- Young people are resilient and don’t always want to be seen as fragile
- All young people attended wanted to be asked what the problems they were experiencing, not assumed that due to history are where they lived, they had problems.
- Young people want to be involved in things that influence change and see their input making a difference in areas that they needed to see change.
- Young people aren’t always shocked by the outside world as adults are. What they see as normal isn’t always what adults see.
- Social media platforms are the best way to communicate support to children and young people.
- The call to actions should be on QR codes and a website option.
- Continue to support Online safety bill to help protect young people to be protected from areas they shouldn’t be exposed to.
- Advertise on buses, trains, toilet doors and within advertising spaces on social media platforms.
- One source of resources for support at a time – for example targeting anxiety, depression, eating disorders means that people access service relevant instead of generic services that aren’t relevant.
- Working with young people to be able to support friends toward support.
- Devise” touch points” for support publications for each person involved.
- Increase positive reporting of mental health services as the reported stories are a barrier to people accessing services when needed.
- Increase schools staff skills and knowledge about mental health services available and how to be mentally healthy.
Mental health campaign engagement
In October and November of 2022, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) worked with Rock FM to hold four workshops with pupils from four local secondary schools. The aim of the workshops was to understand what mental health means to young people and what they know about local services - in order to inform the development of a future mental health campaign aimed at young people.
Pupils from years nine, 10 and 11 gave their own perspectives on mental health and what it means to them. They also wrote and recorded a number of radio adverts encouraging young people to reach out if they were having problems with their mental health.
The schools involved were Haslingden High School in Rossendale, St Mary’s Catholic Academy in Blackpool, Our Lady’s Catholic Academy in Lancaster and Coal Clough Academy in Burnley.
Following the workshops with Rock FM, work began on developing a mental health campaign aimed at 11 - 18 year olds - which you can take a look at here. The campaign is due to run until November 2023. At the end of the campaign we will want to evaluate it to see if it's been successful. To do this, we needed to understand if, how and where young people and their families, as well as education staff, were accessing mental health support, and whether they are aware of the Healthy Young Minds website, before the campaign started.
Three online questionnaires were shared between 11 May and 8 June and received a total of 1,154 responses. The intention is to repeat the questionnaires following the conclusion of the campaign to see whether the results have improved.
Nearly three quarters of the respondents said they would feel comfortable talking to someone (friend being the most popular choice) if they were struggling with their mental health. Sixty-three per cent said they would feel comfortable talking to a parent or carer, while 61 per sent said they wouldn’t feel comfortable talking to a teacher/member of staff, mainly due to a lack of trust or feeling the teacher wouldn’t understand.
Just over two thirds of young people would try to get help if they were struggling with their mental health and nearly three quarters would seek that help from their parents/carers. However, nearly a third of young people said they wouldn’t try to get help, the main reasons being that they could help themselves/they don’t think they need help, a previous poor experience or perceived poor experience if they were to reach out, embarrassment, finding it hard to open up, and feeling like a burden.
Only one in five of the respondents had heard of the Healthy Young Minds website and only 16 out of the 84 respondents who had heard of it had visited it. The main reasons cited for not visiting it were because they hadn’t needed to or because they would prefer to talk to a real person about their problems.
Equality monitoirng highlights
- A total of 411 young people aged 11 – 18 responded to the questionnaire. Nearly three quarters of the respondents were aged 12 – 15.
- Sixty-one per cent described themselves as female and 31 per cent male.
- Nearly a quarter described themselves as an ethnicity which wasn’t white British.
- Seventeen per cent considered themselves to have a disability.
- Forty-four per cent of those who submitted their post code lived in the Lancaster and Morecambe area, while 39 per cent lived in East Lancashire (including Blackburn and Darwen).
Ninety-seven per cent of responders said they would feel comfortable talking to their child about their mental health struggles. The majority (84 per cent) said they would seek help from the GP if they knew their child was struggling with their mental health, while 60 per cent said they would speak to a teacher/members of school staff and 40 per cent would reach out the child and adolescent mental health services.
Only 37 per cent of respondents had heard of the Healthy Young Minds Website – of those, 87 per cent know it is a dedicated mental health and wellbeing support website for children and young people living in Lancashire and South Cumbria.
Less than half (44 per cent) of those who had heard of the website had visited it – this was mainly because they knew a young person who was struggling with their mental health. Of the 55 per cent of respondents who were aware of the website but hadn’t visited it, 64 per cent said this was because they hadn’t needed to, while 28 per cent said they would prefer to talk to a real person about their child’s problems.
Equality monitoirng highlights
- A total of 674 people responded to the questionnaire. Nearly half (47 per cent) were aged 40 – 49.
- Eighty-five per cent described themselves as female and 12 per cent male.
- Eighty-nine per cent described themselves as white British and three per cent as white other.
- Eleven per cent considered themselves to have a disability.
- Fifty-six per cent of those who submitted their post code lived in the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre areas area, 21 per cent lived in East Lancashire (including Blackburn and Darwen), and 16 per cent lived in Preston, Chorley and Leyland.
Forty-eight per cent of respondents were teachers, the remainder of respondents a mixture of senior leaders and other support staff. Ninety-seven per cent of respondents said they would feel comfortable talking to a child in their setting if they thought they were struggling with their mental health.
Ninety per cent of respondents said they would speak to a child to understand what help they need if they knew they were struggling with their mental health. Seventy-eight per cent said they would encourage the child to speak to their parent/carer or another trusted adult, while 62 per cent said they would encourage the child to speak to their GP.
Fifty-two per cent of respondents had heard of the Healthy Young Minds website – of those, 82 per cent know it is a dedicated mental health and wellbeing support website for children and young people living in Lancashire and South Cumbria. Fifty-five percent of those who had heard of the website had visited it, for those that hadn’t, 63 per cent said it is because they hadn’t needed to.
Equality monitoring highlights
- A total of 69 people responded to the questionnaire. Forty-four per cent taught young people aged 11-16 only, while 49 per cent taught young people aged 11-18.
- Sixty-three per cent of respondents taught in the Blackpool Council area, while 24 per cent taught under Lancashire County Council and 10 per cent Westmorland and Furness Council.
- There was a roughly even spread in the ages of respondents in the 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64 categories.
- Seventy per cent described themselves as female and 27 per cent male.
- Ninety per cent described themselves as white British.
- Eight per cent considered themselves to have a disability.