There is growing recognition of the importance of addressing the mental health needs of young people in the university sector. 1.3 million Australians were enrolled in tertiary education in 2014 and this number is increasing each year. The majority of these students are young people aged between 18 and 25. Young adulthood is a vulnerable time in which many common (depression and anxiety) and severe (psychosis) mental disorders first appear. In fact, 1 in 2 university students will experience a mental disorder and 1 in 10 will contemplate suicide. Mental disorders affect every facet of life, and if left untreated, persist throughout adulthood. They have a devastating effect on some of Australia’s best and brightest young people, at a time when their life and careers are just beginning.

The first challenge is getting young people at university to seek help. Two-thirds of young people do not seek help for mental health problems and help seeking rates are even lower among university students. Many young people with a mental health problem fear stigma and judgement, may not know where or how to access treatment, or may be unable to afford treatment. In addition, university counselling centres are often over-burdened and under-resourced for those students who do seek help. Anonymous, scalable, and evidence-based online interventions can circumvent these problems and greatly increase the numbers of young people accessing the help they need. However, the second challenge, is keeping young people engaged once they have taken the step of seeking help. At this point it is critical that they remain in treatment long enough to derive the benefit they need.

The uni virtual clinic (UVC) is a comprehensive online service developed in partnership between the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Australian National University (ANU) and the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre that has been designed to prevent and treat mental health problems and related issues in university students. It is anonymous, free to the end-user, tailored, and incorporates evidence-based treatments and information.