Minority ethnic male university students’ perceptions of and preferences for mental health and wellbeing support services at Sheffield Hallam University

University support services are often underutilised by ethnic minority male students. This research aimed to identify the perceptions of ethnic minority male students around using university mental health support services, including the barriers and facilitators to utilisation. The project used Listening Rooms for data collection, whereby participants pair up and undertake a recorded conversation based around talking points pertaining to the project. Fourteen pairs (n=28) participated in conversations. A round table analysis of the data took place, followed by further thematic analysis on the transcripts using Nvivo. Participants overall appeared to be positive about and grateful for, the existence of a mental health support service, despite a mixed level of awareness of its existence and differing conceptualizations of what mental health means. Barriers to service utilisation could be split into institutional and sociocultural. Institutional barriers included a perceived lack of cultural and ethnic representation amongst practitioners, as well as bureaucratic factors such as access difficulties, whereas sociocultural barriers pertained to cultural taboos and fear of judgement. As university intakes become ever more diverse, university support services must adapt to meet the needs of their populations. Findings support the need for a more representative staffing of services which would engender confidence in ethnic minority male students. Working to further raise awareness levels of the service as well as explaining how, when and why one might access the service would also be beneficial to those who do seek support.