A report expected to criticise mental health provisions on campus has not been published nearly a month after it was meant to be finished.
Bosses insisted this week the document, commissioned by vice chancellor Koen Lamberts, will be released after it is reviewed by the executive board of the University.
Lamberts was forced to admit in February there were “not enough” Open Door appointments availible, even though “demand is higher than ever.” But he said the Uni would not make major changes to mental health provisions until the report, written by Professor Hilary Graham, was finalised.
University registrar David Duncan said he had seen the “excellent report.” YUSU prez Ben Leatham also said he had a copy, but could not talk about its “confidential” findings.
An investigation by Socialist Society this year found the university only spends £26 per student on mental health services.
Since 2011 the budget for student support services has only risen by 12%, despite demand for counselling, including Open Door, skyrocketing by 132%.
YUSU wellbeing sabbatical officer Scott Dawson has also today slammed the state of mental health services in York, saying there is a “clear need” for more Open Door funding.
Writing in York Vision, Dawson says: “Funding pressures have intensified while demands on support and health services have come under increasing pressure.”
Demands for the release of the report came as friends and lecturers paid tribute to Christopher Walsh and Daniel Pinfold, two York students who took their own lives last year.
An inquest this month was told Chris Walsh had approached Open Door and his GP for help.
You realise that 7 students at York have taken their own lives since January 2015? Why isn’t more being done by the SU and media to highlight this and hold the University accountable to investing in services to safeguard students?