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.
Sources of support
We want you to have the best student experience here at King’s.
The College and University are here to support undergraduate students, at every stage of your time here, both academic and non-academic. In addition to extensive University provision, the College also provides welfare and well-being support for its students.
The College has a College Nurse, CBT therapist and Mental Health Advisor. We also have a Welfare Tutor, a Chaplain, a Porters team available 24/7, 365 days a year, a Futures Tutor and of course your Directors of Studies and Tutors.
As well as this, the central University also offers a Counselling Service.
Below is a bit more detail about each element of the support structure we have in place for our undergraduate and postgraduate students.
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.
College Nurse
The College has its own nurse (full time during term time, part time out of term time), who you can visit for treatment and advice. To note though that students are still required to register with a local GP.
Mental Health Support in College
Students experiencing difficulties with their mental health can arrange to see either our Mental Health Advisor, or arrange being referred to the College's Cognitive Behavioural (CBT) Therapist.
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, Equality 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