Student support and wellbeing
Whether financial pressures, concerns over your academic performance, health issues, or something else going on in your life – there are many different sources of help and assistance for you at King's.
The Health and Wellbeing Centre is available for students who are struggling with any physical or mental health issues. The Centre is located under the archway of Webb's Court and the team runs wellbeing events throughout the year.
The College Nurse is here Monday-Friday during term and can provide advice on both physical and mental health issues. For the most up-to-date times when the Nurse is available, please see the Health and Wellbeing pages on the intranet.
Other sources of support are detailed below.
Who's who in the Health and Wellbeing Team
Barbara Steen, the College's CBT therapist, helps undergraduates and graduates to work through various mental health difficulties. Referrals come through the college nurse, who is either approached by students directly, or students’ tutors.
What is CBT?
CBT is used as a framework to help you draw links between thoughts, behaviours, and feelings currently negatively impacting you. We then work together to find ways of making changes that can help you manage those more easily.
Other sources of support
Directors of Studies (undergraduate only)
Each undergraduate student has a Director of Studies (DoS), who oversees your academic life here in the College. As the Director of Studies is a specialist in the academic subject you are studying, they will guide and support you on any aspect of your studies, including advice on your paper or exam choices, or if for example you are having any difficulties with an aspect of the course you are studying, such as workload, deadlines or need some extra support in another particular aspect of your studies.
Tutors
Each student also has a Tutor who is a King's Fellow. For undergraduate students, this will always be someone different from your DoS.
Your Tutor will be your main/first point of contact for most things pastorally, or if you’re having personal/non-academic problems of any kind and will always help you, or signpost you to the most appropriate resource when needed. You can talk to them in confidence about anything that may be concerning you, or if you need any additional support.
We also have some more specialist Tutors, who your Tutor may signpost you to for certain things, again where appropriate - for example, the Welfare Tutor can provide support for students experiencing particular or more acute difficulties, the Financial Tutor can advise you on financial issues, as well as any sources of financial assistance that may be available to you, and the Futures Tutor on any Careers/post University life concerns/plans you may have or would like help in starting to shape.
The Chaplain
The Chaplain is available to every student, regardless of your religious beliefs or non-beliefs. They are another source of support and you can talk to them about anything which is concerning you, in complete confidence. They will always listen to you with a kind and understanding ear and have no involvement in either disciplinary or academic matters, so you can speak freely.
College Porters
Our Porters are on College site 24/7, 365 days of the year and can help you with any queries, no matter the hour or time of year. They are also the first port of call for any emergencies in the College and they are all first-aid trained.
Counselling Service
The University also provides a counselling service as well as a number of helplines and health services.
Peer Support
We have welcoming and inclusive student unions: the KCSU for undergraduates and the KCGU for graduates.
KCSU support options include the Male and Female Welfare Officers, Disabled Students Officer, Access Officer, International Officer and LGBTQ+ Officer.
KCGU support options include the Welfare Officer, Gender Equalities Officer, International Officer and LGBTQ+ Officer.
CUSU
The Cambridge University Students’ Union (CUSU) has its own support officers. You can find out about them and about other useful resources on the CUSU website.
University student support
The university offers a range of student support options beyond support from the College.
Resources dealing with harassment and sexual misconduct
If you're in a situation where you need support to deal with a situation of harrassment and/or sexual misconduct, many of the welfare roles can help signpost you to. The College has procedures on reporting instances of misconduct which you can find in your student handbook.
Additionally, the University has brought together all the information for students about how it handles these issues on one page: Student Support - Harassment and sexual misconduct