Mental health struggles of social work students: Distress, stigma, and perseverance

Growing evidence reports that social work students experience financial hardship and negative impacts on their health and wellbeing as they juggle study, paid work, and family commitments. Social work qualifying programmes require extended compulsory field placements, which increase students’ financial stress and potentially exacerbate mental health vulnerabilities. A national survey of social work students and recent graduates in Aotearoa New Zealand, was conducted in 2019, gaining 353 responses, augmented by 31 semi-structured interviews. We report the analysis of both open-question survey and interview data related to students’ experience of mental distress. The survey revealed that 58.4% of respondents had sought medical advice on mental health while a social work student. At the same time, 60% of participants who experienced significant anxiety, stress, or depression chose not to seek medical advice for their mental health. Cost and access were among the main reasons for not seeking help. However, more than one in four (28%) identified stigma and fear of career consequences as reasons for not seeking help. This finding has implications for social work education and needs further research and policy development.