A decade of Student Support and Wellbeing Services
Ten years ago, UCL launched Student Support and Wellbeing Services to improve the way students access assistance and develop their personal skills. On its anniversary, we reflect on how the service came to be, what it offers students now, and how it will continue to evolve in response to student needs
Features | Portico Magazine | Autumn 2024
Up until 2014, student support at UCL was managed within academic departments, resulting in something of a patchwork quilt. Many teams and individuals were providing students with information and advice, but without an underpinning centralised source of support, resulting in an uneven student experience.
Ten years ago, UCL united these pockets of support to create Student Support and Wellbeing Services: a central division of UCL designed to ensure every student has access to the care, guidance and assistance they need, when they need it.
Fast forward to today and Student Support and Wellbeing Services look after the needs of over 50,000 students – a number that was unimaginable a decade ago. This growth in student numbers has been matched by the expansion and evolution of the support the service offers.
Denise Long, UCL’s Director of Student Support and Wellbeing, who has worked at UCL since 1992 and led the creation of the service, explains how the service developed:
"The opportunity to form a new offer for our students was a real privilege and pleasure. That is not to say that it was all plain sailing; indeed, in the early years, we had to feel our way through a series of challenges associated with a university of the size and scale of UCL.
"To begin with, it really was me and a few colleagues working out of a basement room in Gower Street, but since then we have seen a revolution in how we operate and the size of the team. Today we work across multiple campuses and with teams embedded across UCL, all delivering a coherent and consistent service to students.
"Over the last few years, we have seen the world face a number of health, political, social and economic challenges. These challenges directly involve our students and, as such, the type of support we offer has continued to evolve – for example, expanding the mental health support we provide. We’ve been recognised for our academic, pastoral and practical support and for changing the conversation in mental health, which is a real honour.
"I am really proud of our partnership with various bodies such as local and national health agencies, international charities and foundations, and our very own academic departments. Today, UCL offers a range of specialist services designed to meet the complex and diverse needs of our student population."
In its ten years, Student Support and Wellbeing Services has responded to student needs in innovative ways – read on to learn about some of them.
Denise Long, UCL’s Director of Student Support and Wellbeing, who has worked at UCL since 1992 and led the creation of the service, explains how the service developed:
"The opportunity to form a new offer for our students was a real privilege and pleasure. That is not to say that it was all plain sailing; indeed, in the early years, we had to feel our way through a series of challenges associated with a university of the size and scale of UCL.
“To begin with, it really was me and a few colleagues working out of a basement room in Gower Street, but since then we have seen a revolution in how we operate and the size of the team. Today we work across multiple campuses and with teams embedded across UCL, all delivering a coherent and consistent service to students.
“Over the last few years, we have seen the world face a number of health, political, social and economic challenges. These challenges directly involve our students and, as such, the type of support we offer has continued to evolve – for example, expanding the mental health support we provide. We’ve been recognised for our academic, pastoral and practical support and for changing the conversation in mental health, which is a real honour.
“I am really proud of our partnership with various bodies such as local and national health agencies, international charities and foundations, and our very own academic departments. Today, UCL offers a range of specialist services designed to meet the complex and diverse needs of our student population."
In its ten years, Student Support and Wellbeing Services has responded to student needs in many innovative ways – read on to learn about some of them.
Located in the UCL Student Centre, the Student Enquiries Team offers face-to-face and digital support on everything from administrative concerns to personal support, and helps students to access UCL services and understand processes. In the 2023-24 academic year, the team processed over 50,000 enquiries ranging from council tax exemptions through to urgent requests.
In 2023, the Specialist Housing Advice Team was established to assist students in navigating London's complex housing market, particularly during the cost-of-living crisis. In 2024, the team will began to administer bursaries to assist eligible students with short-term housing needs, funded by urbanest.
UCL was one of the first five UK higher education institutions to receive the Mental Health Charter mark. In partnership with the UCL University Clinic – which brings together academic and clinical leaders within the field of mental health and psychological therapies – the service has introduced a Psychological First Aid response, providing in-the-moment support to students affected by war, conflict and natural disasters.
In addition to offering practical support, UCL has been at the forefront of reshaping the student experience through innovative campaigns. Bringing therapy animals (including alpacas and dogs) onto campus has now become a firm fixture of the academic calendar.
The harm reduction strategy is a forward-thinking initiative focusing on harm reduction in its broadest sense. The service acknowledges the challenges students face – such as alcohol and drug misuse – and works on providing practical solutions that keep students informed and reduce the harm associated with addictive behaviours.
The Study Abroad and International Support team prepare and assist UCL students who are looking to study abroad or have joined UCL from an overseas institution. The service has particularly focused on enabling students from widening participation backgrounds to have the opportunity to study abroad, largely thanks to funding through the Turing Scheme.
At its core, the service strives to empower and enable students at UCL to achieve their goals.
An alum who received support from the team during their time at UCL said: "My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was a few months into a part-time MSc in Project and Enterprise Management. I accessed counselling through Support and Wellbeing Services, which was invaluable for me in coming to terms with this.
"I was able to function much better in my studies, as well as in my full-time job, thanks to this service. When she sadly passed away (on the night of my final exam and before I'd started on my dissertation) the counselling helped me to experience grief and left me better able to cope.
"Thanks to this, I was able to complete the course on time, balancing this with work, family and other commitments."
While the service’s first decade saw the introduction of many new initiatives and schemes, the next ten years will bring further evolution – to meet the ever-changing needs of UCL’s students. A particular focus will be on prevention and early intervention, continuing to proactively reach students and offer help before problems escalate. But its core mission remains the same: to ensure every student can achieve their goals, no matter what challenges they face along the way.
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Portico magazine features stories for and from the UCL community. If you have a story to tell or feedback to share, contact advancement@ucl.ac.uk
Editor: Lauren Cain
Editorial team: Ray Antwi, Laili Kwok, Harry Latter, Bryony Merritt, Lucy Morrish, Alex Norton
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