Student suicide is a serious issue on university campuses across the UK.  Research into the scale of the problem, however, is often difficult to measure while greater awareness and sharing of good practice is needed in order for the higher education sector to get better at tackling and preventing students from taking their lives. 

That is why the Disabled Student’s Campaign hosted the Student Suicide Roundtable on 12 November 2015.  Participants included NUS staff and officers, mental health specialists in HEIs and the third sector.

The roundtable looked at trends and research in student suicide, including looking at particular student groups which may be at higher risk. Participants also discussed good practice for tackling  student suicide, including  examples of prevention strategies and services in place within HEIs and Students’ Unions. 

The roundtable was a first step in NUS’ longer term work to help  prevent student suicide.  We are really excited to pursue the discussions and concerns raised at the roundtable and how we can best work together to address this important issue.

Mental Health and Sucide Prevention Guide

I was so thrilled that we were able to launch the Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Guide at Disabled Student’s conference this year. The Disabled Students’ Campaign has been working on issues around mental health for a long time and this year we shifted focus onto suicide prevention, we realised lots of people were doing great things on a whole host of related issues. So we’ve gathered that information, knowledge and experience in one place.
If you’d like to order copies of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention: An in-depth guide for Students’ Unions and students activists please send an email to disabled@nus.org.uk with your name, students’ union, address and number of copies required.