two students sitting in a garden on campus

Health and wellbeing are crucial ingredients of effective study as well as a rich and fulfilling student experience. The University’s Wellbeing and Welfare services are always available to help you get the most out of your time at Exeter. 

What do the Wellbeing and Welfare Services do?

Wellbeing offer a range of services to support students personally and in their studies when difficulties occur. This could be managing your mental health, a disability or long term health condition, navigating an emotional challenge, or perhaps adjusting to living in a new country, missing home and making new friends.

Our Wellbeing webpages are organised to reflect the types of support on offer. Even if you are fit and healthy now it is worth exploring what is available in case you or a friend find yourself in need of support during your time at Exeter.

When you contact the Wellbeing team you will be asked some questions to help identify the next steps for you. This may include working with local NHS (National Health Service) and other support groups, guiding you to our online resources, and occasionally recommending counselling and other one-to-one support.

The Education Welfare Team work alongside the academic and support staff for your department and support students with new or ongoing health, wellbeing or welfare issues that impact their studies. They can help secure adjustments to how you access learning and assessments, as well as helping you to identify other support that may be helpful with your health and wellbeing or study skills needs. You can find out more on the next page of this course.

Disability advice and support

Our Disability Advisors provide information and advice for students with a disability or long term health condition. This can include specific learning difficulties, long term health conditions, sensory or mobility impairments, autism spectrum conditions and mental health difficulties. If you are eligible, we can help you to set up an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) to recommend reasonable adjustments to help you to succeed in your studies. This might include extra time, laptop usage, or specific rooming provision during exams, depending on your needs and appropriate supporting evidence. It’s important to note that previous exam adjustments you may have had before registering at the university will not automatically transfer to your study at Exeter.

The Student Space website is also full of information, services and tools developed by Student Minds to help you with the challenges of student life.

If you feel you would benefit from any of the Wellbeing support detailed above please do contact our teams as soon as possible so that any support can be arranged for you to start the term confidently.

Pastoral Mentor

Every department has a Pastoral Mentor who works with students to help them feel empowered to understand what's going on for them, what their next steps may be and enact a change that needs to happen. They can work with you to untangle complex challenges that might be impacting your experience or making it difficult to attend class. 

Your Pastoral Mentor may reach out to offer support if a concern is flagged – this could be through data (for example, if they see you haven't submitted a piece of work or you've not attended class for a period of time) or if another member of staff feels you could benefit from a chat with them. 

Chaplaincy

The Chaplaincy team are also available to support people of all faiths (or no faith) and provide a safe space to talk and offer you a non-judgmental and listening ear. No issue is too big or too small.

Staying in University accommodation?

If you are in University accommodation our Residence Life team can help you to settle into life as a student and being away from family, with advice and social activities to help you settle into our community. Peer support mentors hold regular drop in sessions and also visit residences throughout the year.


Last modified: Friday, 30 May 2025, 3:25 PM