Over one million students at further education colleges throughout the UK will now have access to 24/7 mental health support.
IPS Limited and online therapy service, MindSpace 247, have announced a collaboration which could help students throughout the country get the help they need. It involves an ID card, which can be topped up with payments that can be used for online counselling.
This comes after the March 2021 report from Further Education news, which stated that colleges throughout the UK are “dealing with a growing number of learners with both diagnosed and undiagnosed mental health conditions.”
Co-founder of the MindSpace 247, Guy Outram, discussed how this new development will help the student population. He said: “We have developed a system where students and teachers can access a fully qualified BACP counsellor, on video call or telephone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“The access is almost instant and doesn’t require a GP appointment and the inevitable long waiting times. With reports stating that this could affect students for up to 9 years, without intervention this could have far more serious ramifications.”
Robert Powell, Managing Director of IPS Ltd, who has developed the software for the pre-paid cards, discussed the importance of this partnership.
He said: “Offering further education college students access to online therapy sessions after such a challenging year is a very important step forward. Our partnership with Mindspace 24/7 will also allow this same system to offer online therapy sessions to staff too.”
MindSpace 247’s councillors and therapists areas of speciality include, but are not limited to, exam stress, anxiety, body dysmorphia, loneliness, relationship issues, sexual worries, life coaching, bullying and depression.
The card can also be used for payment for courses, food and other day-to-services for students.
