been offered something, the 6 weeks of CBT did very little to combat my problems and I was left alone again to tackle it by myself by the new year with virtually no improvement to how I felt before I started.
What's the answer for students?
By highlighting these issues we want to raise awareness of how tough it is for students right now and extend our sympathy to those struggling. Of course, paying to go private is not something that students can do, or should have to do to receive adequate mental health support. Therapy is not a luxury and should not only be accessible to those who have the means to pay.
The best advice we can give you is to look at the mental health services available at your uni and register your interest as early as you can. Like the NHS mental health services, some unis offer better support than others, so sadly it does depend on what uni you go to, however, there will always be free external support.
Make sure that you've registered with a GP at your uni, as otherwise, you will most likely not be able to access any NHS mental health services in your uni town or city. You can find mental health services and self-refer yourself to therapy on the NHS if you are registered with a GP, however, what's available will depend on where you live, but if there is something you can sign up for it's best to get on the waiting list as soon as you can.
There is also a petition that calls for better communication between student mental health services and primary mental health services to prevent future suicides, which you can sign.
Where can students get support?
Additionally, here are some websites and phone lines you can use to talk to someone if you are waiting and unable to get anywhere on the NHS or your unis mental health support team. These resources are free and will be able to put you in contact with someone who will be able to listen to you. Remember to reach out to those around you and to check in on your friends and family too–– you never know what someone else might be going through.
- Student Space from Student Minds – phone, text messaging and email support for students suffering from mental health problems or concerns about uni
- Samaritans – call 116 123 for free 24/7
- Nightline – most unis will run a confidential Nightline service
- Beat- online chatrooms and forums as well as a location finder for help in your area
- Mind – call 0300 123 3393 for support
- HOPELINE UK — call 0800 068 41 41
- Shout – text shout to 85258 to talk to someone via text message 24/7
- CALM — call 0800 58 58 58
Don't forget to check out what UK unis are doing to help students during the cost of living crisis for more info on what your uni might be doing and the support they can offer.
