Universities need to have clearer policies on how they should involve family, carers and trusted friends when there is a risk to a student’s welfare, according to new guidance.

Universities UK (UUK), in partnership with PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide, has published recommendations calling on universities to be more proactive in preventing student suicides – particularly in relation to how and when to involve families, carers and trusted others when there are serious concerns about the safety or mental health of a student.

The recommendations include:

  • Making it mandatory for students to give a trusted contact at registration – making it clear it does not have to be a parent – and starting a conversation about when and how these contacts might be involved;
  • Having check-ins at the start of each academic year, to update this information;
  • Ensure universities review their suicide prevention plans, identifying students of concern, assessing risk, working with NHS services when there are serious concerns and initiating conversations about involving trusted contacts;
  • Making it clear that, although always preferable to gain agreement from the student, where there are serious concerns, universities can decide to involve contacts without agreement.

The guidance places the student at the centre of decisions about their safety but also aims to give institutions the confidence to be proactive about involving trusted contacts, setting out properly governed processes to share information and giving staff clarity about their responsibilities.

Ged Flynn, chief executive of PAPYRUS, said: “Suicide in university populations is relatively rare but can devastate a community when it happens. Together, aided by this guidance, we can all play our part to ensuring it is rarer still.”

Read the new guidance here: Sharing Information With Trusted Contacts. 

The guidance is part of UUK and Papyrus’s wider work to create suicide-safer universities.