Young People's Mental Health: The Clash Between Welfare & Achievement

I have hesitated for some time before putting in writing my thoughts on the subject of Young People's Mental Health within our current education system. I have witnessed the narrowing of what education means, from a distance. I have witnessed increased concern from parents and friends who are teachers and educators about the welfare of the children and young people in their care. I have tried to help young people with the support of their parents to negotiate the emotional minefields of their most significant educational milestones.

Sometimes when discussing young people's mental health, we are satisfied with laying the blame on new technology, social media and other things that are different from our day. However, unless you are involved in trying to provide a balanced creative and social education within the current education system, it is unlikely that you will be aware of the impact of successive diktats from government about focusing on exam results, to the detriment of a truly culturally diverse curriculum. Also the focus on needing to achieve, 'outstanding' according to OFSTED criteria seems to be taking focus away from preparing young people for a rounded and successful life, which enables them to weather the inevitable storms and challenges of life as it is.

Why decide to cover this in a Mental Health blog? Because I have recently had a more sustained glimpse inside for the first time since leaving teaching in the 1990s. I am currently trying to overcome my fears and have been applying for work so that I can make the step away from having to rely on benefits. This has meant I have been attending interviews for jobs which are focused on 'Pastoral', 'Welfare' and other 'caring' roles within schools and colleges. My CV obviously gives me some encouragement that I am being invited for interview. My teaching coupled with my lived experience of mental health, along with the work I've been doing in the community would seem to be a perfect fit.

However, following my interview at a local college, which on paper was all but perfect, I have felt deeply uneasy and, at times upset about the atmosphere and attitudes towards students' welfare. Although the role was designated as 'Pastoral' none of the discussion, observation or interview questions explored the link between mental well-being and 'success'. It upset me primarily because I know that one student from this college took their own life in a very public way last year and I am aware of the emotional issues currently being managed by students within the college.

On paper there is a 'counselling department' but I wondered about how effectively this works as there was no explanation of how this department worked alongside those trusted with the general welfare of the student body. Or even, if there is any wider conversation beyond referral and tick in box. In the end the aim of the Pastoral role was to ensure that students remain within the college and 'successfully' complete their courses.

As myself and the other unsuccessful candidate were sifted halfway through the day, I realised that we were the 'quirky', more experienced, more expensive candidates. We stood out, we were big personalities - too big and too experienced maybe to just deliver a proforma welfare programme of lessons. There did not seem to be any scope to individually tailor delivery of coping and mental well-being skills to the small tutorial groups in addition to the prescribed programme of social and health education.

I now know my main mistake was in focusing on helping young people develop a safe group of people and safe place within college so that they could feel supported emotionally as well as academically. The problem, I wanted to ensure that young people enjoyed their time and were able to manage stresses around exams and the future by providing a forum to share coping skills.

This I find is not the pastoral agenda for school and colleges. It can't be. Exam results and OFSTED reports are integral and essential to funding for all activities within the establishment. There can't be additional resources for the mental health initiatives the government has now loaded onto the already overstretched education system.

There are a large number of these posts being advertised and not every school or college I have attended for interview have had such a narrow emphasis. In fact I have been encouraged by conversations with school leaders who recognise the need for a compassionate and responsive mental health strategy which is willing to consider building up resilience and crisis management skills for all of their students. While educational success is dictated by government and political ideology and narrowly assessed based on exam results, we will continue to face growing issues around young people's battles with anxiety, depression and other related issues such as substance misuse.

Unfortunately, on a wider note the pressure to maintain successful exam results, in some settings seems to resulting in a more chalk and talk form of teaching for A Level. This again, saddens me, as one of the joys of the Socratic Method is to build on students' strengths and natural interests to encourage, a questioning, inquiring, critical frame of mind, which can be the foundation to the independent learning essential to be successful at degree level. I found student areas to be quieter than expected, and classes less discursive and confident in expressing their own opinions. There are few times for reflection it seems to me, within these most formative years.

My conclusion is that there is no room for a teacher like me anymore within education. I believe too much in the individuality of life experience and the fact that each student does not come to us as an empty vessel passively waiting to be filled by the prescribed knowledge which can be measured by exams and tests and reassure those in power who wish to avoid questioning minds.

Where that leaves our need to support young people so that they can be resilient enough to cope with all that life throws at them, I don't know. I do know that educators need expertise from outside as well as resources which can help them feel more confident in speaking to young people about issues around self injury and suicide in particular. It requires investment in pastoral staffing which is separate from the academic staff and curriculum, where young people can have confidence that there is a safe place and safe people with whom they can be open. The school nurse service maybe a model which can offer one pathway, or designated mental Health leads, which I believe is in the pipeline. I would say that given the current pressures on management, such a role does need to be seen as not linked to a student's academic progress.

Small short term projects are a good start. However, I do believe there needs to be a completely different approach to school pastoral structures, particularly in the post 16 world.

These are simply my personal views.

An Image for Emotion Regulation and Mindful Breathing

Here is another picture that I use when dealing with difficult emotions like anger, or anxiety.

