Students from Northumbria and Newcastle Universities say limited resources may be to blame for the lack of emergency mental wellbeing availability.

The students have responded to data uncovered by the BBC’s Shared Data Unit, of which JesmondLocal is a part, with mixed views.

In the BBC report, much of the data from Northumbria University was missing, and JesmondLocal uncovered that Newcastle University did not supply data to the BBC.

A handful of students from both universities, who were willing to speak about their mental health, responded to a JesmondLocal questionnaire asking about their university’s approach to mental health. All the students asked to remain anonymous.

Students from both universities told JesmondLocal that they believe the counselling services are understaffed.

One student told JesmondLocal: “the service is stretched”, believing that this could be down to limited resources. Another student noted that they waited a whole month before they received any sort of help.

At Newcastle University, students agreed that while some wellbeing services are helpful, the university lacks any useful urgent care services.

One student said after showing up to the help desk crying, they didn’t receive any help until two weeks later.

A postgraduate student told JesmondLocal: “I think they need to improve their process for emergency situations, as in a crisis team that can actually respond quickly and appropriately in a crisis”.

Northumbria University students had mixed responses. One student feared her counsellor was too quick to label their “problem” and recommended medication after only two appointments. The student did say, however, that this may be an issue with a specific counsellor and not the department as a whole.

Another student believes that the university as a whole takes mental health seriously but feels that “not every lecturer in the university takes it just as seriously”.

The student felt like some lecturers completely ignored the situation. A similar feeling was expressed from Newcastle students, who all noted that their Student Support Plan (SSP), drawn up after a meeting with a professional to help stabilise a student’s mental health, was either not communicated to their tutors or the tutors did not understand the SSP.

The students did highlight some positives, with university support including specific councillors and meetings that helped the students with the issues they face while studying.

The over-arching sentiment expressed by these students is not that the universities don’t care. Instead, there is a general consensus that neither university is fully equipped to deal with mental health issues that many students face.

Sally Ingram, director of student health and wellbeing at Newcastle University, told JesmondLocal: “Newcastle, like many universities, is seeing an increase in the number of students seeking support from our varied wellbeing teams.”

She added: “We take student wellbeing extremely seriously and have increased the amount and range of help available to students, while commissioning specialist agencies to provide longer-term support on campus.”

Northumbria University did not respond to requests for comment.