Degrees of difficulty: Growing numbers of students seek help for stress and anxiety

A growing number of freshers experience stress and anxiety. They are encouraged to seek help early and to attend welfare events such puppy cuddling, writes Helen O’Callaghan

WHEN the class of 2017 arrive on campuses countrywide over the next weeks, they’ll face one of the biggest transitions of their lives. Instead of tightly-scheduled secondary school timetables and teachers demanding homework, they’ll find themselves in large, often anonymous, classes where lecturers don’t check attendance and nobody seems bothered whether they’re doing the work.

As they try to make friends and find their way around huge and often confusing campuses, many will be grappling with one of the biggest stressess life can throw at anyone: Moving house — living away from home for the first time and trying to find their feet with new flatmates. Small wonder some feel overwhelmed.