The Scottish Government must add Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention Training to the curriculum in order to ensure young people are adequately educated on such serious matters that will affect most students at some point in their lives, either directly or indirectly. The best way to help is to educate and it is the Scottish Governments responsibility to ensure young people are educated. Scotland recently established itself as the first country to include LGBT+ History and Awareness into the curriculum. This positive energy to educate young people on important matters must continue. 

•1in5 Adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year

•50% of mental health issues are established between ages 14-24

•12% of children (5-16years) have a diagnosable mental health issue.

•Scotland has the highest suicide rate in the UK with 16.1 suicides per 100k population.

These statistics highlight just how important mental health awareness is and why it is vital we include this into school curriculums. One way to tackle the stigma and help to reduce suicides is to educate young people on the matter. Educating children from a young age on mental health problems is a massive step to tackling this extremely sensitive and worrying problem. Suicide prevention training should be compulsory for every person of secondary age to complete. This would help young people understand how to help if they ever find themselves in a position where they need to help a friend, family member or colleague. Further education on what mental health issues are; how they affect people; what to do if they associate themselves with any of the mental health issues they are being educated on; what to do if they believe someone else is struggling with mental health problems; how to get professional help if required and how to tackle the stigma is also required urgently to help tackle this issue. I urge the Scottish Government to consider how to effectively add Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention to the Scottish Curriculum. These topics should be covered in Personal and Social Education (PSE) classes.