Earlier this year the YCW launched our national consultation on Young People and Mental Health.
We were looking for young people across England and Wales to share their thoughts about the current state of mental health in our country, especially the reality for young people.
An overwhelming amount of our members expressed their deep concerns about the current help available to young people with mental health problems, as well as the stigma attached to it.
Because of this concern the YCW launched a National Action Campaign on mental health among young people, called MIND! The Gap.
The first stage focused around exploring the issue more deeply and finding out the opinions and experiences of young people. A key part of this was a short survey covering a variety of aspects around mental health.
The responses from this survey will be used to help guide our JUDGE stage of the campaign, running over the summer months, but for Mental Health Awareness Week we wanted to share just some of the insights from it.
HEADLINES
Of 1093 young people who responded:
42.5% said they had experienced a mental health issue personally.
61.8% said they had experienced a mental health issue with their friends, family or colleagues.
53.2% said they felt listened to when they spoke about their mental health issues.
31.1% of respondents, when asked to explain their understanding of mental health, described it in purely negative terms.
53.6% of those who had direct/indirect experience of mental health issues referenced "anxiety"; 45.7% "depression"; 17.3% "pressure/stress".
