Mental health support in further education: a guide

Mental health shapes whether a learner can attend, concentrate, take part and stay on a course. Colleges and apprenticeship providers are not clinical services, but they are often the place where a young person or adult first says that they are struggling.

This guide sets out what the Department for Education expects, how mental health relates to support plans and reasonable adjustments, how to respond day to day, and where your role ends. It is not clinical or legal advice.

What does the Department for Education say about mental health support in further education?

The Department for Education encourages colleges to take a whole-college approach to mental health and wellbeing. Its guidance, Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges, sets out eight principles. They cover ethos, leadership, staff development, curriculum, student voice, monitoring interventions, targeted support and referral, and working with parents and carers.

The guidance also describes the role of a senior mental health lead, who builds and oversees the whole-college approach, and points to mental health support teams, which can deliver early interventions, advise staff and liaise with external services. Check the guidance for the current position on training, funding and availability in your area, as these change.

Colleges are also expected to take account of the SEND Code of Practice and statutory safeguarding guidance. The SEND Code of Practice lists social, emotional and mental health difficulties as one of the broad areas of need.

Can a mental health condition be a disability?

Yes. Under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010, a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders and others may meet that test, depending on how they affect the individual and how long the effects last or are likely to last.

Where a learner is disabled, the duty to make reasonable adjustments in section 20 applies. You do not need a diagnosis to start sensible support, and you should not insist on one for everyday changes. If a case is unclear, take professional advice. The guide to reasonable adjustments explains the duty in more detail.

What adjustments can help learners with mental health needs?

Start with the barrier the learner describes. These are examples, not a menu.

Agree with the learner how discreet each step needs to be. Many learners do not want to explain their health to every tutor.

How do you notice that a learner is struggling?

Staff notice changes, ask kindly and respond. Common signs include changes in attendance, withdrawal, missed deadlines, changes in appearance or behaviour, or a learner telling a peer or tutor they are not coping. None of these confirm a mental health condition. They are reasons to start a conversation.

A simple approach:

1. Notice. Something has changed.
2. Ask. Privately, kindly and openly: “I’ve noticed you’ve missed a few sessions. How are things?”
3. Listen. Do not rush to fix or reassure.
4. Respond. Agree a next step with the learner.
5. Record. Note the facts, share on a need-to-know basis.
6. Follow up. Check back within a few days.

How does this link to a support plan?

A support plan can include mental health related barriers and adjustments without recording clinical details. Record what gets in the way and what helps, in the learner’s words, and put sensitive information in a restricted record.

Fictional example. Leah is 20 and on a Level 3 childcare programme. She tells her personal tutor that she has been having panic attacks before her placement and that she is seeing her GP. In her plan the team records: “I find it hard to start the morning when I’m worried about placement. I need to know who will meet me and what I’ll be doing. If I have a panic attack, I need five minutes outside and then I’m usually okay.” The agreed support is a pre-placement visit, a named mentor at the setting, an agreed signal to step out, and a Friday call with her tutor. The word “panic” appears only in the restricted record. The version shared with the placement supervisor contains only the visit, the mentor and the signal, which Leah approved.

See how to write a learner support plan for the wording and structure.

Where does your role end?

Staff are not clinicians. Your role is to support wellbeing, make adjustments, recognise when a learner needs more, and refer. Set clear boundaries:

• Do not diagnose or give clinical advice.
• Do not promise confidentiality you cannot keep. Explain, early, that you may need to share information if the learner or someone else is at risk.
• Know your referral routes. The college counselling service, the GP, NHS talking therapies, the local crisis service, charities and youth services.
• Know your emergency routes. Immediate danger to life: call 999. For urgent but not life-threatening situations, the NHS mental health pages link to how to get urgent help now; check them for current routes.
• Follow safeguarding procedures. If a learner is at risk of harm, the designated safeguarding lead must be told. Our safeguarding boundaries page explains what a learner support tool does and does not do.

Statutory guidance such as Keeping children safe in education applies to learners under 18 in colleges. Check the current version for your duties.

What about data protection?

Information about mental health is health data, which is special category data under UK GDPR. The ICO explains what that means. Practically:

• Record what you need, not everything you are told.
• Restrict access to people who need it to support the learner.
• Be clear with learners about who will see what.
• Keep risk and safeguarding information separate from the support plan, with its own access rules.
• Ask your data protection officer before sharing information with an employer, GP or family.

See special category data in education for more.

What about apprentices?

Apprentices have two settings: the training provider and the workplace. Mental health support may need to cover both, and the apprentice should decide what the employer is told. The employer’s duty to make adjustments for a disabled employee is separate from the provider’s. Access to Work may help with workplace support, including for mental health conditions. See also working with employers on adjustments.

What are the common mistakes?

• Waiting for a diagnosis or referral before offering any support.
• Treating mental health as a behaviour issue. Sanctions without conversation can make things worse.
• Putting clinical detail in a plan that many staff can read.
• Over-promising confidentiality.
• Taking on a therapeutic role you are not trained for.
• Making support depend on constant disclosure. Learners should not have to retell the story to every tutor.
• Ignoring staff wellbeing. Staff supporting distressed learners need supervision and support too.
• Losing track after a crisis. Plan the return, and review the plan after an incident.

A checklist for your provision

• ☐ A named senior lead for mental health and wellbeing.
• ☐ Clear referral and emergency routes, known to all staff.
• ☐ Staff know how to start a conversation and where their role ends.
• ☐ Support plans can include mental health related adjustments without clinical detail.
• ☐ Safeguarding and support records are separate, with different access.
• ☐ Learners can ask for support without a diagnosis.
• ☐ Apprentices and employers have an agreed approach to sharing.
• ☐ Support is reviewed with the learner.

How can you support learners after a crisis or a period away?

Plan the return before it happens. When a learner has been away because of illness, hospital admission or a crisis, the first week back sets the tone. Contact them before they return, with their consent and in the way they prefer, and ask what would make returning easier.

Agree a short, written re-entry plan covering a named person to meet them, a gradual return to timetable if appropriate, how missed work will be handled, who needs to know what, and what to do if things become difficult again. Treat any break in learning as a reason to review adjustments and to check funding, attendance and course requirements, such as whether a suspension or change of programme is possible and what it means for them.

Keep the plan under review for several weeks. A return that goes well in week one can wobble in week four when attention moves elsewhere. Care-experienced learners may face particular pressures; see care-experienced learners in FE.

How does Inclusion Studio support this?

Inclusion Studio is not a safeguarding, clinical or crisis tool, and the safeguarding boundaries page explains this. It is designed to help you record what a learner says helps, agree adjustments, track delivery and review, with sensitive information controlled by role. Triage of new requests is described on the triage page. Inclusion Studio is pre-pilot, with a clickable prototype using fictional learners, and the production application is in development using synthetic data only. It does not diagnose or assess risk.