Emotional wellbeing

Personal tutor and tutorials

On most courses which are over a year long, you will have a personal tutor who will meet with you regularly. As well as discussing your progress, your tutor can support you with any difficulties you may encounter. Tutorials are held at least termly.

Student advice and consultation service

During your studies, personal and professional issues might arise that you do not wish to share with your personal tutor. If this happens, you can seek help in complete confidence from our student advice and consultation service (STUACS). Students are eligible for three sessions with a member of staff at the Trust. In the initial meeting, an assessment will be made of the nature of the difficulty. The follow-up sessions will review whether any further help of a specialist or longer term nature is required and the student will be given assistance in finding such help. Confidentiality is assured and you will be seen by a staff member who is not connected to your studies.

You can contact the STUACS service at STUACS@tavi-port.nhs.uk. Please note that this is only available during term-time.

Care first

Care first is an independent provider of professional employee support services.  They employ professionally qualified counsellors and information specialists who are experienced in helping people to deal with all kinds of practical and emotional issues such as wellbeing, family matters, relationships, debt management and workplace issues.

The service is free of charge for students to use. Care first is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and is accessible by phone or online. They can provide information booklets, articles and resource information on support services in the local area. They also provide an app as an alternative method of accessing their services.

The service is confidential, and the Trust is not provided with details of who uses the service. Our HR department will receive statistics to show how many employees and students use the service and the broad types of issues raised, but no information is ever passed on which could potentially identify individual students.

To access the service, visit this Moodle page for the password and links.

If you have any issues or queries, please contact the Student Advice and Consultation Service: STUACS@tavi-port.nhs.uk

Personal therapy

If you are on a clinical course where you will be seeing patients, you will need to pay for personal therapy throughout the length of your course. In some instances, you may need to be in therapy for a year prior to, as well as during, your clinical training.

If you have any concerns arising from this, you should discuss them with your personal tutor, course lead or course administrator, and we’ll endeavour to support you however we can. You may also be eligible for some financial support.

If you need urgent help

If you have a flare-up of your condition, your condition deteriorates suddenly, or you are newly diagnosed with a condition or disability, there is help available to you. 

We would urge you to contact us at the first opportunity to discuss your situation and your options. You can also visit the Moodle My Student Community Page, or the Accessibility and Reasonable Adjustments page of this website.

Please note that we are not a crisis service. If you are in a situation where you need immediate medical or mental health support, please either contact your GP or care team, call NHS 111, or in emergencies dial 999. If you are considering harming yourself or others please dial 999 or call the Samaritans on 116 123.

Where we are concerned that you or others are at risk of serious harm we will break confidentiality and contact either your trusted contact, next of kin, and/or a relevant service to address the risk. We will always attempt to discuss this with you first unless doing so would place you or others at greater risk.