Case Study Three
My personal problems started on my placement year, and continued in full swing after returning to my final year at university. I suffered in silence for a long time, always feeling isolated and alone, until my problems started to noticeably affect my university work.
I had previously been sent to my GP’s counsellor, but felt uneasy in the environment and preferred to deal with the issues myself. There had been a three month queue to receive support, and once I got there, I felt uncomfortable as I thought the focus to be on efficient time management, rather than understanding a person’s real issues. I had never been one to talk about my problems, and would rather put on a brave smile in face of the completely unassuming family and friends around me.
The thought of a university counsellor never even occurred to me until I was forced to explain some of my problems to my course leader, as I needed extra time for my assignments. She informed me a counselling service existed and arranged for me to register.
I came to meet my counsellor at university at a time when my world was collapsing, together with my academic work. I have always been a top student, who had never needed additional help, but this year I was forced to request extensions for every single assignment as I was unable to focus on the work with everything else in my life.
Despite initially feeling uneasy, my counsellor was absolutely great. I felt much happier leaving the meetings, both about finally talking about my problems and about realising there is a way out.
The counsellor connected me to the other departments, which led to me receiving mitigating circumstances, additional exam time and a mentor for the final couple of months before the exams. These are things I had never heard of before or ever thought of applying for. I also had several meetings with the disability and dyslexia counsellor, who was really understanding and also helped support my mitigating circumstances application. It was surprising for me to be in contact with this department, as I would never in a million years have classed myself as disabled, but actually the team deals with a wide range of little known issues. Although having a study mentor initially felt strange, with me always being an excellent student, it helped me get my revision in order and plan my studying, as well as giving me some of the enthusiasm and motivation necessary to make a start.
The practical support I received helped to take much of the stress away, gave me more time and peace to deal with my problems, and bought a huge peace of mind; once I felt I was no longer alone, I was more calm, and knowing that for instance, I could get extensions for coursework, or even extra exam time, made me look at the world in a more rational light. No one performs at their best when under huge stress, so this helps greatly.
My course leader has been incredibly supporting through the whole year, not only helping with my extensions and extra help, but also proactively suggesting solutions which might ease my academic work. I often felt scared to approach her thinking I was a nuisance, but she has been extremely helpful and reassured me that this was part of her work.
I often thought I should have taken a gap year after my placement, because I felt there was no way I could complete my final year with the results I wanted, and sometimes even wondered if I would physically survive the year. Most of the time I felt like I was not even going to finish University as there was no way out for me, and it would end in a disaster. The counselor always reassured me I can do this if I focus, and helped me keep my goals in mind.
I finished my final year with a 1st degree classification in every subject, receiving a prize for the best student on the course, and another for best student from a particular subject. On top of everything, I am feeling much better than I had at the start of my final year.
I don’t know what the future holds, but am absolutely certain that without the understanding and help of both my course leader and counsellor, I never would have got to where I am now. I am still surprised I even finished the year, and very happy about having managed to uphold my academic results.
Top tips:
My final words to other students would be that I know how it feels to be alone and believe that telling people about your problems will only worsen the situation, the more so in the face of an immaculate academic record, which certainly adds to the pressure of feeling the need to be perfect in everyone’s eyes.
By asking for help you open the door to a range of counselling, mentoring, disability and support services, all completely confidential and operating only with your agreement and permission. Asking for help, although extremely difficult, was the best thing I could have done for myself, both in terms of academic and personal life. It is impossible to imagine the transformation that a group of trained, helpful advisers with the right information can help you achieve until you have experienced it for yourself. I believe the university’s support network is second to none and would highly recommend it to anyone going through a difficult time.