Mental health volunteers needed

A mental health charity is looking for young volunteers from across Perth and Kinross to join them.

‘See Me’ is seeking new volunteers between the ages of 16 and 25 from the area to be part of an education programme. The volunteers will help to tackle mental health stigma, and improve the mental health of children and young people across Scotland.

This comes as See Me carried out research which found only 37% of young people will tell someone if they are struggling to cope with their mental health, compared to 78% who would tell someone if they were physically ill.

The charity says many young people don’t feel able to talk about mental health, as they worry they will not be taken seriously.

The study also found only 21% of people would speak to someone who supports them to cope with negative thoughts, with 46% saying they would rather stay by themselves and 50% saying they would cope by crying.

Laura Sharpe, See Me’s education and young people’s manager, said: “The only way to end mental health stigma and discrimination for children and young people is to work alongside them, actively involving, engaging and empowering them to lead the change they hope to see in the world.

“To do that we need volunteers from Perth and Kinross who can help us to identify the difficulties people their age face and work on ways to improve them.

“Mental health impacts on every aspect of young people’s lives and we need them to know that it is okay not to be okay.”

Anyone who wants to become a volunteer for See Me and is between the ages of 16 and 25 can apply online at www.seemescotland. org.