Mentoring for Students with Mental Health Difficulties – Information and Guidelines for MENTORS
Mental health problems include a wide range of experiences: some problems may be quite mild or moderate,
while others may take on a more severe form, affecting a person’s ability to cope with day-to-day living.
According to some estimates, 1 person in 4 may have some form of mental health problem in their lifetime. For as many as 1 person in 50, this problem will be serious enough to affect their ability to work, study or to form and maintain personal relationships.
The UCL Mentoring Service has been set up to provide support for students with mental health difficulties who may benefit from study related support. UCL mentors help the student to deal with difficulties in areas such as concentration, memory, motivation and organisation. The mentoring support is NOT to be confused with subject specific tuition.
The UCL mentoring service is coordinated by Charlotte Vaughan, Disability Adviser (Mental Health). All queries and correspondence to be directed to c.vaughan@ucl.ac.uk
or 020 7679 2977. Charlotte is based in the
Disability Office in G16, South Wing, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT.
These guidelines are designed for mentors (the mentees receive their own set of guidelines) and aim to provide information about the mentoring role, mentors’ rights and responsibilities and any practical considerations. If there is anything not covered here which you wish to ask/discuss please feel free to contact Charlotte on the details above.
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Mental Health Awareness – Recognising symptoms of mental ill health
The first signs of mental health problems will differ from person to person and are not always easy to spot. In many cases of moderate depression or anxiety – the most common mental health problems – the person becoming distressed may not display symptoms, or may seek to hide them because they worry about what others will say or think about them.
Some common early signs of a mental health problem are:
 Losing interest in activities and tasks that were previously enjoyed.
 Poor performance at work or university.
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Mood swings that are very extreme or fast and out of character for you.
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Self-harming behaviour, such as cutting yourself.
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Changes in eating habits and/or appetite: over-eating, bingeing, not eating.
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Loss of, or increase in, sexual desire.
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Sleep problems.
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Increased anxiety, looking or feeling ‘jumpy’ or agitated, sometimes including panic attacks.
Feeling tired and lacking energy.
 Isolating yourself, socialising less; spending too much time in bed.
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Wanting to go out a lot more, needing very little sleep, feeling highly energetic, creative and sociable, making new friends rapidly, trusting strangers or spending excessively – this may signal that you are becoming 'high'.
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Hearing and seeing things that others don't.
 Other differences in perception; for example, mistakenly believing that someone is trying to harm you, is laughing at you, or trying to take over your body.
All of these signs can vary in severity. Often they can be relatively minor, or pass quickly. However, if they are particularly severe or distressing, or continue for more than a short while, the individual experiencing them may benefit from support.

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What you should do if you have concerns around a mentee’s mental health
If you start to recognise symptoms of mental ill health in the mentee or feel concerned about a mentee’s behaviour:
If the mentee reports feeling anxious or depressed, or other symptoms of mental ill health (as outlined on previous page) you can inform the mentee of services available to them such as Student Disability Services,
Student Psychological Services or Gower Place GP Practice. In emergency the student can be directed to the
A and E department of UCH.
If you feel concerned about a student due to their mental health, for example if they report feeling suicidal or if you feel they may pose a risk of harm to themselves or others, inform them that you have a duty of care to inform the Mentoring Coordinator.
 Who you should contact
If you have any concerns about a mentee, please contact the Mental Health Adviser Charlotte Vaughan in the first instance. (Mon – Fri 9.30am – 5pm). If Charlotte is not available please inform one of her colleagues in the disability office: Manager Marion Lamb, Venitia Stoby or Alison Angel.
In an emergency (mental health crisis, violent episode, episode of serious self harm) you should always contact 999.
Out of Hours – if you feel your concern cannot wait until the next morning – this would constitute an emergency in which case you should either accompany student to attend A and E or phone 999.
Student can also be informed of London Nightline – a 24 hour counselling service (much like the Samaritans) but run by students. 020 7631 0101 6pm – 8am.
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Confidentiality
The content of the mentoring sessions should remain confidential, between the mentor and the mentee(s).
Confidentiality should only be breached if you feel your mentee poses a risk of harm to themselves or others. It is recommended you inform mentees of this policy in your first session. Mentees need to be informed that you will contact the mentoring coordinator in the event of any concerns. If you are worried about something your mentee has told you but feel that disclosing it may constitute a breach of confidentiality please speak to
Charlotte about this.
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Boundaries
Mentoring is about creating a trusted professional relationship with a meaningful commitment between two people. The mentor provides a supportive and reflective space that is also practical and motivating. It is important to make a distinction between mentoring and therapy, and mentoring and friendship. Although the mentee can expect their mentor to be friendly and supportive, and to listen patiently and non-judgementally, the mentoring relationship is unique. It is professional and practical. Clear boundaries should be clarified at the outset and maintained throughout the lifetime of the relationship. This is important to ensure the psychological safety of both the mentor and mentee and to minimise misunderstandings. Some of the boundaries it may be necessary to address include:

