Youth Mental Health Day 2023 is focused on the theme #BeBrave, to help boost the courage and confidence of young people.
Tuesday 19th September 2023 is Youth Mental Health Day, an awareness campaign founded by teenage mental health charity stem4 in 2020 to improve understanding and increase discussion of mental health in young people.
The #BeBrave theme was chosen by stem4 this year to help give young people “the courage and confidence they need to achieve their goals and ambitions, and be the best version of themselves they can be.”
How will you #BeBrave this Youth Mental Health Day?
To mark Youth Mental Health Day, they are encouraging people to join in the conversation on social media and share the ways in which they are going to #BeBrave today to combat the stigma surrounding anxiety and mental health.
The charity says that, for young people, being brave can mean tackling difficult situations, building their social confidence by working on team tasks or having the courage to fail by trying something new.
Stem4 founded Youth Mental Health Day to engage young people in discussions about how they can support and improve their own mental health.
They cite the following statistics as highlighting the current scale of mental health problems among young people:
- 1 in 6 5-16 year-olds have a diagnosable mental health disorder
- 6 in 10 young people say they are experiencing mental health difficulties such as anxiety, low mood, eating disorders and self-harming behaviours
- Nearly half of young people have experienced feelings of loneliness, isolation and feeling left out either all or most of the time within the past year
- Only a third are able to access effective treatment
Youth Mental Health Day offers hope in difficult times
Youth Mental Health Day started when the UK was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and stem4 says that this as well as ongoing issues like global warming, political conflict and the cost-of-living crisis have contributed to worsening mental health among children and young people.
They say that 40% of young people are experiencing mental health difficulties. Within this group, 7 in 10 are experiencing anxiety (71%) and low mood (67%).
Stem4 explains:
“Though times continue to be difficult, Youth Mental Health Day is here to provide hope and positivity.
“By getting young people engaged in discussions and activities about how to improve their mental health, YMHD goes beyond raising awareness and breaking the stigma surrounding mental health. It aims to tackle the heart of the issue by giving young people a voice and agency to take steps towards positive mental health.”
This year, you can share your own ideas of what bravery looks like, or what it means to you, using the hashtags #stem4YMHD and #BeBrave.
Stem4 also provides a range of free and downloadable resources to help young people, schools and colleges and all others to mark Youth Mental Health Day 2023 and access clinically-informed guidance on managing anxiety.
Today, the charity has been hosting an in-person event in Wimbledon, featuring the #BeBrave wall, where people can share what bravery means to them, participate in activities and access free mental health resources.
Vital mental health training and support
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, food hygiene, mental health, health and social care, safeguarding and more.
They work with a large number of early years and childcare providers, as well as schools, colleges, universities and children’s services.
Their courses include Understanding Mental Health, Youth Mental Health First Aid and Self-Harm Awareness.
A trainer from FRT says:
“We know that young people are really struggling right now. Research suggests that more young people are expressing their mental health struggles through self-harming behaviours, at a time when they have been faced with isolation, loneliness, academic upheaval and other difficulties. This is extremely worrying.
“It’s vitally important that anyone who works closely with children and young people has an understanding of mental health, is able to spot the signs that someone may be struggling and can offer appropriate support. Focused training can help with this.”
A brief summary of our mental health training can now be downloaded as an infographic.
You can also download our free Guide to Mental Health Training from our website.
For more information on the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.