Tell families if students are at risk of suicide – new guidance

UK universities will be advised to contact students’ families when there is “genuine concern” for their well-being, under forthcoming suicide prevention guidance.

The right of relatives to be informed about mental health issues has been debated for the past three years after cases in which families complained that universities had not informed them that a student could be at risk of suicide or self-harm.

The issue was prioritised by Sam Gyimah, a universities minister in the Theresa May government, who called for higher education institutions to see themselves as being in loco parentis for vulnerable young students who were living away from home for the first time, but was in turn accused of “infantilising” adult learners.

Universities UK is now developing a “consensus statement” on “when and how information should be shared with family and friends when students are at risk of serious self-harm or suicide”, according to a briefing on the issue published by the English sector regulator, the Office for Students, on 10 September.

“[The UUK guidance] will set out that where there is genuine concern for the safety of the student, it is good practice to involve family and friends in their support,” the OfS briefing says.

“It will also emphasise that wherever possible students should be at the centre of any decision about their care and that any decision to involve wider networks without the specific consent of the student at risk must be based on appropriate clinical judgement.”

The UUK guidance is expected to be published later in 2021.

The OfS briefing says that there were 95 suicides in the higher education student population in the year ending July 2017, equivalent to 4.7 deaths per 100,000 students.

This was significantly lower than the suicide rate in the general population, but the briefing says that there are specific risk factors associated with higher education study, such as academic challenges, financial problems, and alcohol and substance misuse.

Echoing guidance issued by UUK in 2018, the OfS briefing says that university staff members, particularly those in student-facing roles, should be trained in suicide awareness.

It adds that universities should “take steps to restrict access to locations that could be used for suicide attempts and to sources of information on suicide methods, where appropriate”.

And it says that universities should “consider in advance how to respond to a student death by suicide”.

“A critical first response in universities and colleges is postvention support for friends, peers and staff affected by the death,” the OfS briefing says.

“It is important to be alert to a potential risk for suicide contagion or cluster, and therefore all communications and memorials relating to a student death by possible suicide should be handled sensitively.”

Calls for families to be made aware of students’ mental health struggles were led by the family of Ben Murray, who took his own life while studying at the University of Bristol. His father, James Murray, said that his son had been “carrying a lot of pain and anxiety for six months” but had not confided in his parents.

Bristol subsequently said that it was considering a student “opt-in” for next of kin to be told of a “major concern about well-being”.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com

If you're having suicidal thoughts or feel you need to talk to someone, a free helpline is available round the clock in the UK on 116123 or you can email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.