Wellbeing and Counselling

The Wellbeing and Counselling Service is here throughout your time at UCA. If you would like support, it is important to reach out so that you can get the most from your university experience.

We will provide a confidential space where you can talk to us about whatever you need to. Students have spoken to us about a variety of worries including anxiety, low mood, sleep, managing stress, grief, loss, anger and isolation.

We can also support you in accessing ongoing internal support such as UCA counselling and accessing external mental health services such as GPs and further talking therapies.

You can refer yourself by:

Emailing wellbeing@uca.ac.uk
Emailing, phoning or visiting your campus Gateway based in the library:
- Canterbury: gatewaycanterbury@uca.ac.uk or call 01227 817314
- Epsom: gatewayepsom@uca.ac.uk or call 01372 202461
- Farnham: gatewayfarnham@uca.ac.uk or call 01252 892709
Speaking to a member of staff if you need support in referring

If you request support we will contact you via your UCA student email to offer a meeting called a wellbeing check-in where you can talk to a member of the team about your mental health and wellbeing. This can take place in person on campus or online via a video call.

During your wellbeing check-in, we will talk about how you are feeling, and work with you to create a plan to help address your worries or concerns. This might include:

Talking through some strategies to manage your feelings
Signposting to self-help resources
Offering ongoing wellbeing support
Referring you to other support services within the University, such as our Counselling Service
Support in accessing other UCA teams, such as the Learning Support Team, Learning Development Tutors and Liaison Librarians
Making recommendations for external support

The free counselling service is a chance to discuss any difficult thoughts or feelings you may be having with professionally qualified and experienced counsellors.

For more information about how UCA Counselling works, please read the Counselling Information Sheet and the eCounselling Overview.

There are a few extra things to know when accessing remote counselling so please read this information about information, boundaries and guidelines to ensure you are ready to take part.

Student Services provide a range of advice and support services which require our staff to work with personal and sensitive information that you may share with us. You can access our Confidentiality Statement here.