What our students say

I'd like to take a moment to extend my gratitude to the core management and admin team for their continuous support over the years. It truly makes a difference to work with people who are so approachable, supportive and clearly passionate about the work they do.

Working as a Specialist Mentor for Beacon has been one of the most rewarding roles of my career to date. The team at Beacon have such a thoughtful and caring attitude towards the students we support and for us in our roles. Nothing is too much trouble for them. I also feel very fortunate and privileged to work with students in my role as mentor and to assist them in navigating through their University journey. The sessions I have can be challenging and thought provoking, but also fun and enjoyable. I am always encouraged to hear the positive feedback from students who feel able to confide in me and gain the support needed to overcome various obstacles in their way. We set targets, goals and objectives together and it is a thoroughly rewarding position to be in when I see the confidence increase and the achievements grow.

I have been working with Beacon for the last 5 years. It is an excellent environment as you get to feel part of a team with a common goal, this being high standard of NMH service provision. Support, both on the role and in terms of staff/contractors well-being, is always available. Both the neurodiversity expertise which comes from lived experience and the free monthly CPD is making a massive difference in the quality of support we, as mentors and tutors are providing to the students, which makes the work incredibly rewarding.

I have been working with Beacon since 2021, and what I value most about this service is how genuinely flexible and student-centred it is. From the feedback I receive from students, one of the biggest strengths is the flexibility of the support. There is a large team of mentors, which means students can often be matched with someone who fits around their availability, location and individual needs. Beacon also takes the student's course and subject area into consideration when making an allocation, so students are not simply given a mentor – they are matched with someone who can understand and support them in the context of their studies. I have also seen how much thought goes into making sure communication feels comfortable for each student. For example, as I am a Polish-speaking mentor, when Polish-speaking students are referred to Beacon, they are asked whether they would feel more comfortable working with a Polish mentor or an English-speaking mentor. This is a small thing, but it shows how much emphasis Beacon places on what works best for the individual student. For me, this is what makes Beacon different. The focus is not simply on providing support, but on finding the right support for each person. Having worked with Beacon for several years, I genuinely believe it offers one of the most flexible, accessible and student-centred forms of non-medical support available to students in the UK.

Working for Beacon is a privilege. That said, "working" isn't quite the correct word, more "passion" In my 6 years with Beacon, I have always felt valued, respected, heard, appreciated, trusted, empowered - the list could go on!

Philippa’s help has been invaluable to my success at university.

Marlene has been brilliant. We've got into a rhythm with sessions and how to use them to my best advantage. The communication between us is clear and open regarding how best to use the study skills: how to help / what works & doesn't work, what I can improve on and get more help with etc. Marlene is very approachable, funny and an all round lovely person who I respect and appreciate hugely. Not only does she listen, but she responds and adapts to my needs, and supports me - even on bad days - in such a way I always leave our sessions in a better place than I was at the start. I have come value my time with Marlene even more than when I first started, and can see the impact she's having through my returned essay results.

I would like to add that my mentor during the course was excellent!!!!

Caroline should be seen as an invaluable asset to the Beacon team. Working with her throughout my undergraduate degree has been an incredibly enriching experience, and I am truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such an understanding, passionate and empathetic person! She possesses this exceptional ability to inspire and encourage, no matter the situation. Making someone see the best in work they feel is not their best. Her constant support and commitment over the past three years have been incredibly appreciated; I don't feel I would have passed without her and her ability to help me shine, polish up my essays, find references with me, and take that time in the first few sessions to really understand exactly how I work down to a letter. She truly is an amazing person to work with and I cannot wait to work with her again.

Lucy Maulin has been fantastic and given me so much support. I have been extremely poorly and in hospital recently and Lucy supported me in applying for mitigating circumstances and has also been a listening ear. I always look forward to meeting with Lucy, she puts me at ease and I come away from our meetings feeling a lot less anxious and much more relaxed about coursework. She always replies to my emails and has also supported me in meetings with my tutor, I actually don’t think I could have got through the year without her, I am extremely thankful to her.

The support was amazing and helped me whenever I needed it. She was amazing!!

Always there when you need them the most and always supported me throughout my studies

It's been outstanding and Kim has helped me get the correct support from the university.

When doing remote support Holly continued to do the work even when my hour was up

The best study skills/mentor support I have ever received!

My Support Tutor brought a depth that I wasn’t expecting, she made every effort to learn on many occasions about the content I was learning and on occasions contacted my tutor to clarify points. Without her tutoring support and on many occasions just listening to me and offering encouragement I could achieve my goal I feel my experience would and goals would have been affected. Anybody who had my tutor will be extremely fortunate!

Amy has been a great mentor and study skills tutor. She has helped me improve on my planning strategies, proofreading and wiring skills. I would be lost without her. She has been a great pair of ears and has motivated me very well at times when things were getting too much to deal with. She has always encouraged me to think for myself and understand how I can apply study skills to study smart along with studying hard. I am very grateful for this support because without this support I am very confident that I would have not got this far.

