SMS MSc Student Handbook 2024/2025 (Sep 2024 Start)

You should familiarise yourself with emergency procedures for all areas in which you work, noting the location of emergency exits, assembly points and equipment. On hearing a fire alarm in a QM building, you should immediately leave through the nearest emergency exit, unless redirected by a Fire Marshall. Do not go to any other part of the building for any reason. Proceed to the designated emergency assembly area and report to the Fire Marshal. Do not leave the assembly area or re-enter the building until instructed to do so. Failure to follow these procedures may lead to disciplinary action.

You should familiarise yourself with emergency procedures for all areas in which you work, noting the location of emergency exits, assembly points and equipment. In case of a fire, immediately leave the building by the nearest exit point. Do not use the lifts. Fire action notices are displayed in corridors and by fire escapes.

Tampering with fire alarms or fire-fighting equipment is a serious offence, and disciplinary action may be taken against any student/s responsible for breaking this role.

In an emergency, dial 3333 from any internal phone and clearly state the nature and location of the problem, your name, and the number you are calling from (if known). If no internal phone is available, call 999 and follow the normal procedure. We all have a duty of care towards fellow students and staff. You should ensure that corridors and doorways are not obstructed and that fire fighting equipment is not removed from its station.

• For minor accidents, you can obtain first aid assistance by dialling 3333 from an internal phone or 020 7882 3333 from any other phone.
• For general enquiries, you can contact Queen Mary Security by dialling 5000 from an internal phone or 020 7882 5000 from any other phone.

Support for Students when University is Closed

Queen Mary’s student wellbeing services have been expanded significantly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but we are not emergency services, and our staff work office hours; broadly, Monday to Friday, 9.00 am - 5.00pm.

However, we recognise that students’ lives do not always fit around the opening hours of our wellbeing services, and people may need emotional support in the evenings, at weekends and Bank Holidays and on other days when the University is closed.

With that in mind, this page outlines all of the support students can access outside traditional office hours – our partnerships with Togetherall and Health Assured in particular have been developed to provide students with 24/7 support to complement our in-house wellbeing services, e.g. the Advice and Counselling Service, and the Disability and Dyslexia Service.

24/7 Wellbeing Helpline

Queen Mary are working with an organisation called Health Assured to provide our students with a 24/7 wellbeing helpline when our in-house services are closed. This kind of service is known as a Student Assistance Programme. Health Assured provide emotional support and ‘practical guidance’ through professionally qualified staff (typically counsellors).

The 24/7 Wellbeing Helpline is available to all Queen Mary students – their phone number is 0800 028 3766.

The 24/7 Wellbeing Helpline is a free, confidential, in the moment support service. The service is available 24/7, 365 days a year and covers topics including (but not limited to):

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Low mood
• Loss and grief
• Relationship problems
• Substance abuse issues

The Wellbeing Helpline is available, free of charge, to all students at Queen Mary University of London.

Whatever time of day or night you ring, your call will be answered by a qualified and experienced counsellor. The counsellor will take some details, including what university you’re calling from. The counsellor will talk to you about how you’re feeling and help you to identify some strategies that might help. They might work through things like mindfulness techniques or recommend other resources you can use which might help.

If you have not called them before the Health Assured operative on the phone will ask you to confirm the name of the university you are studying at (i.e. Queen Mary), as well as some contact details. Health Assured use this information to get you set up on their system.

If you have called them, they will ask you some security questions. These are simple - your date of birth, or postcode. Data security is important, so you must answer these correctly to continue.

They'll also ask what your call relates to. This is to make sure you get the right support, as quickly as possible. In the unlikely event that the appropriate counsellor is unavailable, they'll arrange a call-back at the best time for you.

The 24/7 Wellbeing Helpline is confidential. In order to provide the best service, however, counsellors ask for a few details. They'll need your name, address, contact number and date of birth. They'll also ask if it's okay to leave a voicemail, or send you an SMS - it's fine to say no to these. In most cases, Health Assured would only need to share information if:

• They believed that someone else is at risk of serious harm.
• They were told about acts of terrorism or bomb warnings.
• You asked them to get you help because you can't do this yourself.
• You expressed that you were experiencing thoughts of self-harm or that you were having suicidal thoughts.

Health Assured will always seek your consent before contacting your GP or the emergency services. However, if it is deemed that you are an immediate risk to yourself or others, this may not be possible.

The 24/7 Wellbeing Helpline is a separate service offered to students at Queen Mary University of London. Health Assured, who provide the helpline, deliver a confidential service and the information you discuss with their helpline support workers is not routinely provided to the University unless your health, wellbeing or welfare is judged to be at imminent risk.

In these circumstances and where the support worker thinks you need additional support they will seek your consent to share your name and information about their concerns with Student Wellbeing services so that they can provide you with further help. In some circumstances where you are not able to provide consent or where you refuse consent, Health Assured may still decide to share relevant information with Queen Mary where it is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests.

Health Assured treat your data with total confidence. All employees are bound by ethical and legal frameworks, and the service is ISO27001 accredited.

Queen Mary offers all of its students access to an online support service called ‘Togetherall’.

Many students write to us requesting support in the early hours of the morning or at weekends and we acknowledge that it may take a couple of days to receive a response and even longer to actually see someone. Togetherall provides immediate support whilst you’re waiting for an appointment to see someone in the Student Experience Directorate. If you access Togetherall there is no negative impact on your wait for support through our services; it’s just another option that you may want to explore.

Togetherall offers unlimited, 24/7 accessible online support – you can connect with peers, chat online to clinicians, use self-help resources, join groups or take self-assessments. Lots of students at lots of universities find it an incredibly helpful resource. It is also completely confidential and staff at the University cannot see what you are writing or sharing.

Sign up to Togetherall using your Queen Mary e-mail address.

Immediate Danger

If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, call 999 or go to your nearest  Accident and Emergency department. If you are not in immediate danger but feel that you need urgent support, you can: 

• Contact your GP for an urgent appointment. If you haven't registered with a GP yet, use the NHS website to find one near you 

• Contact the NHS Mental Health Crisis Line for the borough you live in: 

• Tower Hamlets:  0800 0730003  

• Newham: 0800 073 0066  

• City and Hackney:  0800 073 0006  

• To find a crisis line in other areas, use the NHS urgent mental health form.

For more information on support available to people experiencing a crisis in their lives, please visit the Advice and Counselling Service’s Help in a Crisis guidance.