Unite Students provides new 24/7 wellbeing specialist support

•  Unite Students is offering unique 24/7 wellbeing and mental health services to 70,000 students
• The leading provider of student accommodation has joined forces with Endsleigh Insurance with its new 24/7 Student Wellbeing Helpline and Digital Therapy
• Students have unlimited access to a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accredited 24/7 counselling helpline
• It has an interpretation service in over 240 languages and online support resources including cognitive behavioural therapy

Unite Students, the UK’s leading provider of student accommodation, is offering unique 24/7 wellbeing and mental health services to 70,000 students.

The wellbeing initiative, provided through a partnership with Endsleigh Insurance, includes extra counselling and therapy support for Unite Students’ residents, following its latest Applicant Index.

Unite Students is offering unique 24/7 wellbeing and mental health services

Designed to complement and support Unite Students’ existing wellbeing support, the 24/7 Student Wellbeing Helpline and Digital Therapy provides students with unlimited access to a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accredited, 24/7 counselling helpline. It has an interpretation service in over 240 languages and online support resources including cognitive behavioural therapy. 

The new service is part of Unite Students’ ‘Support to Stay’ framework, which aims to provide:

• Students with a supportive living environment to fulfil their potential, particularly when experiencing medical, physical or mental-health difficulties.
• As part of the framework, all Unite Students’ property teams complete training on a range of student support matters, such as supporting students with disabilities, safeguarding and signposting students for support. The company also offers Mental Health First Aid training to its staff, equipping them with the skills to identify and respond to mental health difficulties and to be responsive in moments of crisis.
• It also includes a Resident Ambassador programme. Resident Ambassadors provide important peer-to-peer support to students, and they lead on social events within Unite Students properties.

The Unite Students 2023 Applicant Index reveals one in three university applicants, a total of almost 154,000, missed lessons at schools, colleges and sixth-forms in the last two years due to their mental health. A quarter (24%), from the survey of 2,141 applicants who were planning to start an undergraduate degree in the 2023-24 academic year, said they felt lonely all or most of the time, part of the reason the student accommodation provider has joined forces with Endsleigh.

The introduction of 24/7 Student Wellbeing Helpline and Digital Therapy highlights Endsleigh’s long partnership with Unite Students and its provision of group contents insurance across Unite Students’ student accommodation blocks, which is included for free to students as part of their fixed-price, all-inclusive rent.

Karan Khanna, Chief Customer Officer at Unite Students, said:

“Unite Students’ new 24/7 Student Wellbeing Helpline and Digital Therapy is the result of listening to student feedback and engaging with our university partners. Our research shows we need to continue to prioritise providing access to support for all our customers, when they need it, as part of our ‘Support to Stay’ promise.

“We’ve partnered with Endsleigh so students can access vital support via their phones and have the opportunity to engage in clinician-lead therapy through a digital platform when they need it most, bridging the gap before they can secure face-to-face therapy through their university or GP.”

Alison Meckiffe, Chief Executive Officer at Endsleigh Insurance, said:

“We are thrilled to be providing Unite Students and their residents with our Student Assistance Programme. Students are at a higher risk of mental health issues developing due to loneliness, financial worries, and academic stress. We believe mental health support should be easily accessible to all students as they undergo the challenges and changes that coincide with studying.”

Notes to Editors

For further information, please contact Unite Students press office on 0117 4506300 or email: press.office@unitestudents.com

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK’s largest owner, manager, and developer of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) serving the country’s world-leading higher education sector. We provide homes to 70,000 students across 157 properties in 23 leading university towns and cities. We currently partner with over 60 universities across the UK.

Our people are driven by a common purpose: to provide a ‘Home for Success’ for the students who live with us. Unite Students’ accommodation is safe and secure, high quality, and affordable. Students live predominantly in en-suite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security and high-speed Wi-Fi. We also achieved a five-star British Safety Council rating in our last audit.

We are committed to raising standards in the student accommodation sector for our customers, investors, and employees. This is why our new Sustainability Strategy, launched in 2021, includes a commitment to become net zero carbon across our operations and developments by 2030.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, the Unite Group is an award-winning Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit Unite Group’s corporate website www.unitegroup.com or the Unite Students’ site www.unitestudents.com