Transcript
Episode Eight: UCL Student Support Services
00:00:09:12 - 00:00:20:01
Sophia
We have here with us our very own student adviser. Adella. Thank you for joining us on the podcast, Adella. So today we're talking about academic pressures.
00:00:20:03 - 00:00:40:18
Adella
So my role as the student adviser is to support students with their student experience as a whole. Academic matters. The signposting to other services around the university, as well as mental health and wellbeing support, and also offering a confidential space surrounding anything that's happening in your personal life, as well as academic life as well.
00:00:40:20 - 00:00:46:03
Nadia
So can you tell us a bit more about what kind of support UCL offers to help with academic pressure?
00:00:46:05 - 00:01:08:12
Adella
Sure. So we have lots of support at UCL, including the department that I work within, which is Student Support and Wellbeing Services. So the idea of our service is that you can come to us for many different reasons. We have our disability team, we've got our mental health team, we've got Student Psychological and Counseling Services, as well as our Student Advisors.
So an example, if you have dyslexia, maybe at college you had extra time on an exam or maybe an extra week on an assignment, you can come speak to one of our advisors and we can have something put in place called a SoRA, which gives you extra time. The idea is that it allows you to have the same experiences as every other student. It's not giving you an advantage over anyone, it's just emphasize the support that you need. And that's the whole point of our services in general, is to make sure that you have a place to come to for that support and to make sure you're having the best student experience here as well.
00:01:43:22 - 00:01:52:02
Nadia
So coming into uni in your first year could be really nerve racking. So, do Students Advisors do anything specific for them?
00:01:52:04 - 00:02:13:08
Adella
They do. They have quite a few things that we do. So we actually hold pre-arrival events for all first year students to make sure that they have the connection with our service and also know about the services around the university before they come. Our sessions are actually called Meet Your Classmates and Student Advisors, and the idea is that they can meet some of their future classmates as well.
Moving on from that. The student advisors then link up with Transition Mentors, which are also based throughout the departments, and they help bridge the gap between students coming in. Also, because they have that experience as a student, it helps them, kind of a mentor vibe if you wish. And then we also do a lot of outreach to students. So throughout the first term and the second as well, we do a lot of outreach calls and emails to students. So you'll get a text from us saying, ‘hi, I'm going to give you a call’. You've probably had them yourself from us. ‘We'll be checking in at some point’. Then we'll give you a call and I'll see if we don't get hold of, we’ll leave a little voicemail. The idea isn't to force students to talk to us, but also to help bridge that gap and know that there is support here, because a lot of students may already have researched it all before they come, but many students haven't. So those are probably the core things we do in terms of first year straight into university, what to expect.
And then induction events is where it's all at. So I know you have all the fun students unions stuff. We try and tag along to a few of those, but we also hold our own events. Again with the idea to let you know about our services as well.
00:03:26:13 - 00:03:30:03
Tia
Is there any other programs or events that UCL Campus Advisors do to help students suffering with academic pressures?
00:03:30:03 - 00:03:51:20
Speaker 2
We do. We have a variety, so I myself run lots of events here on this campus, and the Student Advisors run a lot of departmental events as well. Those can range from therapy dogs, which we love. At the start of term. We have alpacas, which are pretty cool. We also do some lower key things such as painting. We have some, I don't know, lots of kind of low maintenance ones, I'd say, where you can just come and drop in and see us and have a chat. But then we also do all three big campaigns throughout the year. So just after you've started, you've got upcoming to November. You're starting to get your assessment deadlines and realizing why I've never had this amount of deadlines before. So we have Your Guide to Thrive, which is our first campaign, and it runs throughout the start of November. The idea is to help you thrive. So we do a lot of workshops as advisors as well. So we might do imposter syndrome workshops. We might do time management study / skills workshops as well. And then it creeps into January where you've also been submitting over December. It's called Beat the January Blues. So the idea is to help you pick back up again. Help get you going. And it's a hard time of the year for many as well. And then again, if you just have your exams in May. So we have the exam season toolkit that runs from April to June. And the idea of that is you can get whatever support that you need. We do a lot of events. So again we get the dogs back in. We do a lot of low maintenance exercises. We join up with the Students Union as well with Project Active, so there's a lot going on all the time. And the idea isn't to force any students to take part. But just to let you know that there is always something that for your wellbeing.
00:05:15:09 - 00:05:24:00
Sophia
So what advice would you give to a student who is feeling the academic pressure, but is perhaps a bit hesitant to seek help?
00:05:24:02 - 00:05:44:16
Adella
I'd say do whatever makes you feel comfortable, but know that the help is here. The idea of the Student Advisors. We do a lot of outreach. So many students that will struggle. They might not come to us straight away, but it's guaranteed that you know about us. You might feel comfortable to come to one of us, but you have lots of departmental support. You have your department, department advisors, you've got your personal tutors. And don't forget your friends. You know, you've got colleagues as well that you can speak to. The whole point isn't that you just have a student advisor. It's that you have the whole university resource to enable you to have somewhere to go. The difference is, is that we're just a different kind of confidential space and also help you just get the tools together that you might need as well.
00:06:10:00 - 00:06:17:08
Nadia
It's really good. And before we let you go, can you just let us know and remind us how we can get in contact.
00:06:17:14 - 00:06:38:06
Adella
So we have a website. The easiest way to find us honestly, is just pop in Student Advisors UCL into Google. I think it's the easiest method, especially if you're struggling, but also if you know the website, the student advice page is right at the top, student support and wellbeing services and that holds all of our key and core services there. With all of our contact details, all the links on how to get in touch, and also our AskUCL, which is one of our cool methods of contact. So pop on to ask UCL type in Student Advisor, disability advisor and it will come up with one of us. You'll be able to send your inquiry and we'll get back to you.
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