I use the picture to focus while bringing my breathing under control. I imagine myself in a small boat on the river. I allow it to carry me forward carried along on the river, as I lie in the bottom of the boat watching the sky above with its clouds and beautiful sunset. As I am carried forward on the water I change my focus from my breathing in and out to notice negative thoughts and feelings as they arise, I then change my focus to the clouds floating by above, returning to focus on my breath until it has slowed and become regular. As I notice the thoughts and feelings, I notice as they float up from the boat to the clouds above. I give them the form of words, often with characteristic size, shape and colour, so Anger cna be spiky, red, and large when I first notice it. I then watch the negative feelings grow smaller as they drift upwards away from me towards the clouds until they dissolve completely. As each thought or feeling arises and floats away I watch, then return my focus to my breathing, until I feel completely calm.

It works for me because it helps me to balance control of my breaths along with identifying and controlling the emotions as they arise. Managing to identify and manage the emotion until it grows less intense takes time and practice. Concentrating on slowing down your breathing is a good first step.

Fighting the Stigma

Even when meeting people as I leave my hospital appointments, my standard response to the polite, but empty question: 'How are you doing?' is typically either, 'not too bad' or 'fine thanks'. Oh yeah? So why the need to be going to the hospital?

Now, this is most likely partly to do with the cultural norm, I mean no one really means you to tell them how you actually are, do they? How any deviation to this norm is received depends on whether your decision to open up is related to physical health as opposed to mental health. So that, a response of 'Ok apart from this stinking cold' is much preferable to 'Been feeling really down for some time now.' I've been pondering the squeamishness we feel towards discussing mental health. We're different from previous generations, who didn't seem to be aware to any significant degree of emotional or psychological conditions, beyond 'bad case of the nerves', or 'eccentricity' or 'a bit funny'. I'm tempted to laugh, until I realise that actually, reading much recent media coverage, we haven't moved much further on in our understanding and stigmatisation of mental health conditions.

Spurred on by the work of organisations like Mind, Sane, the Black Dog Tribe and campaigns such as Time to Talk, I have been speaking to groups of people, trying to share my experiences of managing a complex mental health condition. I have been encouraged by the number of people for whom this has been a relief. So many people, struggling with depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions feel so, so isolated, because for so long so few people seem to have been able to be open about their own struggles. Again, and again so many have said to me 'I didn't know I wasn't the only one'. 1 in 4 people EACH YEAR suffer from a significant mental health problem ie a condition which requires the support and intervention of GPs, or Mental Health professionals. So if I am talking to 120 people that means that, on average, there will be 30-40 people suffering from a mental health issue at any one time.

Unless a physical illness is destined to be discussed on 'Embarrassing Bodies' I don't think that we are as reticent to discuss our physical ailments. Even then, I think the physical discomfort is likely to drive us to the GP, even men give in to pain discomfort, eventually. In fact, the typical response to telling people about my colds, sniffs, bugs and lurgies is 'Poor you, hope you're looking after yourself', which is nice!

We don't even have an 'Embarrassing Minds' equivalent, because it's easier to just pretend it doesn't exist. On all too rare occasions have I seen TV programmes which provide a small glimpse into something remotely resembling my experience of life, Bedlam, was one excellent example. It is remarkable, sadly, because of its rarity. More frequently, those who have emotional and psychological struggles are portrayed as 'outsiders', 'other than', 'not people like us'. The prime example at the moment is the portrayal of the residents of Benefits Street, most of whom are described in less than glowing terms. Notice the throw away comments about their mental health, such as 'Dee is on ESA because of her depression' dubbed over a scene showing her being narky with her kids. No further explanation of the 'Black Dog' that lives with every sufferer of depression.

I took nearly two years to tell people what I was struggling with Borderline Personality Disorder, (BPD)after I was diagnosed and started on the path to treatment. There were a variety of responses: total denial (Subscript: can't be true, you're too 'normal' and don't appear to be 'unstable'), minimisation (Subscript: No, you're exagerrating surely, why do you need to see a Mental Health Team?), ridicule (Subscript: Always knew you were a 'nutter' ha ha ha), disbelief (Subscript: I can't possibly be friends with someone with a mental health problem!). What all these responses have in common is that they are strategies to distance the responder from the Mental Health condition. If they can make me the 'odd one out' then they can live without fear of 'contagion'.

For people like this I would say: just as much as no one can predict accurately who will suffer from cancer, diabetes, virulent viruses; unfortunately, for us as human beings, we can never predict who is going end up suffering from a mental health problem in the future. In other words: IT COULD BE YOU! That's uncomfortable and bound to provoke anxiety - especially as mental health conditions and how they are managed are so seldom discussed in a well informed way, certainly not in the bulk of the media, or the political sphere.

Until those in charge of the debate, especially those in our government, actually engage in an intelligent and well informed way with the subject, there will be little impetus to improve the portrayal of mental health issues. Thankfully, under pressure from social media and certain individuals and organisations there is a small shift in the debate. However, the most powerful tool in this battle is the true stories behind labels and diagnoses and for this I am grateful to all the campaigning organisations.

Until it is as easy to discuss my mental health, as my physical health, on my better days, I will try to stick my head above the parapet and talk about the part of my humanity 'that dare not speak it's name'.