Make It Count

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By Frances Beck

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to get involved with the Mental Health Foundation Scotland’s new campaign – Make It to get mental health embedded into the schools, to try to prevent mental health problems developing in the first place and ensure early intervention support if they do occur. The piece below is what I wrote for their website and media press releases. I was also asked by the local radio station, West FM, to do a pre-recorded interview yesterday to go live today, this being World Mental Health Day and the launch of the Make It Count campaign.

I was taken completely outside my comfort zone, so much so I could have been on a different planet, never mind country. My interview lasted an uncomfortable 20/25 minutes, which thankfully they’ve reduced to just a few soundbites, but I had to keep reminding myself of the reason I was doing it in the first place. To try to help prevent other people reaching that point of extreme desperation where suicide is their only “get out” and to help ensure that other families don’t have to live the devastating nightmare that we now do. I have to live with the fact that I wasn’t able to save Conor and that is so much harder than the temporary discomfort of a short interview that will hopefully raise awareness and get people to sign the Make It Count petition.

10th October is World Mental Health Day, but really, Mental Health Day should be every day of the year. We all have mental health as well as physical health, and it is long passed time that mental health is afforded the same parity as physical health across society. I’m happy to see that public attitudes to mental health seem to be improving, but there is still much to be done.

The World Health Organisation defines mental health as a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community. This is a state of wellbeing that we all aspire to, but shouldn’t it really just be our basic human right?

Prevention is better than cure

The most effective way of ensuring good mental health for all is to prevent poor mental health developing in the first place and improve early intervention when it does occur. It is intuitive therefore that we start in schools, teaching our children and young people about mental health and wellbeing, and developing their emotional resilience by teaching them positive coping skills and providing them with a toolbox of strategies to use when they are faced with circumstances that affect their wellbeing.

Bullying, maltreatment, poverty, relationships and belonging are just a few factors that children and young people may face, which are known to adversely affect mental health. 50% of adults with mental health problems develop them by the time they are 14 years old, and 75% between the ages of 18 and 24, depending on the research study you look at.

This was the case for Conor. He, like myself, was bullied throughout his school life and I have no doubt would have benefited from being educated about mental health and how to effectively cope with that stress. His story could have been so very different if he’d had that support at that key stage of his life. Had his mental health problems been prevented or had he had targeted early intervention support, it’s highly unlikely that he would have taken his own life.

Saving young people’s lives

Health and wellbeing, along with literacy and numeracy, are the 3 core areas of the Scottish curriculum that all teachers are responsible for teaching, regardless of subject speciality. During my time as a teacher, the vast majority of my colleagues were very supportive of that requirement, but a lack of specific training was problematic in designing and delivering lessons. It’s really important that all teachers are effectively trained in mental health and are able to provide regular, quality mental health and wellbeing education.

It’s also important for schools to involve children and young people in leading their peers in mental health programmes to encourage them to support each other and help break down the stigma surrounding mental health. Schools should also embed a system of regularly measuring the levels of wellbeing of the whole school community, in order to identify problems at an early stage and be proactive in targeting appropriate support. That support should be provided by mental health support workers who work within each school community, which will enable children and young people to receive the support they need, when they need it, and in an environment that they trust.

Heartbreakingly, none of this will bring back my son, but it will go a long way in ensuring that the lives of other young people are not so tragically ended. Please let’s make it count!

Reproduced with permission, originally posted here: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk