DSA for mental illness

Thanks for the reply!
I do think a mentor could be useful as the standard support given on my degree is very limited and first year was very stressful bc of it esp bc my bpd really affects my ability to plan and organise work and to attend lectures.

Just wondering, do you happen to know of any other types of funding which could cover costs directly related to my mental health needs? As my gp has told me that he can’t really offer me any suitable treatments as there aren’t any in my area and that I should go private. Except I really don’t have the money to do this, even with my bursary as I use my bursary to pay for my accommodation. So I was just wondering if there’s any types of funding for things like this?

Thanks again!

This is so useful thank you!

When I read they offered software I didn’t think it sound be that helpful for me but I actually think I’d find all of these very helpful. When I go for the needs assessment I think I’ll explain to them that bpd symptoms manifest very similarly to adhd symptoms and also asd (the diagnoses in fact are often mixed up bc of the way the symptoms present) so anything they’d offer to someone with adhd/asd/another neurodivergency I do think would be useful to me too.

Oh also, I’m not sure if this is relevant but I already receive a bursary from my uni as I’m from a low income household as well as now being estranged from my family. I don’t know if this would affect what they would offer me due to the fact I get a bursary

just an update
it’s now been confirmed that i am definitely eligible for DSA and i’m currently booking in my appointment so hopefully i’ll have some adjustments in place before i go back in september!

ok, me again lol
does anyone know/have any experience with how long it took for the assessment centre to respond and give you an appointment?

as i asked for one nearly a month ago and have had no reply

i plan to do it online but can do in person if they want. the instructions i was given were to just send them an email with the letter saying i was eligible for DSA and my personal evidence, and ask for an appointment and then they would reply with a date. but they havent. i did receive an automated reply so the email has definitely been received, so i’m not sure if they’re just busy this time of year

It would be there to cover study-related needs (not generic mental health needs unrelated to your studies), so wouldn't cover travel costs of going to/from therapy appointments or other medical appointments. It could potentially cover taxi fares (with an approved company) from home to uni, if you're not living on campus.

In my experience of getting DSA (for psychosis, in my case - so quite a different condition), DSA for mental health is designed to set you up to work from home for the days where you can't go into campus. So they may suggest providing you with equipment like a laptop (you'll have to pay the first £200-odd pounds towards this), a printer-scanner-photocopier, any course-specific software you might need. I've only had DSA as a postgrad but for my Masters course, I had a notetaker in lectures, which was handy, and I was given a dictaphone to record lectures. You may also get a 'consumables' allowance towards printing paper, printer ink, and non-core textbooks.

By far, the most useful thing DSA has given me is weekly access to a specialist mental health mentor via my uni's disability office. This is someone who keeps an eye on you, helps with study skills and motivation, and acts as a general liaison point between you, the uni's disability office, and other people within the uni

So I have mine for autism, depression and anxiety
I'll provide a list of all the software as DSA they are really helpful, also I believe the software for mental health and nuerodiveregent people are the same providing you can explanation for it
I got 2 hours of a therapist
I also got 2 hour ASD mentoring per week which is like study skills and coping with chage etc
Then apart from software they asked about adjustments which you get more of from the uni but there are some like extra time etc that you are supposed to get from DDSS because of the funding (the adjustments you need for exams or presentations etc.)
I was also given a printer for free and £186 for ink and paper but they pack this back rather than giving this to you. (I was eligable for a laptop but didn't need one)
- I got glean which allows you to record the lectures and make notes whilst recording, adding slides, edit them and many more
I was also sent a free microphone with this because of how large the lecture theatres are
- I also got Scholarly which you put in an article and then it summarises it for you and seperates the categories
- I also got global tasks which is an organised to do list online programme but you can hade tasks and edit it in cool other ways so really useful
- I also got pro study which collects all the different articles for different projects and organises them and then does the referencing for you
- I also got writing helper which structures the essay and explains what question words mean as well as telling you if you have any plagarism in it and making sure all the targets are done
- I also got grammarly premium which helps with the tone of the writing which was really helpful (I think this is the only one that isn't on the list for mental health)
- I also got claro read which adds tints to the screen etc and reads out all the text as well as being able to speak to it and it will type for you and it also has other PDF features
- I also got brain in hand which is a app designed for autistic people for routine and having a set bank of solutions when things go wrong but is given for other mental health conditions
Honestly the DSA team are amazing and provide so much support

Hello, thanks for the information. I had a couple of questions though. I struggle a lot with anxiety and panic attacks which have effects on my sleep, appetite, behaviour and many other things I have been trying really hard to not get on medication as I really have a bad fear of medication as it makes me think I failed to overcome my issues 'naturally". After reading other people's posts I feel like I'm being arrogant. Mainly because I don't really know what I need or want and compared to others my case is not as important. I'm thinking of scrapping the DSA completely as I don't want to waste their time and resources when other people clearly need it more. What is your advice? My school guided me to DSA and I have been accepted and asked to book an assessment but I don't know what to do from here .

true, it's just that I do not want to be seen like I'm trying to scam people. Yes, I will be starting university this September. My biggest fear with the university is its fast paste and independent process. You mentioned software and such. I don't know what software is good or what I need. how did you figure out what you wanted? Should I prepare a list of things? Should I try to start trying out or researching software? My main concern is I don't know what's up for offer for me to know what I need if you get me. Sorry for asking a lot.
(Original post by Jess_Lomas)

It's good to be prepared so don't worry about asking questions
So the way it works is depending on the diagnosis they have a list of software that they can give for those conditions
She started by asking me what were a couple of my concerns I said my main one was labs and keeping up with lectures and recommended software for that
Then there were other things like referencing which I hadn't thought about but she asked if I would be interested in something to help showed me the video and then asked if it would help me
So even though I went to it with a couple of ideas about the struggles I didn't know any specific software or how much support I could get
For preparing maybe just write down your biggest worries that you have
Personally I wouldn't research the specific software as it might not be given on DSA or you might not qualify for that software but if you research software and think oh that mindmapping helps because and then maybe ask if they have anything for mindmapping

I see. I don't really have my own laptop or a tablet that I can use. For school I used my brothers laptop because his soon starting work and needs to use after summer. Do those software work on phone?

No but you can pay £200 towards a laptop and you get to keep it but you can apply to the uni your going to and they will probably give it back in September

Okay, I understand. But this new issue of getting a laptop. Will that be handled in the needs assessment right? I do not need to go to someone else for that. And don't worry this is my last question.