No Health without Mental Health-Support YoungMinds

YoungMinds has spent the last few months consulting with 1,600 young people about the issues that are of most concern to them - a big task with really interesting outcomes!  The result of this consultation is that on the 21 January we will launch five mini-campaigns with young people right at the centre: 

- YoungMinds Vs Sexed Up - Fight the pressure

- YoungMinds Vs Bullying - Stop the rot

- YoungMinds Vs No Work - Change the record

- YoungMinds Vs School Stress - Rewrite the rules

- YoungMinds Vs No Help - Make your feelings loud

Together with young people we will create a national charter for change which will be backed by thousands of young people and hundreds of organizations.  We will also develop a network of 1,500 young people who will raise awareness of the issues in their communities and online; support hundreds of media champions to raise awareness through the media; and support young people to meet with local and national decision makers to directly influence services and support for young people.

Don't forget to keep a look out in the New Year.  In the meantime, we are continuing to meet the massive increase in demand (as mentioned in our last report) from parents calling our free and confidential Helpline; a person every minute using our online resources; and a massive increase in demand for training from teachers and other professionals.  We just couldn't do it without kind and generous donations; we know the stigma is massive with mental ill health and that we won't get the same mass public support as other charities so please know how much we value your donation.

Links:

• Find out more about this campaign
• If you are a worried parent, look here
• If you are a young person, look here

Phew, we've seen a phenomenal increase in demand for our services including a 30% annual increase in calls to the Parents' Helpline (10,000 callers), more than one person every minute accessing our online resources and a dramatic increase in demand for training. 

We don't have massive public support and we don't have massive resources so it's all thanks to our generous supporters that we have managed to keep up and help everyone who has come to us.  So thanks! 

Thought you'd like to see what the young people who work for us have to say and the difference they have made:

"I did an interview for BBC Breakfast, it was a massive step for me - broadcasting that I self-harm and talking about why people do it to all of the UK.  Viewers emailed in saying how impressed they were with my honesty. One man stated that he had completely altered his view on self-harm and no longer saw it as attention seeking. I genuinely believe that I achieved something amazing with that." - Grace