WELFARE & SUPPORT IN BELFAST

Mountview places great emphasis on pastoral care, along with the mental and physical health of our students. Our welfare initiatives include: 

• All students are assigned a personal tutor who advises them throughout their time at Mountview and acts as an important point of contact
• Our dedicated Student Welfare Manager works alongside the personal tutors, providing support and guidance to students with disabilities, mental health difficulties and specific learning difficulties. Advice and support is available to both prospective and current students.

We understand that the training at Mountview is intense and demanding, and it is completely natural for students to find things challenging. The Student Welfare Manager and wider support team can provide pastoral support as well as advice on external support networks as needed.

All students are strongly encouraged to tell us about any disability or long-term health condition. By doing so, it allows us to:

• Understand the barriers you face and offer reasonable adjustments and personalised support
• Act as a point of liaison between you and your discipline heads to inform them about your additional support needs
• Monitor Mountview’s provision of support and inclusion of disabled students and those with long-term health conditions
• Assist you in applying for any funding you may be entitled to, such as Disabled Students Allowance

Current Students should inform us about any disability, health condition, or access needs by completing the Reasonable Adjustments Request Form, speaking to their Personal Tutor and/or the Student Welfare Manager. Prospective and Incoming Students can give us this information via the Application Form, Health Information Form or Registration Form.

If you do not tell us about your disability or long-term health condition, there are different potential impacts:

• Your teachers will not be aware of your needs or any adjustments that you require
• We need to ensure your safety in the event of an emergency. A Personal Emergency and Evacuation Plan (PEEP) will be required for some mobility disabilities and other disabilities or conditions
• Preparing and implementing adjustments ahead of time helps to reduce stress during assessment periods and/or near assignment deadlines

Prospective and Incoming students with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) should be aware that EHCPs are not applicable in Higher Education settings like Mountview.

• It may still be helpful to share your EHCP with Mountview if you would like there to be awareness about the support you received in your previous schooling
• The Disabled Students Allowance can be applied to for help covering the costs of study-related needs that arise from a disability. This might include costs for specialist equipment, assistive technology, and other non-medical helper support

Our Student Welfare Manager is available for one-to-one meetings throughout the academic year, and can provide advice and sign-posting on avenues of support for your mental health and wellbeing.

• Reasonable Adjustments for students with mental health conditions are considered on a case-by-case basis, and can be implemented upon receipt of medical evidence
• TalkCampus – The TalkCampus platform provides 27/7 support to all students and is free to download on smartphones. Sign up using your Mountview email. 
• Counselling Service – Students are able to access free, confidential counselling from a team of qualified, accredited counsellors

Mountview cannot offer emergency assistance. If you’re in immediate danger of hurting yourself or others:

• Go directly to the Accident & Emergency (A&E) department of your local hospital to get help or call 999 to request an ambulance
• If you’re feeling distressed and need urgent support, contact your GP surgery to request an emergency appointment
• If your GP surgery isn’t open, call the free NHS out-of-hours medical line on 111 for help accessing the right services
• You can call the Samaritans on 116 123 to talk to someone at any time, day or night.

Mountview is committed to creating neurodiverse-friendly learning environments where students are supported to find learning strategies that work best for them. Specific Learning Differences (SpLDs) are conditions which affect the way information is learned and processed – they are also commonly referred to as ‘neurodivergent’ conditions. These include but are not limited to Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder, Dysgraphia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Students with an SpLD are entitled to reasonable adjustments in the form of a Summary of Reasonable Adjustments (SRA)

Reasonable Adjustments aim to ensure that no students with a disability is placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled students. A Summary of Reasonable Adjustments (SRA) is a document that outlines the reasonable adjustments that Mountview will implement for students with physical, mobility, sensory, neurological, or mental health related disabilities. An SRA is created by Mountview’s Student Welfare Manager once a student has provided medical evidence, and the SRA is shared with all relevant staff to ensure awareness of the student’s adjustments.

Students who would like an SRA can complete the Reasonable Adjustments Form. 

Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is financial support to cover the study-related costs you have because of a mental health problem, long-term illness or any other disability. This can be on its own or in addition to any student finance you receive. The type of support, and how much you get, depends on your individual needs and is not based on your household income. DSA does not have to be repaid.

DSA support might include assistive specialist equipment or software, extra travel costs that occur as a result of your disability and non-medical helpers (eg: one to one Study Skills tutors).

Incoming students are encouraged to apply for DSA prior to starting their course, in order to ensure that any necessary support is in place from the beginning of the training.

More information can be found at Gov.uk.

Students are advised to register with a local Belfast GP as a matter of urgency.

If you are a UK student and  already registered with a GP in another part of the country, it is recommended that you swap your registration to a GP near your place of study. When you go home during holidays, you should still be able to make an appointment at your home GP surgery as a temporary patient.

If you are an international student, registering with a GP should be one of the first things you do after arriving in the UK, to ensure that you have easy access to healthcare throughout your time here.

The NIDirect website provides guidance and instructions on finding a GP. It can be helpful to look at reviews and ask for recommendations from other students to find a surgery that suits you and your needs. 

Full details of different medical options can be found on the Belfast Trust website.

If you have an accident in the MAC, you must report it to studentservices@mountview.org.uk and your Course Leader.

If you have an accident outside the MAC, the nearest 24-hour A&E departments are at Mater Infirmorum Hospital and Royal Victoria Hospital.  

Students can be more vulnerable than the general population to certain serious illnesses due to their age, living close to other students in halls of residence, and mixing with lots of new people. By getting vaccinated, you can reduce your risk. You do not need to be registered with a GP to get vaccinated, but doing so can help to avoid any potential delays, and your GP can advise on which vaccinations are appropriate.

You can access free sexual health services at a range of locations, such as GP surgeries, some pharmacies, young people’s services, and sexual health clinics. Find sexual health services near you at SexualHealthNI.

Like in any other city, crime unfortunately happens in Belfast. 

• Take care of your personal property
• Close your bag and keep your purse or wallet somewhere you can be aware of it
• Don’t walk around while looking at or talking on your phone as phone snatching is becoming an increasing problem
• In an emergency, call 999

For safety tips visit psni.police.uk.