Students from across the north of Scotland have vowed to keep pushing for answers over mental health funding.
The Scottish Government has removed funding for counselling at universities and colleges across Scotland, with institutions expected to lose £4 million support.
The cut comes as cost-of-living crisis and monetary issues increase pressure on students’ mental health, with universities saying the budget cut has come at the “worst time possible.”
Representatives from Aberdeen University, the Robert Gordon University, NesCol and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) wrote to First Minister Humza Yousaf asking for a rethink – or, at least answers on how mental health needs will be met.
But they say that weeks on, they are still no clearer.
They said the response from the Scottish Government – which said “no decision has been made on support for this beyond the end of this academic year” has “provided no clarity”.
‘Support services will disappear’
Aberdeen University Students’ Association’s vice president for welfare, Sai Shraddha S. Viswanathan said: “Unfortunately, months after we first raised this issue, the Scottish Government are no further forward in explaining how they will ensure that students don’t lose access to vital mental health services.
“We have been clear that hundreds of counselling sessions in each institution and key mental health support services will disappear if the Scottish Government don’t urgently address the funding gap they have created.
“Thousands of students have benefited from this funding over last few years and to remove this without any indication of how it will be replaced is a backwards move. If the Scottish Government are unable to provide answers urgently, they will be sending a clear message that they don’t care about the mental health of our students.”
National Union of Students Scotland president, Ellie Gomersall added: “The Scottish Government is letting students down by not confirming funding for mental health counsellors in colleges and universities for the next academic year.
“NUS Scotland has made it very clear to the Scottish Government that students are in desperate need of extended counsellor funding. Our Save Our Counsellors petition has over 1,500 signatures and it gets more every day.
“I urge the Scottish Government to commit to funding mental health counsellors in colleges and universities for 2023/24 and to create a sustainable, long-term funding plan so that students can be assured that they will be able to access vital mental health services for the foreseeable future.”
What does the Scottish Government say?
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is for individual institutions to ensure that they have appropriate mental health support in place for their students and the Scottish Government will continue to work closely with them to support this.
“More than 80 extra counsellors have helped students in universities and colleges over the past four years supported by £15.5 million of Scottish Government funding.
“In the face of an extremely challenging financial position we are still exploring how we might be able to continue this support in the future.
“The Scottish Government will continue to engage closely with universities and colleges on student mental health support and will outline further actions we will take following the publication of the overarching mental health strategy this summer.”
Conversation