Dear government, stop blaming students for the second peak and start caring about their mental health.

Being a student right now is HARD. The university experience as we know it has been completely transformed. For freshers starting university, it’s an extremely daunting and stressful experience as it is. They are moving to a completely new city, away from home, and moving into a small flat with complete strangers. Not only that, but the adjustment is made even harder given the fact we have all spent the last 6 months in lockdown - living at home, not working, and spending uninterrupted time with our families. 

At times, university can be a very isolated place. I struggle to describe the painfully ironic feeling of being surrounded by 25,000 people your own age who are desperate to make friends, and still feeling alone. Maybe it’s because you see everyone else on social media supposedly having the ‘best time ever’, or maybe you just haven’t connected with anyone in the way you have at home - there are a variety of reasons for feeling lonely at university that I can guarantee every student has felt that at some point. Students begin to encounter homesickness, financial stress, heavy workload and feel the pressure of navigating new relationships while simultaneously sustaining the old ones. All while learning how to live on their own. 

One in four students suffer from mental health problems during university and I have no doubt this number is only going to rise with students moving to university during a global pandemic. Anxieties among students as a result of the pandemic, uncertainty about their futures and job prospects are already dangerously high. They are told not to socialise outside of the students in your flat (who they may not even get along with). On top of this, with lectures being online, students are practically being encouraged to lock themselves away in their rooms. Not to mention that if you are struggling, you are told not to travel home. University has now become a breeding ground for mental health problems. 

It’s no secret that students are in a mental health crisis. Each year, the number of students reporting mental health problems is increasing and suicide rates are at an all time high. Now if you throw in a global pandemic, limited social interaction, and significant under-funding of mental health services it will be no surprise to anyone that the government has produced an absolute, for want of a better word, shitshow. 

Please, just give students some credit. Instead of blaming them for a second wave, consider how hard they are being hit by this pandemic just like everyone else. Yes, they may not be vulnerable to the virus. But we have missed out on valuable work placements, years abroad, and paid hundreds of pounds in rent for houses we weren’t even living in. We begin to question the security of our futures, our job prospects, our financial stability. And let us not forget the absolute joke that was A level results day. We are told time and time again how university will be some of the ‘best years of our lives’ but our university experiences have either been cut short or stripped of all normality. The government has offered no compensation, no support schemes, no apology, and instead the young people have been painted as the problem. 

If you are a student reading this who is isolated in a flat, feeling alone, anxious, questioning whether university was the right decision but doubting whether you can come home - there is help. 

Samaritans helpline: 116 123 (24hr)

Website: www.samaritans.org.uk

Anxiety UK: 03444 775 774 (Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm)

Website: http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/

CALM (Campaign Against Men Living Miserably): 0800 58 58 58 (daily, 5pm to midnight)

Website: www.thecalmzone.net

MIND: 0300 123 3393 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm)

Website: www.mind.org.uk

PAPYRUS Young suicide prevention society: OPElineUK 0800 068 4141 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm and 7pm to 10pm, and 2pm to 5pm on weekends)

Website: www.papyrus-uk.org

Student Minds: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/supportforme.html