Relationships

 

 

You will meet lots of people while you study at university. This will give you opportunities to build friendships or romantic relationships. Healthy relationships help you enjoy all aspects of university life and help you feel a part of the St Andrews community. Everyone has different ideas of what a relationship looks like. It's important to be mindful that some relationship styles do not suit our ideas and that is okay.

A healthy friendship means there is a foundation of trust, honesty, and respect. When we are with our friends they should empower us and leave us feeling energised about ourselves. It is normal for some bumps and challenges to come along the way, but if this is the normal state of the friendship, it can leave us feeling worried and anxious about where we stand. Often students worry that if they stopped being friends with this person they will have no friends and be alone. Remember, there are always opportunities to meet new people – have a look in our resource list for some ideas.

A healthy romantic relationship is built with the same foundation as a friendship, alongside feeling safe and secure in the relationship with the boundaries you have set. Romantic relationships can become unhealthy if there are elements of control, whether that be your behaviour, friends, money, or disrespectful communication such as being put down, humiliated, embarrassed, or hurt. Sometimes, when these elements are present in a romantic relationship, the abuse can go further. If this is the case, please see our gender-based violence and domestic abuse page on the A-Z Wellbeing guide. 

What support do we offer? 

At Student Services we offer students a safe place to talk about any difficulties they are facing, including issues with unhealthy relationships. We have also partnered with Fife Rape and Sexual Assault Centre, who have a support worker dedicated to supporting students at the university. You can book an appointment with Student Services, who can refer you to this branch of the service. You can book an appointment to speak to a member of staff or email support.advice@st-andrews.ac.uk for advice. You can also see our latest groups and workshops on our Instagram

Alternative Internal Support

If you would like to access some self-help materials here are a list of alternative support resources.

External Support

If you would like to access some self-help materials here are a list of alternative support resources.