‘Mental Health is a universal human right’: support available for students

World Mental Health Day, celebrated every year on 10 October, aims to raise awareness of mental health and driving positive change for everyone’s mental wellbeing. We caught up with Lorna Ferguson, UHI’s Regional Mental Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator, who explained the support available to students.  

Lorna Ferguson, Regional Mental Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator at UHI.

World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to talk about mental health and the importance of looking after it. We also use it as a chance to remind people of the importance of seeking help if they are struggling.  

Our mental health and counselling team have put together a guide of support options available to you. 

This year’s theme is ‘mental health is a universal human right’. Here at UHI, we want to ensure that our mental health services are available to all by developing and offering a range of support options, that will help guide you during what can be one of the most challenging periods of your lives.  

Whether you are a returning student or starting your first year with us, it is important that you are aware of the support available to you, right here at UHI, as mental health can affect us all, and knowing where to turn for support can seem daunting. 

What support does UHI offer? 

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to mental health; what works for one person may not work for others, so there are a range of options that you can access, based on your needs and preferences including:

Counselling:

A safe and confidential space to discuss issues with a supportive and qualified professional. Sessions can take place online, face to face, via email or webchat.

Learn more about counselling

Student assistance programme (Spectrum.Life):

24/7, 365 days a year support for mental health, ranging from crisis support telephone lines to online resources for all aspects of health and wellbeing.

Learn more about Spectrum.Life

Student mental health support webpages:

Our dedicated mental health support webpages offer advice, guidance, and links to external support for those who require more specialised support. 

Check out our support webpage

Student support contacts:

Information on local support at your campus can also be found using the student support contact links and selecting your institution.

Find your local support contact

This World Mental Health Day, let’s start conversations about mental health and the support that is available at UHI. 

---

More information on the work of the mental health and counselling team can be found on the Student Mental Health Support webpages.

Bringing home bronze: My experience playing floorball at the EuroGames

I’m Amanda, the Sports Development Coordinator with Your Students’ Association. Last month, I played floorball for Team Scotland at the EuroGames in Bern, Switzerland, bringing home a bronze medal!

Originating in Sweden, floorball is a fast growing stick sport similar to hockey. Very popular in Scandinavian countries and Eastern Europe, the sport is gathering popularity in Scotland with teams all over the country competing in the Scottish Floorball League each year.

I live in Perth and play for the local team, Perth Parrots – Scotland’s first LGBT+ friendly floorball team. As well as focusing on player development in terms of training, the club provides a hub for Perthshire’s LGBT+ community, running a variety of free and heavily subsidised activities and social events such as paddleboarding, climbing and an annual Eurovision party. 

Starting in 1986, the EuroGames is the largest LGBT+ multisports tournament in Europe, with teams and athletes from all over the world competing. Cities bid to host the games and the hosting city for this year was the beautiful Bern in Switzerland. Thousands of international LGBT+ athletes took over the city for four days for the games.

Usually, floorball is played with five outfield players and a goalie, however, the format at the EuroGames was three outfield players and a goalie, which required much more speed and stamina that we were used to. We trained hard as a team for months before the tournament day.

Arriving in Switzerland, we marched as a team as part of the EuroGames opening ceremony, celebrating with the many other athletes from different countries. I was interviewed for a Swiss news channel and there were plenty of British Embassy events for us to attend.

The tournament itself was an extremely intense day – Team Scotland had seven matches and potentially the playoffs. As we whizzed through the matches with great scores, the playoffs were looking more and more likely for us, but we were still in disbelief when it was announced that we would be playing Norway in the bronze medal match.

Scotland put on an absolute incredible performance, winning the match 7-1. As the underdogs going into the competition, words can’t explain how much it meant winning the bronze medal and doing it with such amazing teammates/ friends made it all the more special.

After coming home, we were straight back into training and we’ve got big plans for the EuroGames next year. Bring on Vienna 2024!

To find out about sports courses at UHI, visit www.uhi.ac.uk/courses