Skip to main content

Advice for Students, Settling in, Student Life

Mental Health Support

23 August 2022
Kat (She/They)

Kat (She/They)

University life can feel very difficult and daunting which can lead to our mental health being negatively impacted. This is especially true if you’re an international student or LGBT+ as you will be going through struggles unique to you that not everyone might understand. Fortunately, one of the greatest part of Cardiff University is that the university has a lot of support for its students. This blog post will explore and explain what mental health support there are and when someone might need them. These are mainly the DRT, SIT and the Counselling team.

Disclosure Response Team

The disclosure response team (DRT) is essentially the main group within the university’s support system that helps student dealing with difficult issues. They tend to offer longer-term support via appointments and practical advise to help students to deal with their issues. Additionally, they’re able to help re-direct students to other services that are better suited for them as well as provide evidence in cases such as needing evidence for appeals and extensions. You can contact them via the Student Connect portal (link will also be provided) by submitting an enquiry through the site for them.

Student Intervention Team

The student intervention team (SIT) are the team that deal with emergency and major issues with student such as life endangerment. They act as a more short-term and immediate support team that help students deal with serious issues such being a victim of a crime, discrimination and suicidal thoughts/self-harm. Normally, if you wish to get long-term support, they will move you to DRT support once they have insured that you are safe from any immediate danger. Like DRT, they can also be contacted via the Student Connect portal on the student Intranet but also have an email address you can use. This will also be attached at the bottom.

The Counselling Team

Cardiff University has a professional counselling service dedicated to helping students. Unlike DRT and SIT, this service is usually more ‘professional’ and is more similar to professional therapy one might get from a therapy agency. However, it is worth noting, they are not the same. The counselling team can offer regular counselling sessions to guide students through difficult times but does not exist to help with more serious mental health conditions that someone might see a therapist for.

However, that does not mean that they cannot help with more serious cases. You can ask them to refer you to a therapy agency called ProblemShared where the university will agree to pay for an x amount of sessions depending on the severity of your situation. It is worth asking the counselling team more about the service if you are interested. They can also be contacted via the Student Connect portal or referred to by DRT and SIT.

Other services

Lastly, there are a few other services available that are also worth mentioning:

  • Trans wellbeing team: a subgroup of the wellbeing team within Cardiff University that exist purely to help trans student within the university to settle into university life whilst navigating their transition (e.g. changing name and gender on university systems etc…). They can be contacted either by email or via the Student Connect portal.
  • Wellbeing Champions: Student members of the university’s wellbeing team who are also trained to help their peers manage their mental health and run events on behalf of the wellbeing team. They can help deal with general wellbeing issues that you might not feel comfortable discussing with a member of staff. There are also specific wellbeing champions for LGBT+ issues, disability issues etc… You can usually find them in wellbeing events or can ask one of the support teams to put you in touch with them.

Useful Links