̽»¨Ö±²¥

Dear colleagues,

You may have seen the news about the tragic deaths of five Cambridge students over recent months. Like everyone else in the collegiate ̽»¨Ö±²¥, I am deeply saddened by them. At this distressing time, our community’s thoughts remainÌýwith the families and friends of the students who have died. ̽»¨Ö±²¥safety of our students is of fundamental importance to the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ and the Colleges.

Yesterday, in a public statement, the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ set out the work it is doing to review these tragic events, as well as its plans to support student health and wellbeing. We continue to work closely with the Colleges, and with our partners in public health, including the NHS.

̽»¨Ö±²¥collegiate nature of our ̽»¨Ö±²¥ ensures that different sources of support are available to students: through the Colleges in which they live and study, and where they have access to extensive welfare provision; through the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ and the professional student services it provides; and through the NHS. Ìý

̽»¨Ö±²¥ ̽»¨Ö±²¥ and the Colleges are focused on providing extensive wellbeing and mental health support for students. We continue to work together to develop and deliver this. ̽»¨Ö±²¥ ̽»¨Ö±²¥ has created a new Student Support, Accessibility and Wellbeing Division, with a new senior leader charged with improving and extending services. This new division has teams focused on all aspects of student wellbeing and mental health support: ̽»¨Ö±²¥ Counselling Service; Mental Health Advice Service; Student Wellbeing Team; Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre; Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service; and a coordinating team responsible for driving transformation.

To further enhance provision, the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ and the Colleges are now putting in place:

• Increased investment into the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ Counselling Service, the Mental Health Advice Service, and the Student Wellbeing Team to reduce waiting times and help ensure that preventative support for students is easily available and accessible
• Dedicated wellbeing advisors in Colleges to enhance the support already available and focus on better enabling early identification of students in distress, as well as training in suicide awareness for frontline staff
• Closer links and information exchange through a new partnership with the NHS – also involving our neighbourÌýuniversity, Anglia Ruskin – to ensure that our students are receiving the clinical support they need for their mental health.

Our collegiate ̽»¨Ö±²¥ is a caring and compassionate community, and never more than at times of sorrow. I know that colleagues across Cambridge are deeply committed to supporting student mental health and wellbeing, and to ensuring student safety.

Stephen

Ìý

For anyone who has been affected by this news there is support available:

̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge staff

̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge students

NHS and charity support

• Members of the general public can call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email them, or . Or they can Ìý