In 2016, at the age of 16, I tried taking my own life on two occasions. The first time I ended up being hospitalized, the second attempt meant I was rushed in for a psychiatric assessment. I was going into my first year of sixth form and had gone nearly 6 years with this deafening silence, trying to battle my own mind on a day to day basis without having any where to go, or knowing of where to go for help. I was completely exhausted, I just wanted my life to end – I couldn’t see a way out.

My first experience of mental health problems was as an 11-year-old child. I self-harmed for the first time at this age, without really understanding why this was my way of coping with the incredibly dark thoughts going on in my head. I had no education on what mental health was, there was nowhere in school for me to go to, I didn’t know that your brain can become ill, just like any other organ in the body can. I was completely oblivious to mental health due to lack of education growing up.

All the way through high school I struggled quite severely with mental health problems that I knew nothing about, nor did anyone else. It wasn’t until my final year of high school, year 11, that I reached out for outside help (the doctors) for the first time in my life and was given the diagnosis of depression. This diagnosis meant nothing to me as I had no idea what it actually was, why it affected me or what caused me to have this illness.

For me, there was no-where to go to in school for help. By that I mean, there was no mental health support system in place that I could go to. I know the school I attended wanted that support in place, however, with mental health help being so underfunded and no help from the government in this area it was essentially impossible. I spent 5 years with this crippling anxiety and depression and not one person knew about it. I spent months on end self-harming and battling my own mind and genuinely believing the world would be a better place if I wasn’t in it.

My story isn’t rare and unfortunately, young people right across the UK have nowhere to turn to for support in school, simply because there isn’t a mental health support system in place and not enough teachers are mental health trained, therefore aren’t equipped to help.

Teachers want to help, but currently do not have the time, the resources or the training to support students struggling with their mental health. This is something that HAS GOT TO change.

As a young person myself, I am calling out to the government to make a change. I believe every single school in the UK should have a mental health support system in place. Early intervention is key in preventing young suicides every single day. I honestly believe that if I had somewhere to go to in school, and education about this topic, I never would have reached the level of low and depth of despair that I did.

There is a total of 24,316 schools in the UK. There is a total of 8.74 million pupils in all schools in England. How many of those schools have a mental health support system in place?

20% of adolescents can experience a mental health problem in any given year.

50% of mental health problems are established by the age of 14.

10% of children and young people (aged 11-16 years old) have a diagnosable mental health problem YET 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems haven’t had appropriate interventions at an early age.

Suicide is the biggest killer of young people in the UK. With this in mind, we know that mental health problems occur at an early age, established by the age of 14. Early intervention is key in treating the illness and preventing suicides on a day-day basis. We have to have a proactive approach and I believe having somewhere in schools, a support system, that is accessible for every single young person is what is needed. If not, we are going to lose more lives to mental illness every single year.

#MakeItHappen