Supporting a distressed student

A person in distress will often approach someone they know first for help. Even if you're not a counsellor, there are still ways you can help.

You may not realise it, but you have a range of useful supportive skills from your own relationships with family and friends. These skills, along with good communication and knowledge of available support services, can be helpful in dealing with many problems.

Recognising signs of distress

A person in distress may not ask for help, so it's useful to recognise the common signs of someone experiencing more stress than they can handle.

Signs to look out for include:

• a decline in the quality of their work or class participation
• frequent extension requests (with limited details) or unexplained absences from class
• over-reliance on academic or administrative staff
• excessive procrastination
• signs of anxiety or agitation
• changes in personal hygiene, appearance or behaviour
• prolonged depression
• statements indicating a sense of worthlessness or helplessness
• impaired speech, disjointed thoughts or evidence they're losing touch with reality
• direct or indirect talk of suicide

How to help

Find a private place to talk: Choose a comfortable place where you can talk without being interrupted.

Be specific about your concerns: If you start the conversation, say what you've observed and why you're concerned. For example: "You seem unhappy and you haven't been handing in your assignments. Have there been some problems?"

Active listening: Make sure to listen to their concerns without judgement or criticism. Also:

• show interest in what they are saying
• allow them to express themselves
• state your concern for them and the difficulties they're experiencing

Remain calm: Someone who's upset will respond better if you seem relaxed and calm.

Check you understand: When they've finished speaking, re-state the main issues they've talked about so you can check you fully understand the problem.

Help find solutions: Stress can make it difficult to think clearly, so help them to brainstorm some possible solutions to their problem.

Recommending professional help

Recommend that the student seek professional help if:

• you're worried about your own or the student's safety
• you feel uncomfortable discussing any issues
• their problems go beyond your own experience or expertise or you feel out of your depth
• you start to feel distressed, frustrated or angry as a result of listening

Suggest that they contact:

• UQ counselling services
• UQ Health Care, if a medical condition is involved.

If necessary, you can contact these services yourself while the other person is present. You can follow up to make sure they attended their appointment.

If they don't want to seek professional help

I can help to:

• frame it in a positive way – remind them that by getting help they will begin to feel better
• remind them that you don't have to be at crisis point to make an appointment – addressing problems early often leads to better outcomes.

If they're still hesitant and you're concerned about their safety or wellbeing, you can request a welfare check through Student Services.

UQ staff can also contact Student Services or UQ Health Care to discuss concerns.

Training and skills development

You can access training to help you develop skills and confidence to support students via Workday:

• Supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing is a self-directed e-learning module designed to build awareness of mental health, early signs that students may need support, and how you can respond to a student in crisis and assist them to access the appropriate supports.
• Supporting students with mental health conditions is a hybrid module designed to enable you to identify and support students with early signs of mental health concerns. You will learn about the specific support services available to students and pathways for referral.