What to Expect From Your Appointment
Before your appointment with your advisor, it’s good to have some insight into what you can expect from it, the role of the advisor and the Advice Service, and what is and isn’t expected from you.
Before Your Appointment
Before your appointment, it’s helpful for you to:
- Send over any relevant documents to the Advice Service email inbox, so your advisor can try to look through these before your appointment. if there’s time
- Prepare a concise overview of the main points of your situation that you want to discuss with your advisor
- Think about any specific questions you would like answered
During The Appointment
Advice appointments last about forty five minutes and are an opportunity for an advisor to explore your options with you in more detail.
At the beginning of the appointment , your advisor will talk you through the role and scope of the Students’ Union Advice Service, and explain the confidentiality policy to you. They’ll outline how the appointment and any follow up will work.
Your Advisor will listen to you and ask you questions so they can work out how best to support you and, if possible, provide you with the information you need to move your issue forward or resolve it. This may include options for UCL or external procedures you can follow. You will not be expected or asked to retell any traumatic events you have experienced; we understand that you may have already explained this to a number of different people before reaching the Advice Service, and this could be distressing. If they need certain information to help advise you, your advisor will try to explain why they’re asking for this. If your experiences are related to sexual violence, your advisor may refer you to a sexual violence support service within the university or Students’ Union to support you. They will discuss this with you first.
At the end of your appointment, you and your Advisor will come up with a plan of action that will help move things forward. This may include sending you information for your reference or use, arranging a further appointment at a later date, or a referral to an alternative UCL service or external organisation if it is evident that you require more specialist information or support.
After The Appointment
Your advisor will follow up with an email to you, including an overview of what was discussed in the meeting, as well as any resources or information they feel would be relevant for you and your case. You can reach out directly to your advisor if you need any further support, and this can be provided either by email, or by your advisor arranging another appointment if appropriate.
Points To Note
While your advisor is here to support and guide you, they are not a mental health professional and won’t be able to provide a therapy service. If you need emotional or mental health support, we encourage you to reach out to trained professionals either in the university or externally who can offer the right care, and we may be able to help you with this process. UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services provide advice and support on a wide range of mental health and wellbeing subjects, to help you get the most out of student life.
Where your advisor identifies any immediate or serious risk to you in relation to mental health, the confidentiality policy will be followed to ensure that any support can be given to you as soon as possible from the appropriate services. This may include your advisor discussing any concerns with the Advice Service Manager – wherever possible, you will be informed of and included in these discussions.
We strive to provide the best possible service with information and support on whatever issues you may be facing. This doesn’t mean our Advisors will investigate or resolve the issue on your behalf. Finally, our Advisors are not legally trained and so cannot offer specific legal advice on your situation. We can give you information on where you can find external legal advice.