Support for those reported for incidents of harassment and/or sexual misconduct and violence.
We understand that being reported for incidents of harassment and/or sexual misconduct and sexual violence can naturally have an impact on your wellbeing and your ability to study. The Reported Student Support service (RSSS) supports any student formally or informally reported for incidents of harassment and/or sexual misconduct and violence. We can also support any student who is concerned about their own behaviour and want help to address it.
This support is here regardless of whether you're named in a formal report or not, or whether you've been reported through the criminal justice system.
We offer both practical and emotional support around internal university processes that may be taking place or due to take place, can provide support around academic guidance, support around studies needed, or simply provide a safe and non judgemental space in which to explore any emotional challenges these experiences may have brought. We can offer assistance with accessing relevant internal, or external specialist, support.
To access support through this service please register with counselling and wellbeing and attend an initial assessment with a member of the team, saying that you want to access the RSSS service for support.
You'll then be contacted by the RSSS to arrange an initial appointment and support going forward.
One we receive your self-referral we'll make contact with you within five working days to arrange an initial meeting. This meeting will be with a member of the team who is an experienced specialist support worker, working specifically to support students who have been reported to the university or external agencies for harassment and/or sexual misconduct and violence, or who have concerns surrounding their own behaviour and want support to be able to address this.
Within this initial appointment, we'll aim to gain an understanding of the challenges that are causing you the most difficulty, either emotionally or practically, and tailor our support to help address those challenges as much as possible. You'll not be pressurised to talk about anything that you are not ready to share, the appointments are completely guided by you, and totally optional.
Our service aims to offer:
Please note that this service is unable to accompany students to any disciplinary meetings or any formal meetings with external agencies. Please contact the SU Advice Service should you feel you require direct support with any formal ARU process. See here for help and support for any legal proceedings: Find legal advice and information.
The RSSS sits within the Counselling and Wellbeing team and as such adheres to their confidentiality policy.
This means we will always try to maintain your confidentiality where possible and that we won't share anything that you tell us outside of the counselling and wellbeing team without your explicit permission. However, there are some exceptions where we may not be able to maintain this. We will always seek to inform you where we need to do this, if safe to do so, before sharing.
One example of this is where we have reason to believe that you or others may be at risk of harm, and this sharing of information is essential in keeping both you, and any others, safe. For more exceptions, it is really important that you see our confidentiality policy before accessing the service.
Dial 999 to access emergency support to prevent any harm from occurring.
Dial 111 option 2 for mental health crisis support or please see Where to get urgent help for mental health - NHS.
You can access other support as well as your RSSS support. Please see our Emergency help and crisis support and our Support for students pages.
We strongly recommend you use the Students' Union free, confidential and impartial service when going through any of the University procedures. You can find more information about them and how to seek support on their website: Students' Union Advice Service Advice. They can help support you with navigating any processes, and attend meetings with you. You can also be referred for emotional support if this is something that you would like to access.