Student counselling: Emotional rescue

A new website is helping students in distress, writes Loick Varella

Students no longer have to deal with emotional distress on their own. A new website, launched this summer by the Heads of University Counselling Services (HUCS), is offering help to young people in exam crises, or suffering from substance abuse problems.

The novel thing about the site is that it isn't aimed only at students but at their families, too. Thousands of people have accessed it since it went live in August. Representing every university student counselling service in the country, it deals with a wide range of issues – everything from academic and financial problems to alcoholism, sexuality and stress.

"We noticed that there were pages of invaluable information on specific university websites," says Christopher Butler, the HUCS webmaster. "Some problems, like homesickness, aren't really dealt with anywhere else on the web, and although most students have internet access, they don't want to spend hours searching for help if they're already upset. Therefore we brought it together in one place."

A professional consultant was brought in to design the site, in order to make it fast and easy to use, and ensure that it received priority listing on search engines. Katrina Kinsella, who is doing a MSc at the London School of Economics in organisational psychology, says: "This new service is beneficial to all those who can't access proper services late at night and in times of crisis. It is vital for many students, especially for those in London, a big city where it is very easy to lose yourself when you are 18 and a fresher."

One major advantage of the online format of student support is its appeal to shy students who are too timid to track down university counselling services in person. Ann Heyno, the HUCS press secretary, and head of the University of Westminster's counselling and advisory service, envisages a big role for the site. "[It] will soon be used by many student unions to help their fellow students to solve their psychological problems," she says. "Everyone will be using it."

(www.studentcounselling.org).

education@independent.co.uk