In this article Ellie Bealing, Somerset Member of Youth Parliament, talks about the support available to young people, the barriers – both personal and systemic – and her hopes for the future of support systems. It’s a powerful piece.
Despite the applaudable work of some campaigns and initiatives in today’s culture aimed at ensuring young people in the face of turbulent events, are aware of the need to open-up and seek support when we are struggling, it’s all too obvious that the help we are offered is not up to the standard we so desperately need it to be.
Through my own experiences and understanding of our systems in Somerset (based on long waiting times, referrals and standardised questions) it’s difficult to truly communicate our adversity – and equally expect the right support to become available.
This structure of asking for help fails to acknowledge how difficult it is to bare our personal struggles, many of which we would never share, even with our loved ones. Not everyone feels comfortable with writing down or sharing personal problems and then suffering from the long intervals between referral and an actual appointment. It then becomes all too easy to forget when and how something troubled you at the time, and by then often facing entirely different challenges. We cannot expect to get the consultation required the next day, but we must not ignore the impact on those who have to wait in limbo.
Even with an initial assessment, there is the possibility that you’ve been signposted to the wrong or ineffective support. Like many of those around me, this often becomes an eventuality if facing multiple issues with relationships, body confidence and eating habits, which are notably caused by or lead to poor mental health. This presents the catch-22 effect of having multiple needs, being confused but having to ask for help but unable to fully commit to counselling or support for low mood, and when your diet also requires attention. It then becomes a vicious cycle which is deeply troubling for those in its grasp, then exacerbated by waiting times and multiple signposting or referrals. This is a common occurrence, when you must work out which problem seems most pressing – an incredibly personal, often unanswerable question when you’re overwhelmed, and then submit to the exhausting task of once again resharing your struggles, before waiting another excruciatingly long time to get the help you sought perhaps months ago.
We live in an age where mental health, eating disorders, and any other cause of lowered wellbeing are far more prominent in the attention of the public and professionals alike. But while we can ponder the best ways to support young people in our communities, counties and our country, it is only through visible action that there is a sense that are needs are truly being addressed.
Until we begin to hear positive stories of beneficial support, of the referral system not being used in a way that makes you feel as if you’re unfixable, then we can only question their ‘use’ or even worth in the first place. While the length of waiting for help, continues it has to be understood how detrimental to young people’s wellbeing this, is in particular. And we must also ponder how effective or even cost effective these deliberate attempts to encourage self-help initiatives are. It’s tragic that those who are committed and work so hard and are yet stretched so thin, know that without sufficient intervention, it is increasingly too easy for children and young people consumed by mental illness.
I do hold hope that our mental health and eating disorder support systems can be more streamlined, robust and effective. This would reduce the numbers of young people constantly being bounced around and having to keep repeating and recounting their traumatic experiences & emotions. Rather than young people being lost in a maze of multiple self-help advice/ ‘pit-stops’ and mechanisms to temporarily reduce superficial discomfort, there has to be change to end these negative cycles for young people. We need confidence that we can trust and receive meaningful and appropriate help and that professionals are truly prepared to help us.
Ellie
Somerset Youth Parliament campaigns
Each Member of Youth Parliament works on a campaign during their term, which is supported by their Deputies and the Advisory Group. It allows us to understand what changes young people want to see in the communities they live in and makes sure that those views are heard by Somerset’s decision makers.
Ellie’s campaign is called ‘Young People – Strong Healthy Lives’ and helps to increase conversations around healthy eating and body image.
To find out more about our Member of Youth Parliament’s campaigns visit our Campaigns page.
