Headlines

After gathering our feedback, talking through our experiences and the responses we’ve had from different organisations, we want to MAKE SOME NOISE and prioritise the following areas.

Good mental health techniques, relationships and digital awareness should be an educational priority for schools, not an add-on subject.

Suicide is the biggest killer of students but nobody is taking responsibility for educating kids on how to prepare for the world it as it is now? Prevention strategies should cut across health, education and social care services.

We’ll be lobbying for this.

Don’t be too confident that giving someone a list of crisis helpline numbers will give them the help they need.

Young people have said that they don’t know what to say if they call a helpline number. Additionally, when help is poorly administered and comes with a time limit, it makes it difficult to feel confident you’ll get the help you need. That experience becomes a future expectation and can put people off trying again.

“I can’t find the words to say what I’m calling for.”

“Bad suppor t puts you of f tr ying it again.”

“I phoned [a national mental health charity for all ages] and no one answered. It rung and rung and eventually a message played saying ‘stay on the line someone will answer soon’ but it kept ringing and I lost my bottle to wait and speak to someone.”

HEADLINES

Parents and carers need help identifying normal teenage behaviours vs serious mental health worries.

How many parents are questioning if their child is exaggerating a situation because they don’t want to go to school? Children are expected to accept behaviours at school that adults wouldn’t be expected to face at work (despite them being more vulnerable). Our priority is still to get them into class, regardless of how this feels for them. Teenagers not feeling understood is a normal part of growing up. But we’re in unchartered times and teenagers’ access to an unhinged online (postpandemic) world means we can’t rely on out of date standards. A different approach is now needed.

Parents and carers need guidance to help identify when the young people in their lives are struggling and how they can support them and their education.

Children’s voices are not being heard accurately

Children are frequently led to believe that everything they say is written down and reported on. But schools, social workers, counsellors etc. usually record only part of a student’s experiences, and rarely in the child’s own words. This means professionals are often working with only part of the picture. When they’re reflecting on a child’s history and behaviour (to understand their risk level and assess the level of need) they only have limited information. Predictably, this leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding.

We’ll be petitioning for professionals to record the words of the child and parents/carers, NOT their interpretation or perception of what they meant.

“Some things do need to be shared and aren’t, it’s unclear what teachers and counsellors will tell other people.”

HEADLINES

Parents and carers are not always hearing the problems young people are dealing with on a daily basis.

The experiences of young people now are very different from those of their parents and carers. Adults can often make well-intentioned comments or gestures but the challenges young people face today are very different from those of their parents. Validating someone’s feelings can be hugely important if their self-esteem and life outlooks are poor.

We need more listening to bridge the inter-generational gap.

The best available mental health and suicide prevention training is not routinely delivered.

Training is being watered down, often to save time or money. It is frequently delivered online, with delegates answering emails and looking at their phones while simultaneously ‘learning’. Training is offered by many organisations but few are underpinned with research and evidence about effectiveness. Being ‘trained’ can lead to all sorts of dangerous misconceptions.

GPs don’t routinely talk to teenager s when their parent calls with concerns about their mental health or suicidal ideation.

GP’s rarely undertake the RCADS (Revised Children’s Anxiety & Depression Scale) with children even though they’ll do similar quick questionnaires with adults. Children are therefore left with little support, lingering on waiting lists in the hope that they’ll meet a threshold for a mental health worker. Parents and Carers are left guessing or relying on Google to find out what is wrong with their child.

We’ll be talking to medical professionals to see why this is and what can be done about it.

“Some counsellor s are awkward, you don’t know them and don’t know what to say and it’s down to me to think of what to say.”

“I want to know why I am only being of fered 6 sessions for counselling even af ter your friend dies.”

“Teachers came up to me af ter Mason died and asked if I was ok but af ter a few days they stopped asking and people just think you get on with it.”