The support I received from Andrea Hodges was exceptional. Every session was well-tailored to my needs of that particular week which, in turn, greatly helped my mental well-being.

Caroline is fantastic at her job- she is very understanding, always takes the time to listen and takes all tasks in her stride. She has been my main support and tutor for all of my academics during Year 1 and works very well under time constraints, associated with university deadlines. I joined Caroline late in the academic year, due to my newly diagnosed learning difference, and her ability to be able to clearly and calmly get on board with my syllabus and unique university is very commendable- especially when I had upcoming deadlines. She is flexible with both her schedule and academic knowledge- being able to get stuck right into anything and on top of all this, she is just great to have a chat with! Her caring and brightening personality is something that I look forward to every week and truly makes the academics much less intense and actually fun. Thank you Caroline for all your help so far and I look forward to working with you again for the new Academic Year.

My support worker is so nice and although I have had not had many meetings with her yet I am so looking forward to next year with all the help I'm now going to receive has definitely taken a lot of pressure off me

Caroline is so lovely, helpful and very understanding. She has helped me in my personal life as well as my studies x

Very happy as to the level of support I receive, I have had the same mentor since starting this degree which has been a huge benefit and honestly would not have made it through last year especially with all the issues surrounding covid if it was for the support of my worker I am very grateful

Caroline was absolutely amazing, her patients, empathy and kind caring nature is second to none, I would recommend Caroline's services to anyone and hope to continue working with Caroline in my second term.

I thankful for all the support that Miss Philippa Jones gave to me and for the patience and amazing advice that provided to me. I thank you as well Mrs Phillips Richard from Contact Associates that he help me and that he put me in contact with Miss Philippa.

Caroline support has been invaluable.

I've had amazing support, that has been really valuable.

Caroline made me feel a lot more confident and less stressed when helping me with my studies and am extremely happy and relieved that I will still be receiving her support.

It really helps me when Terence breaks study skills down into smaller chunks for me to absorb it all. Also, I find it really helpful the comments and the feedback that I receive on my work. It helps me think about what I am writing and contributes towards improvement in my work.

Amy was amazing!

Over the past three years, I have had Amy as my tutor. She has helped me progress with my course work but has also helped me build my confidence to a level that I thought I would never be at and aided me with how to cope with certain aspects and situations. She has been patient, supportive and also I don’t think that I would have got to this point in uni if I had not opened up to her. Amy has been an amazing tutor and I'm not sure how else I can put into words how grateful I am. Although I am happy to be finishing my degree, I’m sad I will no longer see her. I wish her all of the best. Thank you!

Lucy (mentor) is very helpful and keeps me focused on my studies. She has provided lots of practical skills and is a good avenue of support. During the academic year, she helped me through a very difficult period of stress which I am very grateful for. She was readily available when needed and flexible with sessions.

Amy has been utterly wonderful. I can not recommend her highly enough.

My study skills tutor has worked very closely throughout my courses. Been amazing academically as well as supporting my well-being throughout the 3 years of study at University of South Wales. Without my study skills tutor, I really wouldn’t of know how I would of cope with my academic studies and well-being. We develop my own personal approach to study and learning. As I develop my study skills, I discover what works for myself, and what didn’t. Thank you for going above and beyond your duty. I really appreciated everything you as a company has done. I wouldn’t be in the position I am now without your support and guidance. Many thanks

An incredible support service delivered to the highest quality! Could not have completed my first year without it!

Amazing service.

Ruth has been brilliant

Always patient and willing to help with anything from reading of material or explaining things so I can better understand them.

Brilliant support all the time :)

I received the best support for the duration of my undergraduate and postgraduate degree which I will always be greatly grateful for. I will miss my weekly sessions with Lucy Maullin who I have gotten attached to. Lucy showed me empathy and kindness I needed. She helped me to improve my skills and broaden my knowledge and understanding related to my degree and life in general. It is sad to say goodbye.

Caroline is an absolute star - her support has kept me on track and helped me to organise my ideas more effectively. She has given me the confidence that I lack in my ability and helped me to identify different strategies to tackle each assignment. I look forward to each session and her enthusiasm for learning and her insight into the difficulties I have has been invaluable.

I feel overall I have received excellent support from my mentor. I can not thank her enough for supporting me for the last months of my university and wished I had gotten the support earlier.

Caroline has been an amazing support for me, in all aspects! I’m hoping to be supported again by Caroline to complete my masters. Thank you so much. You made it possible for me to complete my degree. I really appreciate everything you have supported and done for me! Thank you!

