Sharing a concern
You can share any incident of sexual misconduct and harrassment, whether recent or historical, whether this happened to you whilst at University of Staffordshire or before coming to university with contact details or anonymously through share a concern or emailing student-wellbeing@staffs.ac.uk as well as accessing infomation about support available externally to the university. Talking to a practitioner does not mean you are making a formal report to the university, it is to enable you to access the support you need to make an informed decision.
Support from our Mental Health & Wellbeing Practitioners
You have access to our support regardless if the sexual misconduct or violence happened on or off-campus, or if you were subjected to sexual misconduct or violence before you came to University of Staffordshire. With your consent, we can help you with:
- Provide 1 to 1 therapeutic support or referrals to external counselling and medical services
- Academic and accommodation adjustments
- Understanding the reporting options available to you
- Navigating systems and resources within the university and the community
People react and deal with sexual misconduct and harrassment in many different ways. Any way you choose to proceed will be fully respected and our team will support you on whatever path works best for you. We will handle your disclosure with confidentiality and will respect any decisions you make - we're here to listen and support you.
Our Mental Health & Wellbeing practitioners have undergone specialist training, for example, with affliated rape crisis centres, Glow and Emily Test, aswell as ongoing CPD. In addition, they can provide emotional support for these situations as they adhere to professional ethical standards. They will treat each case with sensitivity and respect, and are here to support students who have experienced sexual, domestic or emotional abuse whether it is recent or historic.
They can listen and discuss the options available to you. Your appointed practitioner can provide 1 to 1 support and/or liaise with external services and university staff where you require and will provide ongoing 'wrap around' care and support.
Procedures are in place to manage any risk to yourself or other members of the university community.
Mental health and wellbeing support
Whether you want to make a formal report or not, you can still access support.
Tell yourself
Sometimes the first person survivors need to disclose to is themselves. Too often survivors can internalise messages that it wasn’t "so bad” or was somehow their fault.
Share with someone you trust
This is never easy but consider sharing with a friend, a personal tutor, or your residence advisor if you live on-campus. Let them know what you need.
Seek medical care
Even if there are no obvious injuries or you don’t want to report the assault to the police, it is important to seek medical attention if the assault just happened.
We can help you with that process - even accompanying you to the local Sexual Assault Response Centre (SARC). Even if you do not want to report the incident to the police, SARCs can collect forensic evidence that can be used at a later date, should you change your mind. You are under no presssure to do this, the decision is yours.
Emergency support
If you or someone else is in danger, call 999 for emergency services.
If you are on campus contact the Campus Safety and Security Service.
You can get in touch with our security control room by telephone or email:
SafeZone
SafeZone is simple-to-use, and it’s free! At a touch of a button, it will let you summon first-aid, security or safety assistance via your mobile phone or PC.