‘More than 24 000 teenagers are admitted to hospital each year in the UK after deliberately hurting themselves.’ (www.teachernet.com). Most of them having cut, burned, severely scratched, bitten, scalded or poisoned themselves or pulled their hair out. Recent research suggests that one in ten teenagers self-harm. To put this in the context of a school setting, if you're teaching an average sized class, it is likely that there will be at least one or two self-harmers in your classroom at any time. Judging from personal testimonies collected by the National Inquiry into Self-Harm, risk factors for self-harm in younger people seem to involve a number of common themes including eating disorders, low self-esteem / self worth, depression or paranoia, bullying and physical / emotional or sexual abuse. By educating the audience through the mental health campaign I hope to end the stigma that surrounds self harm in our society.
The overarching purpose of the mental health campaign is to educate those listening of the most common types of mental illness including the causes, signs and symptoms and ways to help prevent it. I will focus on depression and eating disorders with the girls and suicide with the boys as these are the mental health issues which affect each group the most. By educating the audience about mental illness I hope to change people’s attitudes and behaviour towards the mentally ill and therefore help to end the stigma that our society associates with mental illness.
I have decided to deliver my mental health campaign to the girls and boys of a year 10 class who are of mixed race and religion. I have picked a class of year 10’s who are aged between 14-15 as they are likely to experience increased levels of stress due to their first set of important exams ( key stage three exams) and the anticipation of GCSE’s. Apart from school pressure and exams, bullying and self image can cause mental health issues among children of this age. According to The Department of Health and Children ‘School was found to be the place where the most bullying takes place.’ Children of this age bully because they may see it as a way of being popular, or making themselves look tough and in charge and others might be jealous of the person they are bullying. Self-image is a big part of a typical teenager’s life. It can be unbearable for any young teenager to see the attractive people on TV or in magazines and see the way that they are not like those people. Girls especially are more influenced by the media in a negative way.
With children of this age looking up to celebrities as role models and as they become more aware of what others think about them they are highly susceptible to developing an eating disorder at this age to try and fit in. According to NHS research ‘more children aged below 18 years were treated in NHS hospitals for eating disorders last year than at any other time over the past decade.’ and ‘Most people who develop (). It's easy to see why teenagers may develop a fear of any weight gain even if it's healthy and temporary. They - people who often weigh far less than their healthy weight. When you combine the pressure to be like these role models with a changing body, it's not hard to see why .
There is a lot of stigma surrounding children and mental illness. This is caused by the lack of understanding children have regarding mental illness and because stigma associated with mental illness is part of our society. The National Mental Health Awareness Campaign states that ‘Nearly two-thirds of all people with a diagnosed mental disorder do not seek treatment because of the stigma surrounding mental illness.’ One of the main aims of my mental health campaign is to demolish this stigma by thoroughly educating the year 10’s about the causes of mental illness.
Furthermore, year 10 pupils will benefit the most from the campaign as they will learn methods of coping with the stress caused by the build up to key stage three exams and anticipation of GCSE’s. In an interview with The Independent newspaper , the governments exam watchdog stated ‘Examinations are much more taxing. Pupils get pressure to do well from their schools because the schools themselves depend on good results to do well in the league tables.’ If this stress is long term it may turn into anxiety or even depression in which case, they child may need help to feel better. Through the campaign the children can learn the causes of stress and different ways to relax.
Recent research focusing on young people suggests that 10 per cent of 15 to 16 year olds have self-harmed, usually by cutting themselves. The most common reason is 'to find relief from a terrible situation'. (www.mind.co.uk) Young people are often under great pressure within their families, from school and among their peers. Many young people have reported having friends who also self-harm. People who self-harm are much more likely to have low self-esteem, be depressed and anxious. They seem to be facing more problems in life but may be less good at coping with them. With the mental health campaign the year 10’s will be given an explanation on why people self harm and advice on what to do is they know someone who is self harming.
Mental health problems are common in young people as well as adults and have a huge impact on our society. The total financial cost of mental illness in Northern Ireland is estimated to be in the region of £3 billion annually. This does not take into account the enormous human costs on patients and carer’s. The Public Health Agency (HPA) carried out research on in March 2006. From this research it was apparent that the public, when asked about what the major health issues were in Northern Ireland, were much more inclined to think of ‘physical’ health problems such as cancer or heart disease and did not at first consider any mental health issues. The research also highlighted a tendency for people to underestimate the occurrence of mental health problems with 63% of respondents thinking that 1 in 10 people experience a mental health problem at some time in their lives when the actual prevalence is approximately one in five.
It is in this context that the Minding Your Head campaign was developed. A major aim of the campaign is to increase public awareness of mental health issues and to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. The campaign also aims to educate the public about how they can better protect their mental health and encourage people to seek help early rather than letting things get out of control. This campaign is only the beginning of a process that will take time and effort, enabling people to better protect their mental health and wellbeing.
The strategy from the Minding Your Head campaign adopts the framework of values and principles set out in the ‘Investing for Health’ Strategy. In addition, the following principles are appropriate for mental health promotion. The strategy comprises a number of actions grouped under four areas: policy development, raising awareness of mental illness and reducing discrimination, improving knowledge and skills and preventing suicide. The two sets of principles provide the criteria against which services and practices will be evaluated.
‘Between 2000 and 2004, there have been approximately 150 deaths by suicide in Northern Ireland each year,’ (yourhead.com). However, 2005 witnessed a significant increase to 213 in the number of suicides recorded. Identifying the causes of such sudden rises is a major challenge. Suicide and self-harm have a substantial impact on Northern Ireland, both in terms of lives lost and the resulting trauma for bereaved families and the local community. Evidence also suggests that the cost of suicide and self-harm has a significant economic impact on Northern Ireland
As a result of concern about the increase in self harm and in the number of suicides the Department oh Health, Social Services and Public Safety established a Taskforce in July 2005 to develop a separate suicide prevention strategy for Northern Ireland.
The overall aim of this Strategy is “To reduce the suicide rate in Northern Ireland”. This Strategy incorporates the following targets to complement and help achieve the overarching Investing for Health target: to obtain a 10% reduction in the overall suicide rate by 2008 and to reduce the overall suicide rate by a further 5% by 2011. Progress towards meeting these targets will play an important part in measuring the success of the Suicide Prevention Strategy. The achievement of the Suicide Prevention Strategy’s aim will play its part in helping to meet the existing Investing for Health targets which include improving life expectancy, reducing health inequalities and improving the mental health of the people of Northern Ireland.
Some of the key objectives of the strategy are: to raise awareness of mental health and well-being issues, to ensure early recognition of mental ill-health, and to provide appropriate follow-up action by support services, to provide appropriate training for people dealing with suicide and mental health issues, to provide support for research and evaluation of relevant suicide and self harm issues and to restrict access, where possible, to the means of carrying out suicide.
While the Suicide Prevention Strategy is aimed at the whole population, the analysis of suicide in Northern Ireland carried out for the development of the Strategy highlights that there is a direct association between suicide rates and gender, age groups, and socio-economic status. Therefore, in order to reduce the suicide rate in Northern Ireland a targeted approach was adopted when implementing this Strategy.
Having analysed some of the mental health strategies already set in place in Northern Ireland I now realise that they will impact heavily on my campaign as they have similar strategies, aims and objectives.
