Addressing mental health concerns has become more of a priority for everyone in recent years. Having started secondary school in 2007, we were never offered any help or guidance on mental health issues and it was never communicated to us how to spot others who may be suffering. If these issues are addressed, spoken about and ultimately ‘nipped in the bud’, we could prevent the prevalence of mental health issues in those who are older.
Stigma
We all are painfully aware that mental health issues come with an unnecessary stigma. Many of these issues stem from society itself (Cifici, Jones and Corrigan, 2013) and this is the first issue that should be counteracted. One in four people will suffer from mental health issues at some point in their lives, meaning that we as a community should work together to attempt to either decrease this number or, in turn, help those dealing with it to make their recovery more straight forward.
Reducing the stigma attached to mental health will allow more people to come forward and ultimately get the help they require. UK based charities such as ‘Mind’ and ‘Calm’ amongst others are attempting to help those who suffer. They cannot do this however if those that are suffering don’t have the confidence to come forward. Eradicating the stigma surrounding mental health issues will ideally aid those suffering in feeling more confident to come forward.
Speak up, listen and always be nice
Suffering from mental health issues don’t mean that you’re a weak person, it doesn’t mean that you are any less than anyone else and most importantly it doesn’t make you any different to someone who doesn’t suffer.
Have the confidence to speak to your friends and be a person that is approachable. If your closest friends don’t feel that that they can approach you for a simple chat, they may keep things bottled up, making them worse.
Everyone is different, a face to face chat isn’t always necessary. With the emergence of more social media and instant messaging services, one can easily reach out to their friends, thus making it easier to communicate. It’s rare that people will feel confident to talk face-to-face with friends, highlighting the benefits of instant messaging services in the fight on mental health.
One thing to always keep in mind is that you have no idea what others are going through. Always be nice to others, they may be going through unforeseen struggles that you aren’t aware of. Treat people with respect and make yourself available to be spoken to. If you come across as someone who isn’t a viable option to speak to, your closest friends may suffer in silence.
Teaching in Schools
Although it has been eight years since I left secondary education and things may have changed. If they haven’t, simply put, they need to. Mental health issues should be studied in schools to make the younger generation more aware of what to look out for, how to combat them should begin to arise and overall how to become more socially aware.
This, ultimately will, in theory, educate the younger generation and allow the stigma to reduce. We know that 10% of children aged between 5-16 years have a clinically diagnosable mental problem. Addressing teaching within the school setting will hopefully help those young people who are suffering and attempt to reduce the prevalence of mental health issues in teenagers and adolescence.
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