Why we must protect students from Covid’s mental health fallout

By Seema Kennedy OBE

Meeting like-minded people, debating face-to-face with tutors and pursuing new hobbies are the essence of university life;

For the class of 2020 doing any of the normal student activities has been a real challenge, and with the UK in and out of various forms of lockdown since March, the experience for students this year has been anything but normal.

With the winter months and dark nights drawing in, and a new lockdown ongoing in England, opportunities for connections that aren’t veiled behind screens are becoming ever more scarce.

The implications of the pandemic on students’ mental health will doubtless be exacerbated in the coming months.

The majority of students rent a single room in a shared house, flat or student accommodation. New students in their first year of university, meanwhile, will often have little to no control over the people they live with.

If someone doesn’t get on with their flat mates, being unable to mix with other households is likely to lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness, even for students who commute to university every day from home and who retain those bonds, rules curbing activities and limiting the mixing of different households are likely to further isolate individuals who commute to campus who may rely more on extracurricular activities and societies to make new connections. 

Universities have been working hard to bring teaching resources online within a very short timescale and the effort that has gone into this is commendable, but some degree of face to face teaching is essential to build relationships and minimise feelings of isolation.

However, even with every possible measure to adjust to current challenges taken, some feelings of loneliness among students are inevitable.

An absence of face-to-face interaction and expectations to work independently could collectively increase stress levels and potentially lead to feelings of isolation. Likely to exacerbate these issues is a lack of access to usual support networks, such as family, friends and mental health services.

In recent research carried out by the mental health charity, Mind, just under half of university students said that difficulties accessing mental health support had made their mental health worse.

Qualitative results from the research also revealed that students particularly struggled with moving back in with parents; isolating them from friends and university mental health support.

While the immediate threats to our physical health dominate the national agenda, a mental health epidemic that is likely to hit the country over the coming months and years looms large.

Covid-19 has killed far too many people this year and the figures we see are utterly tragic.  However, we cannot forget that the number one killer in the UK for people aged 20-34 years old is suicide. This is, of course, an age group into which the majority of students fall. Increasing use of recreational drugs, alcohol, online gambling and - in some cases - increased radicalisation, are all potential outcomes from students being isolated and cut off from friends and families.

As it becomes increasingly apparent that COVID-19 is here for the long haul, preventing the possibly devastating effect of the pandemic on the mental health of our student population should be top of the agenda as they look to make their way in the world.