Becca Middleton Barnard

Hi, I'm Becca and I'm the pastoral mentor for Physics & Astronomy, and Natural Sciences. 

As Pastoral Mentors one of our main responsibilities is to proactively identify and reach out to students who may be struggling in various areas (e.g. with their wellbeing, studies, finances). We then meet with students to explore and understand the difficulties that they are experiencing in an empathetic, compassionate and friendly manner. Where needed we identify and connect them with relevent support whether that is inside or outside the University. From there we can provide short-term check-in's to ensure that the student feels confident in engaging with the relevent support and able to overcome any barriers that they may encounter. 

Another key aspect to our role is providing advice and guidance to staff in the department relating to students physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Staff members can also signpost and refer students to us where they have concerns. 

In many ways, we act as the bridge between students wellbeing and academic success, University support teams and external services, whilst being embedded within departments.