Where to meet: A public space such as a library, café, meeting room – anywhere where you can meet with the mentee in fairly quiet surroundings where you will not be disturbed. You should never meet with a mentee in your or their home.
Communication (Frequency, format): Agree at the outset what method of communication you will use to stay in touch e.g. email or mobile phone/text. Establish acceptable frequency of contact and times e.g. no texts after
9pm.
Nature of discussion within the mentoring session: Practical and supportive advice, in an environment where mentee feels safe and comfortable to mention any concerns they may have. If you feel that the topic of conversation is inappropriate for the mentoring relationship, then you will need to address this. E.g. if the student is sharing highly personal/sexual details or asking you to meet up with them outside the mentoring context. Ask the Mentor Coordinator for support around this.
Practicalities of the Mentoring Role:
Allocating a mentee: Charlotte will be in touch with you via email inviting you to take on a new student. You will be informed of the student’s name and some basic background information. If you are happy to take on the student then a joint email will be sent to both yourself and the mentee inviting you both in for the Initial
Mentoring Session which Charlotte will be present at. This is an opportunity for you to meet the student.
Charlotte will run through the guidelines and rules of the mentoring relationship and ensure both mentor and mentee feel confident and ready to work together. At this point you will be given the ‘Initial Mentoring
Meeting Form’ which you complete together with the mentee. This outlines contact details, what subjects to cover, meeting times etc. You can then begin the session. Please note you will be paid for this session.
Supervision: All mentors have the opportunity to attend a small group supervision session, (max 5-6 per group). The groups occur every 4-6 weeks. Upon joining the mentoring scheme you will be allocated to a supervision group. Once you have been allocated – please liaise directly with your supervisor if you are unable to attend for any reason. It is a requirement of the scheme that you attend regular supervisions. The sessions are a great source of peer support and an opportunity to share practice issues in a safe, supportive and confidential setting facilitated by an experienced mentor (usually a qualified psychologist/therapist).
Timesheets: Please ensure you complete a pink timesheet, with the time, date, and the mentee’s and your own signature. These must be emailed/posted/handed in the Disability Office. (Email to a.angel@ucl.ac.uk
)
The Disability Service Administrator, Alison Angel, will send a reminder email every month, confirming the deadline for hand in. If you miss the deadline for any reason, you can hand in your timesheet and will be paid the following month.
NB Please must ensure the mentee signs the timesheet or you will not be paid! If conducting sessions by skype please ask mentee to sign and scan form.
Payment: This will be via BACS into your bank account. Payment date is the last week day of every month.
Sickness Pay and Holiday Pay: This role does not entitle you to sickness pay. However you are entitled to holiday pay (rate tbc)
Missing Sessions: If your mentee misses one session, please try to find out why they have missed it and attempt to rearrange another session. If the mentee misses more than one session – please inform the
Mentoring Coordinator who will then contact the mentee to find out why they are missing sessions. If mentees continually misses sessions this is a sign that mentoring may not be an appropriate service for them at this time.

Late attendance to sessions: In order to ensure clear boundaries, it is recommended you set start and end times for the sessions. If the mentee is late and the session begins late, you should still end the session at the previously agreed time.
Inappropriate contact: Although rare, there have been a few occasions when mentees have contacted their mentors , often outside normal working hours, with messages of distress or requests for help. It is vital that the mentoring coordinator is notified of any contact of this nature. Although it is positive that the mentee is expressing their need for help, the mentor is not expected to manage this sort of crisis situation. Mentees need to have a clear understanding of the limit of the mentoring role and have an alternative action plan for crisis situations. This should be clarified in the Initial Mentoring Session.
Format of sessions (Face to Face, Skype, Telephone): Where possible the mentoring sessions should be face to face. However it is also appropriate for mentoring sessions to take place over Skype or over the phone (the mentee should be paying for the phonecall). Ensure the mentee and mentor are in agreement over the format of the session and check any technology issues before you begin e.g. wifi, skype accounts etc
Mentoring over the holidays: If your mentee requests mentoring over the holidays – please check in with the
Mentoring coordinator first. The mentoring is funded by the student’s DSA which tends to provide funding for
30 hours of mentoring per academic year, so 10 hours each term
Updates: The mentoring coordinator will send out a monthly email checking in with you – to ask if your mentee is still accessing the service and meeting with you, and to find out if there are any concerns. (Of course, any immediate concerns to be shared asap do not wait for the monthly check in email!)
 PLEASE NOTE – it is not unusual for students to struggle with one or more aspects of the student experience, including isolation, being away from home, academic pressure, parties, drugs and alcohol, intimate relationships etc and such worries and anxieties are quite ‘normal.’ It is important not to label as ‘mental health’ problems what are in reality normal emotional reactions to new experiences. It is good practice to give the student the opportunity to express these concerns and to be able to reassure them, and signpost students to appropriate services.
However a small number of students may experience emotional or psychological difficulties that without appropriate professional support are more persistent and inhibit their ability to participate fully in higher education. There are plenty of support services in place for these students (as mentioned above). If you have any queries about student mental health please at all do not hesitate to contact Charlotte Vaughan, Student Mental Health Adviser at c.vaughan@ucl.ac.uk
or
020 7679 2977.