Postgraduate wellbeing service

The Postgraduate Wellbeing Service (PWS) supports postgraduate taught (PGT) and research (PGR) students with challenges that may be affecting your life, studies, or research. 

Our aim is to provide early intervention and guidance to support your mental health and wellbeing.

The PWS is not a counselling  or crisis service.  If you need immediate support, visit our crisis support and information page.

We can help you explore evidence-based strategies for managing common challenges faced by many students, including: 

  • low mood
  • stress and anxiety
  • procrastination
  • perfectionism 

Our services are free to access and available most of the year, with short breaks over Christmas, Easter and public bank holidays.  

If this is your first time visiting the page, we encourage you to watch the video and read through the sections below to learn more.

If you’re ready to book an appointment, complete our student support request form.

The PWS is available to all postgraduate students in the UK or abroad, whether your course requires College membership or not. 

Access to the service continues if you're:

  • waiting for your final results to be officially confirmed by Student Registry, the Postgraduate Committee or Degree Committee
  • temporarily suspended and waiting for the outcome of a disciplinary case

If you’re a Postgraduate Research (PGR) student planning to take an intermission, you can also access up to four support sessions with the PWS:  

  • two sessions before your intermission begins to help you plan, reflect and feel reassured before you step away
  • two sessions to plan support for your return to study to ease your transition back

We cannot work with students who:

  • are no longer registered as a student / whose registration has lapsed and not been extended
  • are between two separate courses that require separate applications
  • are formally suspended following a disciplinary outcome
  • are a Postgraduate Taught student on intermission   

These measures are in place to make sure we can safely assess and manage risk, deliver the appropriate support and work within professional and legal boundaries. 

If these exclusions apply to you, we can help signpost you to other sources of support.  

If you’re unsure whether you meet these criteria, please get in touch via reception@studentsupport.cam.ac.uk. 

To request an initial appointment, complete our student support request form. You only need to complete this form once per academic year.   

After you submit the form, we’ll be in touch to offer you the next available appointment slot.  

We aim to offer you an appointment within 10 working days. In the last academic year, the average waiting time for an appointment was 3 working days.  

Our initial appointments run for 75-minute appointment. 

If you would like to access further sessions, follow-up appointments usually last 50 minutes.

After four sessions, you and your adviser will review how things are going and decide together on the next steps.  

The support we provide is confidential.

This means your information will not be shared outside the service without your consent. 

Exceptions only apply if: 

  • there are legal or statutory obligations to disclose, or
  • there is a risk of serious harm to you or others 

For more details, please see our confidential and privacy page.