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Feeling exposed and ashamed

I’m struggling with a lot of regret and shame after opening up to my university’s wellbeing team. I was under a lot of stress and didn’t feel safe in my personal life, so I told the wellbeing manager that I wasn’t safe..I didn’t specifically use the term “abuse,” just that I was in a difficult situation.

They immediately referred me to a domestic abuse caseworker and labeled my file with “domestic abuse” without me explicitly saying that. In the meeting with the caseworker, I tried to explain things but felt overwhelmed and couldn’t articulate everything properly. When I sent email to ask for a follow up by email, she just replied with “thank you for sharing your experiences” and sent me some generic resources that didn’t feel relevant at all.

What hurts isn’t that my concerns were dismissed..it’s that I shared something personal, and now I feel like everyone knows. I’m 100% sure my programme lead knows about it, even though the caseworker said everything was confidential. Bcz of that, I haven’t been able to reach out to him, and I feel like I’ll never be able to face him again.

I didn’t have anyone to talk to, and I regret turning to the university. I feel exposed, ashamed. It has literally ruined my future as even if I fail I might need career advice as in what my options are but I feel like I will never be able to face my course lead!!

Reply 1

Original post
by Anonymous
I’m struggling with a lot of regret and shame after opening up to my university’s wellbeing team. I was under a lot of stress and didn’t feel safe in my personal life, so I told the wellbeing manager that I wasn’t safe..I didn’t specifically use the term “abuse,” just that I was in a difficult situation.
They immediately referred me to a domestic abuse caseworker and labeled my file with “domestic abuse” without me explicitly saying that. In the meeting with the caseworker, I tried to explain things but felt overwhelmed and couldn’t articulate everything properly. When I sent email to ask for a follow up by email, she just replied with “thank you for sharing your experiences” and sent me some generic resources that didn’t feel relevant at all.
What hurts isn’t that my concerns were dismissed..it’s that I shared something personal, and now I feel like everyone knows. I’m 100% sure my programme lead knows about it, even though the caseworker said everything was confidential. Bcz of that, I haven’t been able to reach out to him, and I feel like I’ll never be able to face him again.
I didn’t have anyone to talk to, and I regret turning to the university. I feel exposed, ashamed. It has literally ruined my future as even if I fail I might need career advice as in what my options are but I feel like I will never be able to face my course lead!!
Look you can talk to me

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