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Welfare

We are here to support you

At Hughes Hall, we place a great deal of value on the wellbeing of everyone in the college and while you are students with us, we actively support your wellbeing in a number of ways. This section includes information on sources of support within and outside College, welfare contacts and policies, and ways to report problems.

We have a Head of Wellbeing, Dr Benjamin Marshall, who coordinates this work; Ben and the welfare team are working closely with key support staff from Tutors and Porters to specialists within the central university wellbeing services and external organisations like Mind. This is to ensure Hughes Hall provides the excellent support structures, for both mental and physical health, to match the excellent education you expect during your time here.

Ben’s office is Room 13 on the first floor of the Margaret Wileman building and you should feel free to drop by for a chat if there are things you would like to see in terms of welfare support (if you have an urgent need, you should seek the appropriate specialist support, which you can find on our welfare contacts page.)

Within Hughes, we have a College nurse and College counsellor, available to support physical and mental health difficulties and provide friendly, impartial guidance. The Tutors are here to help you navigate the peculiarities and practicalities of the Cambridge system as well as to support you in dealing with personal challenges. Outside of working hours, the Porters are a source of help and advice and are there to ensure your immediate safety and security.

For most non-emergency matters, your Tutor is your first point of contact for questions or concerns and can help you find the right information or report something that has happened.

The pages within this section address many issues which fall under the broad term “welfare” such as financial hardship, harassment and disability; and the information below provides an index of relevant links and contacts and should be read on conjunction with our Welfare Contacts and College Nurse pages.

Hughes Hall sources of welfare advice and wellbeing support:

  • College Tutors, including specific champion roles (Race Equality; Disability; LGBTQ+; Gender Equality; Parents & Carers; and Harassment Support).
  • MCR Welfare and Equality Officers, including a Female and Nonbinary Welfare Officer, a Male and Nonbinary Welfare Officer, an Equality and LGBTQ+ Officer, and an Equality and BAME Officer.
  • Our College nurse and counsellor are available to support your health and wellbeing needs.
  • There are a number of relevant College policies on different aspects of welfare such as student grievances, student discipline and appropriate academic relationships – we are happy to guide you through these if useful.
  • This page on Discrimination and Harassment explains ways to report harassment, discrimination or sexual misconduct plus how to get support and advice.
  • This welfare contacts page of provides links and contacts details of a number of sources of help and advice in and around College; and in our local area.
  • The library has a range of self-help books
  • There is a list of contact details for organisations who can help; the MCR provide a similar list of contacts for welfare support
  • Our Equality and Diversity section includes specific pages on how we support the LGBTQ+ community and our approach to promoting race and gender

Support with specific issues and for particular groups

We have a number of tutors who lead on support for specific groups and can be contacted if you are encountering specific difficulties or have things you would like to see in terms of tailored support:

  • Race Equality Champion: Dr Othman Cole (oc219@hughes.cam.ac.uk)
  • Parent and Caregiver Champion: Meena Singh (mvs20@hughes.cam.ac.uk)
  • Disability Champion: Alison Nicholson (an452@hughes.cam.ac.uk)
  • LGBTQ+ Champion: Prof Arthur Hibble (agh32@hughes.cam.ac.uk)
  • Gender Equality Champion: Dr Fatmah Mish Ebrahim (fe279@hughes.cam.ac.uk)
  • Harassment Support Tutor: Annemarie Young (aey20@hughes.cam.ac.uk)
  • Harassment Support Tutor: Martin Hadley Brown (mh605@hughes.cam.ac.uk).

The central collegiate University provides comprehensive information and advice:

For urgent help:

  • If there is an emergency (a substantial risk of significant harm to yourself or another person), you should contact the police/fire/ambulance directly on 999.Examples might include suspected heart attack, stroke, anaphylaxis, severe bleeding, difficulty breathing or yourself or another person feeling acutely suicidal and unsafe.
  • Following this, contact the Porters’ Lodge too so College is aware and so they can meet the emergency response vehicle (01223 330484 or 07917 535806).

For urgent, but non-emergency, out of hours’ health care advice, including mental health, please call 111. For day-to-day medical advice, all students should register with a doctor (General Practitioner or GP) on arrival in Cambridge – details of how are on the College nurse page.

Updated 28.10.22

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