The mental health of university students is a growing concern, levels of mental illness, mental distress and low wellbeing among students in higher education in the UK are increasing, and are high relative to other sections of the population.(1)

Students can be faced with overwhelming pressures financially and socially whilst at the same time trying to study and transition in to adulthood, the burden can be too much. This has resulted in alarming research showing one in four students suffering from mental health issues at some point during their time at university, with nearly half of those saying they struggle to complete daily tasks as a result.(2)

Canine Assisted Learning is proud to be supporting University Mental Health Day 2109 by offering free Canine Assisted Interventions to university students. Sharing the values of #unimentalhealthday we are working hard to change the narrative around student mental health by raising awareness and reducing stigma.

CAL welcomes the government initiative launched today by Damian Hinds in the light of a spate of campus suicides. The Education Transitions Network aims to ease the transition from college to university and CAL looks forward to supporting this following our success today in Surrey university as part of University Mental Health Day 2019. The theme was ‘Use your voice’ and our CAL dogs, Betty and Charlie certainly promoted conversation….Our conversation starter sessions were a huge success with fantastic feedback from staff and students alike.

Canine Assisted Learning is committed to improving the mental health of students, if you would like to know more about the ways we can help please contact us

(1)Institute for Public Policy Research (2017) Not by degrees: improving student mental health in the UK’s universities.

(2) https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2016/08/09/quarter-britains-students-are-afflicted-mental-health