Student helpline volunteers see cries for help double among their peers
Covid has seen a stark rise in the number of young people needing support at university, warn helpers
Volunteers: Bristol University students Nelima Hossain (left) and Chelsea Henshaw (right)
Credit: Jay Williams
As twilight descends on a deserted Bristol University campus, a team of student helpline volunteers gets ready to help tackle the youth mental health crisis throughout another long, lonely lockdown night.
“The number of calls that we have has really increased during Covid,” says Chelsea Henshaw, 21, a third-year medicine student who helps run Bristol Nightline.
“A lot more people are reaching out to try and find help during this time because things are so difficult for them," Henshaw says. "We tend to have people calling about student life in general, relationships, things like mental health - anxiety and depression and potentially even suicide. And I feel like lockdown and Covid has heightened everything in all of those areas.”