Specialist mentoring is structured one-to-one support that helps students manage the impact of a mental health condition or autism on their studies, so that difficult periods do not turn into withdrawal.
Mentoring is academic-facing. It looks at attendance, workload, deadline pressure, communication with tutors, and the practical strategies that keep you engaged with your course during a difficult term.
It is not therapy or counselling and does not replace clinical care. Where clinical support is needed, your mentor will help you navigate towards it rather than attempt to provide it.
Sessions run to a regular rhythm — usually weekly — because predictability is part of what makes mentoring effective. Each session reviews what happened since last time, identifies the immediate obstacle, and agrees a small number of concrete actions.
Over a term this builds a record of what works for you, which is useful both for your own self-management and as evidence if you later need extenuating circumstances or a support plan reviewed.
What you discuss with your mentor stays between you, within the usual safeguarding limits, which your mentor will explain in your first session. We do not report session content to your university.
Yes. They address different things and are frequently recommended together in a Needs Assessment.
We will keep the slot and keep in touch. Missing sessions when things are hard is exactly the pattern mentoring exists to interrupt.