We offer a range of pastoral opportunities for students including:

The Wellbeing Programme: A series of staff supported social opportunities which can benefit students who are isolated, struggling to take breaks, and those wishing to improve their social skills.

We deliver some weekly events to offer regular opportunities for students to take a break and connect with others. We also have termly Wellbeing Events involving a range of relaxing and social opportunities. Students can also benefit from one-off workshops which are offered based on student need (for example, Goal Setting, Resilience, Mindfulness etc).

The Wellbeing Programme is open to all students and is advertised widely across campus. Read more about the Wellbeing Programme on our webpages.

Peer Mentoring: Pastoral Peer Mentoring offers students the opportunity to connect with an experienced Lancaster Student Mentor to support with any issues or challenges they may be facing. Some students use this as an opportunity to work on a specific skill such as organisation, social confidence, etc. Some students use this as a weekly check in to self-reflect on their progress.

This programme is aimed at students with enhanced needs who may require regular pastoral support. Peer Mentoring is not therapeutic or counselling, and it may not be appropriate for all students. We will talk to a student about suitability for the programme after a referral is made.

Read more about Peer Mentoring on our website.

Group Mentoring: Group Mentoring is an hour-per-week session where students can share successes and challenges with their peer group. This small group session covers a range of pastoral and wellbeing topics such as settling in, making friends, looking after our general wellbeing (not specialist therapeutic input), organisation, and self-efficacy.

The programme is aimed at students with mild mental health difficulties and/or social communication conditions, but many students have found this support helpful. Group Mentoring may not be suitable for all students so we will discuss this with a student after a referral is made.

Read more about Group Mentoring on our website.

ADHD Community: The AD(H)D Community involves in-person staff-supported sessions and online Teams community where students can connect with others, share tips and advice and access resources. The ADHD Community is open to all students with and awaiting a diagnosis of AD(H)D.

If a student tells you they have, or think they have, AD(H)D, please also signpost them to Disability@lancaster.ac.uk to receive information about accessing an ILSP and Disabled Students Allowance.

Read more about the ADHD Community on our website.

Housing Workshops: Housing Workshops are available to students from November – the end of the academic year to offer opportunities to connect with other students seeking flatmates. Students can access a Teams community where they can meet and socialise with other students, a matching process where we connect them with a group of students who have similar lifestyles and expectations, and in-person social sessions for students to meet in a staff-supported environment.

Students should contact Student Wellbeing Partnership Service for more information.

Ready for University

Ready for University is an online pre-arrival learning module containing a series of activities to support students to prepare themselves for life at Lancaster University. The course contains a variety of topics and activities, and students can revisit this at any time in their studies.

Smart Start Online

Smart Start Online is an online, pre-arrival course available to incoming students. It is aimed at students with a social/communication condition, but students without these conditions have also used and found the course helpful. ​Target students will be contacted over the summer vacation, but if you think a student would benefit from accessing this please let us know.

Smart Start Residential

Smart Start is a pre-arrival residential for students with an autism diagnosis and includes a range of activities to help students make a successful transition to university, to settle in, and build relationships with staff and students. ​ Students must have an autism diagnosis to participate and relevant students will be contacted directly during the summer vacation.

Read more about Smart Start Online on our webpages.

The Disability and Inclusion Training Hub can be accessed on Moodle and contains training on: Autism Awareness, Supporting Care Leavers, Supporting Estranged Students, Supporting Student Carers, and Reasonable Adjustments and ILSPs. Staff who complete the training and final assessment can receive the Disability and Inclusion Moodle badge.

Please contact the Student Wellbeing Partnership Service for enrolment information.

The Widening Participation Access Group funds the Student Wellbeing Partnership Service, this means we mainly work with widening participation students. You can read more about the widening participation eligibility criteria here.

Within this group we offer specialist advice and advocacy to Care Leavers, Estranged Students, and Student Carers. The support package for these students can be accessed on the ASK portal. If a student declares Care experience, estrangement, or caring responsibilities (not parenting) please let us know so we can offer the student some support.

We also have some targeted support for students with social/ communication conditions, mild mental health difficulties, and students with AD(H)D.

Much of our provision is targeted at students who need additional support to settle in, connect with others, and look after their wellbeing.

Any students who require specialist mental health support should be referred to the Student Mental Health Service. We work closely with the SMHS but we are not mental health practitioners.

If you are unsure about whether to refer a student please ask us! We will be happy to chat about the suitability of provision with you.

We welcome student referrals from staff members. Please contact the Student Wellbeing Partnership Service with the student ID and initials and some brief details about why you are referring them.

We may ask to have a brief chat if there are other details we think we need to know.

We will email the student with an overview of our provision, and will invite them to have a chat about what will be most suitable.

It is most helpful if you can let the student know you are doing this so they can expect our email.

Please contact us through Student Wellbeing Partnership Service rather than contacting specific staff. We are not all full time and your request can be actioned more quickly if you contact the central email inbox.