How Cardiff Metropolitan University Helped their Students to ‘Feel less Stressed’ with Togetherall
February 05 2020
The client
Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU) is a prestigious university in the heart of Wales’s capital. Committed to innovation and with high rates of student satisfaction, CMU educates around 10,000 students annually.
The challenge
CMU’s existing counselling services were coming under increasing pressure, with long waiting lists and a need for out-of-hours support to reduce incidences of crisis. There was also a concern that harder-to-reach students were not coming forward, due to issues of cultural stigma, problems around accessibility, and a lack of engagement (UK-wide, some 75% of those struggling with mental health issues cannot or will not reach out for support). CMU wanted to:
- connect students with innovative, low-level mental health and wellbeing support, with sound clinical underpinning
- provide self-management tools, to act as early intervention and crisis prevention.
How we helped
Having commissioned Togetherall in December 2017, CMU offers clinically moderated online support, 24/7, in addition to its existing services. This has proven to be cost-efficient and the service is scalable, with no limit to the number of students who can use it. Students can discuss mental health issues in a safe environment without fear or judgement, with free access to the Togetherall Support Network (24/7 anonymous peer support, moderated and facilitated by clinicians) and Guided Support courses (online programmes to learn coping skills on a range of wellbeing topics). The service is immediately available by self-referral from a valid university e-mail address, or by referral from the CMU counselling team, Campus-wide marketing brings the service to students’ attention.
Results
Between December 2017 and May 2018, over 320 CMU students registered to use Togetherall – 4% of the student population. For many of these students Togetherall was their sole source of support, while for others it was the initial support they received before they engaged with other services. In a recent survey, 93% of CMU respondents said that they used the service outside of office hours. 79% reported that Togetherall had helped to improve their personal wellbeing, most commonly in terms of ‘dealing with problems’ and ‘feeling less anxious/ stressed.’ 71% said they found the service helpful, and 79% would recommend Togetherall to others. The service reaches a diverse mix of CMU members, proving that digital doesn’t have a ‘type.’
Find out more
If you’d like to know more about Togetherall and see how it could work for your staff and students, click the button below to book a demo with one of our team.
