Dear Colleague,

I am pleased to share our new mental health and wellbeing strategy, which you can read here. 

Mental health is everyone’s business at Imperial. This strategy for staff and students is designed to make sure everyone at Imperial can get the right support when they need it. 

It focuses on both mental health and wellbeing. That means looking at how we boost people’s wellbeing and support their resilience as well as how we provide mental health advice or services.

A key element of our strategy will be how we work with the NHS, the primary provider of mental health services in the UK. This includes effective signposting and transitioning of students and staff who need NHS support, as well as considering how we can be a strong advocate for more investment in NHS mental health services. 

This strategy builds on the wide range of high-quality work that already exists at Imperial. I am grateful to the many people who work hard to provide support and advice to our community, such as our mental health first aiders, student wellbeing advisers and mental health practitioners. As an institution, Imperial has already adopted the student trusted contacts opt-in policy and many other recommendations from the 2018 Suicide-Safer Universities UK Report, which I chaired, and the University Mental Health Charter. 

Our focus now will be on turning this strategy into a reality. I am pleased that work to implement this is already underway, including increasing investment in front-line services for both staff and students. Following the launch of this overarching strategy, an Imperial-wide implementation group will now take this work forward. 

I know that mental health can be a difficult topic to talk about, but I want to encourage you to reach out for help if you need it. If you do need advice or support, please do look at these comprehensive pages: 

·         As a member of staff: Health and wellbeing for staff 

·         As a student: Student Support Zone

Working together, we will make sure mental health and wellbeing are at the heart of Imperial’s work.

 Best wishes,
Hugh, President