Discussing Mental Health and Cyberbullying amongst Young People in Northern Ireland
Action Mental Health, the Samaritans, QUB Mind Your Mood and the O2 Guru Team discuss mental health and cyberbullying at our February Event
Many of the young people, schools and parents/guardians that we work directly with have stressed that there needs to be more awareness around mental health and wellbeing - particularly here in Northern Ireland, where statistics show that the rate of mental health needs is 25% higher
than in England. A lot of young people feel unable to speak about their mental health. This can be seen clearly in many of the responses given to the 2013 Young Life and Times survey
, such as:
"Adults especially, put "teenagers" into the "teenage" category and think everything is due to hormones or a phase. We aren't taken as seriously..."
"I don't think adults take it seriously when a young person says they can't cope with the stress they're under or is seen as something that isn't a serious issue."
"I think that more needs to be done about it, i.e. spreading awareness and preventing so many misconceptions people have about it. A lot of people are not informed or do not understand it and that can make it harder for people to deal with things like depression and self-harm as they are scared about the reactions to it."
In light of this, we wanted to bring together key organisations in Northern Ireland to discuss mental health and wellbeing amongst young people for our February community event. ABC Lord Mayor Gareth Wilson opened the evening with words of encouragement for the organisations in Craigavon, Belfast and across Northern Ireland that work to support the wellbeing of young people.
Action Mental Health's presentation provided key facts about mental health - with the aim of addressing many of the misconceptions that are widely held about mental ill health. Cherith drew attention to the symptoms that we should look out for that could indicate depression, such as:
- Constant tiredness
- Lack of energy
- Moodiness and irritability
- Difficulty concentrating
- Feeling unhappy or lonely most of the time
- Changes in sleeping and/or eating patterns
- Childline (0800 1111 or online via their website )
- Samaritans (116 123)
- Lifeline (0808 808 8000)
- CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)
Margaret from the Samaritans team in Craigavon gave the audience information about how their service supports people of all ages. They exist to provide a 'listening ear' to anyone who needs to talk to somebody - with qualified confidentiality provided. The Samaritans are available 24/7 and every day of the year.
As Margaret emphasised - there's a big difference between how you feel when you're busy during the day and at 3 o'clock in the morning when there is little to take your mind off things. You do not have to be feeling suicidal to speak to the Samaritans - they are there to provide a safe place for you to talk about whatever is bothering you.
Robyn McCue from Mind Your Mood - a student-led mental health campaign at Queen's University Belfast - began by sharing her personal experience with mental ill health. This was a moving presentation and we greatly appreciated Robyn sharing her own story with us. Robyn went on to discuss her personal approaches to each of the five steps to mental wellbeing:
- Connect
- Be active
- Take notice
- Keep learning
- Give
We were delighted to welcome back the O2 Guru team who always provide excellent information at our events on child safeguarding and protection via technology. Josh and Eamon spoke about the joint O2/NSPCC campaign against cyberbullying and outlined the three steps to spotting cyberbullying - 'stop, speak and support':
- Stop - Get an overview of what's really going on.
- Speak - Get advice from a trusted adult or with any of the support organisations available.
- Support - Encourage the person that they are supported and give positive distractions to them.
The O2/NSPCC campaign is aimed towards parents and children - whether they are victims of cyberbullying or perpetrators of cyberbullying. Full information on each of the steps can be found on their website.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to each of the speakers and the organisations who took the time to prepare for and speak at our event. Our warm thanks, also, to the audience for taking the time to attend. Further information on the organisations taking part can be found on their respective websites at:
Action Mental Health - http://www.amh.org.uk/
The Samaritans (Craigavon) - https://www.samaritans.org/branches/craigavon-branch-samaritans
QUB Mind Your Mood - https://www.facebook.com/mindyourmood/
O2 Gurus - https://www.o2.co.uk/help/nspcc
If you would like to suggest a topic for our next event, or to register your interest in attending as a speaker or listener, please contact us at info@studyseed.co.uk.
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