At Wrexham University, Student Support Services were already delivering a wide range of support through multiple teams, including wellbeing, counselling, and mental health services. However, prior to recent system changes, data collection and insight into student needs varied across teams, making it difficult to build a consistent, institution-wide understanding of what students were experiencing.
The introduction of a new CRM system, Target Connect, created an opportunity to standardise processes and improve communication across services. Alongside this, the university recognised a need for more structured insight into student presentations and the severity of need, particularly to support external collaboration and reporting.
We didn’t necessarily have access to that before… being able to understand what students are presenting with and how severe that is has been incredibly helpful.”
The university wanted to move beyond purely operational data (e.g. appointment numbers) and gain a clearer, more consistent picture of student need across all support services.
Wrexham became involved in SevRes as part of the wider rollout of the project across Wales, supporting collaboration between higher education and NHS services. A key driver was the need to strengthen how student data could be communicated externally, particularly to health partners.
The university was already supporting students effectively, but SevRes offered a way to standardise how presenting concerns and levels of need were captured and understood.
It was about being able to communicate what we’re seeing from students… and having something standardised to show that.”
There was also recognition that, across the sector, universities often struggle to evidence the complexity of student need when engaging with external services. The team felt SevRes provided a more structured way for them to demonstrate this more clearly and consistently.
By adopting SevRes, the university aimed to enhance data quality, support cross-team consistency, and contribute to wider conversations around student mental health provision in Wales.
SevRes was embedded into Wrexham University’s existing systems, specifically within Target Connect, allowing it to sit directly within student case records rather than as a separate process.
This integration meant that SevRes forms could be completed as part of standard case notes following an initial appointment, ensuring consistency without adding significant administrative burden.
It forms part of the case notes… it’s not something separate that someone has to do afterwards.”
While the university already had established triage and referral processes in place, SevRes was completed after initial engagement to provide a consistent, practitioner-informed view of each student’s presenting concerns and severity.
Crucially, SevRes created a shared framework across different teams, including wellbeing, counselling, and mental health services, enabling clearer visibility of how students move between services and what support they require.
The university also leveraged SevRes data within Power BI dashboards, allowing for more advanced reporting and analysis across committees and leadership groups.
Since implementing SevRes, Wrexham has seen several key benefits:
- Improved understanding of student presenting concerns and levels of need
- Greater consistency in data collection across multiple support teams
- Enhanced ability to report on student wellbeing trends internally and externally
- Development of advanced data dashboards to support decision-making
- Stronger foundations for collaboration with NHS and external partners
SevRes has also enabled the university to move beyond student-reported need alone, incorporating professional assessment following initial appointments.
That kind of information… what students are presenting with and how severe that is, that’s where SevRes has really helped us.”
By linking SevRes data with student records, the university can now identify trends across courses and demographics, helping to highlight areas of high demand or low engagement and informing targeted interventions.
In addition, the data has strengthened the university’s ability to evidence the complexity of student need when engaging with external stakeholders, supporting ongoing discussions around service pathways and collaboration.
Looking ahead, Wrexham are interested in exploring how SevRes data could be used more widely across the sector, particularly in identifying trends and sharing best practice between institutions.
I’d be interested in comparisons across institutions… and using that to share best practice.”
There is also interest in continuing to strengthen partnerships with NHS services, using SevRes data to support the development of clearer referral pathways and more joined-up care for students.
SevRes has enhanced student support at Wrexham University by providing a consistent, structured way to understand and articulate student need. By embedding the tool within existing systems and combining it with advanced data analysis, the university has strengthened both internal insight and external collaboration.
While support processes were already well established, SevRes has added a valuable layer of clarity and consistency, helping the university better understand its student population and contribute to wider conversations around student mental health across Wales.
