It's common for students to feel lonely during their time at University, but what happens if it's starting to affect your studies and your wellbeing? If you feel lonely due to experiencing personal issues and think you need help, it's really important to speak up and talk to someone about what you're going through.

The Students' Union is home to the Student Advice Centre, which offers free, confidential and quality advice to all Hallam students. Whether you're experiencing issues with money, your studies or your health, the Student Advice Centre can help with a wide range of issues and has a friendly, professionally accredited team.

The Student Advice Centre holds the Advice Quality Standard (AQS) quality mark for organisations that provide advice to the public on social welfare issues.

Returning to uni after the holidays and seeing family and friends can easily make some students feel lonely or homesick. If you're feeling this way and going through a difficult time, here's some important information from our Student Advice Centre:

"The Student Advice Centre sees a lot of students who may be struggling or feeling overwhelmed due to personal issues and as a result of this, they can start to feel lonely. This could be students with mental health difficulties, complex life problems or family circumstances.  Although these issues can be very private and personal, it’s really important to talk to someone about this if you are experiencing difficulties.  At the Student Advice Centre, we will listen to you and talk about the options you might have in terms of your studies and other aspects of your life, before guiding you through letting the University know about the problems you’re facing.  Your Student Support Adviser at the University is also there to act as your first point of contact during your course.  If you are juggling a lot of different stresses and pressures, this can feel extremely lonely and you might feel as though no-one else will understand or be able to help.  If you feel this way but you are not sure who to talk to, you can come along to the Student Advice Centre and have an informal chat with one of our advisers to start with.

"Around this time of year, the Student Advice Centre also sees quite a lot of students who are having difficulties with their housemates.  Once the initial excitement of living with new people wears off and you need to study, people can experience difficulties if their housemates don’t see the house rules in quite the same way that they do.  Occasionally there can even be bullying or harassment and this can all feel very isolating, which can make it difficult to raise issues with people that you then have to see every day.  The temptation can be to suffer in silence, hiding in your room or going back to your parental home every weekend.  However, the Student Advice Centre can advise you on your options and will listen and support you if you are experiencing these problems. Don't feel like you have to keep it to yourself and remember… you're not alone."

The Student Advice Centre is primarily located at The HUBS, City Campus. You can get in touch and arrange an appointment with us by visiting hallamstudentsunion.com/advice_help/contactus/ or you can drop in or call between the times listed on our contact us page. You can also find a range of self-help resources via hallamstudentsunion.com/advice_help/advicehelp/