Student Health & Support

We are working hard with the department to make sure this page be as well-informed as possible. If you think something is missing, you can get in touch with someone on the committee, or you can add the content yourself and file a pull request.

While we sort this page out though, you can use the Student Union’s JustAsk service, or the Student Health & Counselling Services. They are equipped to handle just about everything and anything!

If you’re in first or second year and would like advice on getting through the year, check out this thread of tips from students who’ve done it.

Who is this page for?
What sort of problems does this include?
- Stress and Mental Health
- Nastiness In Online Discussion Spaces
What help is on offer?

Who is this page for?

This page is for all Computer Science students (whether at undergraduate, master student or post graduate level) at the University of Bristol. It also serves for students on joint honours courses like Computer Science and Electronics, or Computer Science and Maths. It aims to hold all of the information we need on where to seek support during our studies. In the past, it has been difficult to know exactly where to go if we have a problem that is affecting our studies, but is not strictly academic in nature. This page aims to solve that, and put all of the resources in one place.

What sort of problems does this include?

In short, anything that is having a negative impact on your ability to study, or otherwise do the things you want to do. This might include, but is definitely not limited to:

Family problems like a bereavement, or separation of parents.
Problems with flatmates or friends, whether in real life or online in discussion forums like Facebook, Twitter, Yik-Yak and Snapchat. It also covers problems working with other people in group projects.
Struggling to cope with deadlines. This might be balancing you effort between multiple assignments, or simply finding the stress of it all is stopping you being as capable as you feel you should be. We all get stressed, it is part of the course. A certain amount of stress can be motivational, even healthy. The moment it begins to affect your day to day happiness or will and ability to function as a person, then it is a good idea to seek help.
If you had a pre-existing problem when you arrived at university and want to know what support is available. This might be a physical or mental illness, special requirements for exams, or anything you have needed help for in the past. It need not be something official, university can be a good opportunity to seek help for a problem you’ve not looked to solve before.
Any sort of trouble with sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia, ableism or discrimination of any kind. Whether you experience this yourself, or as something you have witnessed as a 3rd party.

It is worth giving special mention to two subjects in particular. We do not hold them to be more or less important than others mentioned, but time has shown that they have been encountered a disproportionate amount both at Bristol, and in the wider Computer Science community.

Stress and Mental Health

Studying Computer Science is stressful. Multiple deadlines, exams and group projects all add up and take their toll. Many people are able to cope with this stress, but for some people it starts to affect their health outside of University and their ability to function properly. For some, it can lead to bouts of depression, and other mental illness. This has been a very taboo topic in the past, with a lot of misunderstanding and grief as a result. It is important that we create an environment within the computer science community at Bristol where people feel able to ask for help without worrying about stigma and how their peers will judge them. Similarly, if someone does open up to you, it is important that you are comfortable in knowing how to respond! There is a lot of advice on line on talking about mental health, and how to seek help. This page won’t seek to replicate that, but the services listed below have lots of information on it.

Nastiness In Online Discussion Spaces

We all know the internet has both wonderful corners and darker ones. Above all, we know the importance of respecting each other online, and not forgetting that there is a real human on the other end of a comment thread. Occasionally this does get forgotten, and nastiness ensues. If you ever feel uncomfortable in an online space or in person, then the department, students union and university have guidelines on how to deal with it. As a union affiliated society, CSS is bound by their safe space policy. Such policies are often drastically misunderstood and end up being ridiculed online. Bristol SU’s safe space policy can be read here so you know exactly what it does and does not say. There are also some guidelines available for how to interpret the safe space policy in a sensible way. Any problems you have yourself, or witness as a 3rd party, can be raised with your personal tutor or the students union.

Again, none of this is supposed to be a definitive list. At the end of the day, if you feel that your ability to study is being negatively affected by something, then the best thing you can do is seek help as soon as possible, and not bottle it up and hope it passes!

What help is on offer?

Personal Tutors

For most things, your personal tutor should be your first point of contact. They can usually point you in the right direction when it comes to seeking further help, and are best placed to help with problems that are academic in nature like friction with team mates or other coursework. It is their job to fight your corner in all matters between yourself and the department.

You should have been told who your personal tutor is, and have met them! If for any reason you don’t know who they are, then you can find out by looking at your profile on SAFE.