Student Support

Laura Fogarty: [00:00:04] I am Laura and I am studying Psychology with Criminology, and I'm in my second year. [00:00:08][4.0] Laura Fogarty: [00:00:11] I didn't always want to come to university. I had a job before I applied to come to university. And unfortunately, I became unwell, which prompted me to come along and apply. And it really gave me a positive outlook being unwell in that I wanted to return to education. I became pregnant with my son, who is now four. And I became extremely unwell after I had him, which resulted in me having to go onto an inpatient unit for five months, that was probably one of the main challenges for me, is living with a mental illness and being a student. BCU is amazing for mental health because my personal tutor is always available if I need to have a chat. If I become stressed about certain aspects of my work, I can just go to her. And I have also made friends that have helped me massively along the way, that have been so understanding of my mental health. So if they notice that I'm not feeling too well or acting a little bit different. Just having a chat with them makes a massive difference. At the start I did struggle to fit in, one because I thought that I wouldn't fit in because of my age. However, when I got here, I realised even the people younger than me was really accepting and they didn't see me for my age, they just see me as a person and as a student. And everybody's like one big family. And even if I don't have my friends, I have the lecturers who I can go to and there's just always really somebody to go to to talk to. So when I first arrived at BCU, the main goal was to get a degree. However, now it is to get the job that I am most happiest in, and that is in mental health. That is where I really want to work. I am most proud of myself and what I've achieved. I'm proud that I came from being an inpatient on a mental health ward to being able to be a student and a successful student. I am BCU for me and is a strong support system within all aspects, within mental health, within having a diverse range of students and lecturers. It's really welcoming. It's about people from all walks of life. [00:00:11][0.0] [4.0]