ABSTRACT
Examining regulatory capitalism's increased emphasis on “steering not rowing”, this chapter describes developments in mental health support in UK higher education. It sketches out the ways in which support increasingly takes the form of regulatory rules for emotions and behaviours. The shift towards whole institution approaches and increasingly expansive definitions of mental ill-health have created spaces in which mental health support becomes a tool for the regulation of everyday life. A proliferation of individuals take on the role of managers and regulators “supporting” mental health rather than providing more direct forms of “treatment” for mental ill-health. Moreover, while responsiveness to student mental health claims was partially due to risks allegedly faced by universities as “communities of fate”, risk continues to be problematic and is repeatedly shifted downstream. While much critical literature on the well-being industry conceptualizes these phenomena as attempts to create self-governing neoliberal subjects, this chapter presents a more complicated picture regarding self-governance and autonomy. The resultant invitation to students is not necessarily to embody such ideal subjects, but rather to problematize self-reliance and offer instead an injunction to seek out constantly external guidance for rules and regulations governing the correct conduct of life.
