Mental Health

• What influences your mental health?

Young people identified a broad range of things, many positive, that effected their mental health. Most popular was friends, family, and relationships, although they were also identified as a negative influence on mental health. Other positive influences included watching a favourite film and taking part in activities such as drawing, one person said ‘I can draw out my emotions’. Diet, climate, social media, and the environment all featured as strong influences on people mental health both positively and negatively.

A number of people felt that the lack of things to do in their environment had a negative effect on their mental health ‘it would be better if there were more facilities in my area’ another said that as a home schooled person they ‘would love more activities’.

One group identified poverty, money, housing and food as significant influences. One young person described having to work shifts after school and at the weekend during GCSE year as having a significant detrimental impact on their mental health.

• How well does your school / college help with your mental health and do you feel safe there?

Overwhelmingly young people did not feel safe in school, both physically and mentally in school. They also felt they were not listened too by both school and parents and that exam pressure was significant.

There were specific issues associated around bullying with weight, accent, homophobia, and issues regarding gender identified. In general, young people felt that schools do not do enough around these issues, they felt that often victims were punished rather than bullies and that isolations made things worse.

It was recognised that schools feel under resourced and unable to support with more emphasis on attendance and learning that support and communication.

Some comments in relation to bullying in school were:

“I was told ‘You’re old enough to deal with it yourself just get over it’,”

‘There’s not a lot of people in school you can talk to who are qualified’

In relation to pressure around school they felt that attendance and academic pressure were significant. One group felt there was a lack of understanding from both teachers and pupils and recognised that bother where under significant pressure.

Not all comments about school in relation to mental health were negative, one young person said:

‘We’ve been so isolated recently, I feel that school is a great way to come back and interact with friends and meet new people’