Demand for student mental health services is growing, as is the complexity of presentations to university student wellbeing services. There is a need for innovative service delivery models to prevent students falling in the gaps of existing provision, where outcomes from traditional talking therapies services have been shown to be poorer for students than non-student peers. In 2018, Newcastle University established a pilot in-house cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) service to provide high-intensity CBT for students at the university, harnessing the expertise of qualified and training staff from the psychological professions. This subsequently expanded into the Psychological Therapies Training and Research Clinic, appointing additional clinical staff. Here we present the journey of the clinic, from inception to implementation and expansion. We also present a descriptive evaluation of the first three years of operation, reporting on clinical activity, clinical outcomes and client experiences of the service. Data are presented from 605 referrals. Over 70% of referrals were assessed and over 60% transitioned into treatment. The treatment completion rate was 50%, with an overall recovery rate of 47.3% [using the same definition of recovery as NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression (NHS TTAD)]. Satisfaction, measured by the Patient Evaluation Questionnaire, was high. These outcomes are commensurate or better than seen in NHS TTAD services for students and young adults. Overall, the clinic has been a successful addition to the wellbeing offer of the university and has provided a number of positive further opportunities for both research and the clinical training programmes.
Key learning aims(1) To understand the process followed to establish a university-run cognitive behavioural therapy service for students and enable other institutions to replicate this model.
(2) To identify whether universities can deliver safe, effective mental health services that are fully evaluated and result in commensurate clinical outcomes to other service contexts.
(3) To reflect on key learning, challenges and ethical considerations in establishing such services.
