This section is for friends and family who want to help someone they know with a mental health problem who is studying or considering becoming a student.

Becoming a student involves many changes for friends and family. There are lots of things you can do to help manage these changes.

• Keep in touch – make the effort to be the one who stays in contact. Even if they appear very busy, they are likely to appreciate the effort.
• Make time to be together – visiting them at university can give you the opportunity to understand more about their new life and feel more engaged. For some, university life can be busy, so finding dates that work might require patience and flexibility. 
• Accept that things may change – they are likely to have made new friends, or have new commitments that take up their time.
• Ask them how they are doing – it doesn't have to be a serious conversation about mental health, but most people will appreciate being asked. If you are worried about how they are doing, creating time and space for an honest answer (go for a walk or do a joint activity such as crafting or even washing up) can help.

Be there for me to talk to, and give me advice.

• Take an interest – try asking them about what they're working on at the moment or about their course.
• Give them space – if they have left home for the first time, remember that being a student is part of a process of gaining independence and growing up. It is natural that they don’t want to tell you everything.
• Offer practical help – offer help with a routine task, such as preparing or cooking food. This sort of thing will really be appreciated, and save them time and stress.
• Remember that studying can feel like a job. While they may not be going to a full time job, studying can take up a lot of time, involve long hours in lectures or busy work placements. Try to understand that they can feel under a lot of pressure, and offer them support.

Understand that university isn't a walk in the park for everyone and it isn't necessarily the 'time of your life'.

• Look after yourself - supporting someone else can have an impact on your own mental health. For more information, see:
• our pages on how to cope when supporting someone else.
  
• Student Minds' resource Look After Your Mate
• Carers UK also offers information, advice and support for people caring for someone with a disability

This information was published in February 2016. We will revise it in 2019.