Abstract
With a steep increase in students presenting to counselling services, and the costs associated with meeting increased demand for provision, services need to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of the interventions they deliver. The heads of embedded university counselling services are uniquely placed to advise on the best interventions to deliver for students in their institutions. Collaborating with research colleagues can help to increase the research output of university counselling services and demonstrate their effectiveness. The Cambridge University Counselling Service collaborated with the School of Psychiatry on the ‘Mindfulness Skills for Students’ study. The learnings from this collaboration will illustrate how practice‐based research can help counselling services to demonstrate their effectiveness and impact, and promote the work that they do with students. The author will also explore the benefits and challenges of engaging in collaboration with research colleagues at her home institution.