Dr Ian Richards has been the best study tutor I have worked with. My grades greatly improved from low 2.1's to 1st class, and without his support, I would have greatly struggled with my assignments. He is a kind and supportive mentor and always has time to help students like myself when in need. I cannot recommend him enough for all that he has done for me and any student that has him will benefit greatly in terms of essay structure, writing styles, and recommendations of content.

Absolutely amazing, thank you.

I cannot speak highly enough of the support I receive from Lucy. She has helped me so much. The support is above and beyond what I expected. Thank you!

Caroline is fantastic, thank you for all of your help!

Philippa was incredibly supportive, encouraging and I thoroughly enjoyed our sessions. She was always happy to listen to concerns and really helped me confidently navigate any issues I was having with university life/work and I felt comfortable approaching her for guidance and support in our sessions.

My course has ended unfortunately but Beacon have been fantastic support

I couldn't be without Caroline. Her support is invaluable to me. She helps me understand tasks, focuses my wavering attention and builds my confidence.

The support has been excellent, Ian is flexible and has been very effective in helping me to manage my studies around my ADHD needs. I have completed some training myself as a coach and mentor, and have found the contract they suggested to be extremely helpful; I think it could add a further layer of clarity to agree a mentoring contract at the start which details how the sessions might run, confidentiality, expectations etc. Ian and I discussed some of these at regular intervals which is useful, but it might be good to formalise it a little further.

I couldn't have made it through uni without the support I have received from Beacon. Elizabeth Chambers always go above and beyond, she really cares about the students she supports, it makes a huge difference!

Not been well this year, have to repeat next term I will need support again and hope Phil can do it, he is a very peoples person and he made me feel at ease when I was very anxious

I am extremely grateful for all the support I have received from Lucy. I couldn't ask for a better mentor.

The tutor is highly professional, patient, supportive and informative.

Sharon is fab! Has been amazing in the short time we have worked together!!

I have had an amazing level of support and the engagement from Amy. She has been great. I have really valued the support and motivation that she has provided. She is approachable and reassuring and kept me on track with providing great organisational skills. All I can say is a massive thank you!!!

Holly empowered me to complete my course assignment and gave me the confidence to face the challenge that I felt unable to manage.

Excellent support, above and beyond what I expected. The support was exactly what I needed to enable me to finish my masters. I needed mentoring and study skills support which was delivered to suit my needs. Lucy, thank you so much for helping and supporting me through this difficult and emotional and time.

Really happy with the support I get from my support worker I feel listened to and understood, I always get a quick response and feel confident to ask for help as I know my worker is always there for me to help in my academic skills

I cannot recommend my Beacon Study Skills Tutor highly enough, and if I choose to progress to a Masters, I will be sure to request Beacon for my support needs again

Always there when you need them the most and always supported me throughout my studies.

The support was amazing and helped me whenever I needed it. She was amazing!!

It's been outstanding and Kim has helped me get the correct support from the university (Bangor).

The support has been excellent, Ian is flexible and has been very effective in helping me to manage my studies around my ADHD needs.

I couldn't have made it through uni without the support I have received from Beacon. Beth always go above and beyond, she really cares about the students she supports, it makes a huge difference!

Lucy has been fantastic and given me so much support. I always look forward to meeting with Lucy, she puts me at ease and I come away from our meetings feeling a lot less anxious and much more relaxed about coursework. She always replies to my emails and has also supported me in meetings with my tutor, I actually don’t think I could have got through the year without her, I am extremely thankful to her.

The support I have been receiving is brilliant.

It has been brilliant.

The tutor is highly professional, patient, supportive and informative.

Over the past three years, I have had Amy as my tutor. She has helped me progress with my course work but has also helped me build my confidence to a level that I thought I would never be at and aided me with how to cope with certain aspect and situations. She has been patient, supportive and also I don’t think that I would have got to this point in uni if I had not opened up to her. Amy has been an amazing tutor and I'm not sure how else I can put into words at how grateful I am.

Holly empowered me to complete my course assignment and gave me the confidence to face the challenge that I felt unable to manage.

I have had an amazing level of support and the engagement from Amy. She has been great. I have really valued the support and motivation that she has provided. She is approachable and reassuring and kept me on track with providing great organisational skills. All I can say is a massive thank you!!!

Lucy (mentor) is very helpful and keeps me focused on my studies. She has provided lots of practical skills and is a good avenue of support. During the academic year she helped me through a very difficult period of stress which I am very grateful for. She was readily available when needed and flexible with sessions.

Amy has been a wonderful help this year. She has always been available with support when needed and I genuinely don’t think that I could have got through my PGCE without our meetings. She is friendly, personable and knowledgeable which has been just what I needed this year! Whenever I have needed queries answering, Beacon have been quick to respond and always clear in their answers. I can not recommend Beacon or Amy highly enough.

The support is brilliant.

I am extremely grateful for all the support from Lucy. I couldn't ask for a better mentor.

Philippa's help has been invaluable to my success at university.