Session Outline

A round table discussion that focuses on staff mental health and wellbeing and the potential impact personal tutoring can place on us as tutors if we do not maintain our boundaries.

As personal tutors, we are increasingly faced with supporting students who are experiencing crisis and this is very often at the end of the day, late at night or a Friday evening. This may be a last-minute deadline where they are unable to submit their work, placement issues/terminations or a personal issue that is significantly affecting their mental health and wellbeing.

We, as tutors are then faced with the challenge of trying to support the student at a time where central services or academic tutors may not be available, or we may not know who to ask or where to signpost the student.

Therefore, as personal tutors to effectively support the student within our scope and role as a personal tutor creating boundaries is essential to maintaining our own mental health and wellbeing. As a personal tutor, setting out core aspects to the role, and aligning expectations on both sides is crucial from the start of the personal tutor sessions. In addition to knowing when to signpost students to our mental health and wellbeing services. As personal tutors we often take on the tutee’s issues to try and resolve them, but this is sometimes out of our own expertise, and it can come at a cost to our own mental health and wellbeing. Understanding our university systems, procedures and policies, it is vital we are aware of own limitations as this allows us to tread the fine line of maintaining our own boundaries and ensuring student feel we are supportive and accessible.