The Student Room Group

DSA for mental health

I have been accepted for DSA for my mental health, but is it at all useful? what does it cover for people that have mental health issues?
I've found some parts of it more useful than others (I have schizoaffective disorder). For me, the most invaluable thing was the access to regular (in my case, weekly) meetings with a specialist mental health mentor. This is someone you meet with who knows about/has a background in mental health, and who supports you with your uni work and listens to your problems. They can, if necessary, liaise between you and the disability office at your uni, and/or (if they are allowed to) between you and your departmental tutors. I didn't have DSA or a specialist mental health mentor for my undergraduate degree, and the difference in grades between my BA and my MA courses really reflect that! Having a mentor has been so helpful for me :yep:

Other things I've found useful were the taxi allowance (though I never used it) to travel between my parents' flat and uni; the printer-scanner I was given, and the laptop (I got mine for free, in the last year where they were paying for the entire laptop and associated software. These days you'll have to contribute £200 towards the laptop); the mind-mapping software, and the notetaker for lectures :yep:

Let me know if you have anymore questions :h:
PS. I did get other stuff too, like text-to-speech software, ergonomic stuff for laptop, etc. but I've only talked about the bits of it that I personally found most useful. Everyone's DSA provision is very individual to them, so you might get stuff I didn't get and vice versa :smile:

Quick Reply

Latest