Fighting for young people’s mental health

Over the last few years, attitudes towards children and young people’s mental health have come a long way. Recent campaigns like Time to Change and Heads Together have made a huge difference by spreading the message that it’s okay to talk about how you’re feeling. And countless people in the public eye have opened up about their own experiences of mental health problems, which has contributed to people noticing more media coverage about mental health.

Today, we are more likely to talk about mental health than in the past, and more likely to believe that mental health is as important as physical health. Encouragingly, four-fifths (81%) of adults would seek help if they were struggling to cope. In schools, colleges, homes and on social media, mental health is becoming a more normal thing to talk about.

However, while it is positive that there is less stigma about mental health, there is still work to do. In our poll of young people with mental health problems, 60% said that worrying about how other people would react was a barrier to seeking help. That’s why it’s crucial that we keep working to raise awareness, and to ensure that everyone who works with children knows how to spot the signs of emerging mental health problems.