Mental Health Working Group

04/09/06 Student Rep - Christine Fitze

Making Your Teaching Inclusive
Note: The link is to an O U site that is specifically aimed at staff and professionals - I've included it because it is a useful resource and may help not only increase awareness but also aid in understanding some issues that are beyond personal experience.

Mentoring Scheme – this is a pilot scheme at that allows mentoring support to students with mental health problems. The pilot has run into a hiccup or two because students who have already been granted the Disabled Student Allowance (D S A) didn’t have an element of that award to cover mentoring. The suggestion now is to promote the scheme to students who have not yet applied for D S A.

Prisoners in Secure Units – Currently the university have no way of being able to identify whether or not a student is a prisoner or held in a secure unit (the address isn’t necessarily a good indicator as the student could be a member of staff, or the place could actually be a residential home). It is hoped to have a meeting with the Home Office to find out the position regarding Health and Safety and other issues on how the OU should work with students in Secure Units. General guidelines are being produced. This is an area O U S A has already taken an interest in and Vice President Equal Opportunities has a working group in place looking at the issues and implications.