Sixteen-year-old Oliver George, from Kent, speaks candidly about his battle with mental health issues and how increased funding cuts are making it harder for people to get the help they need
three months or constantly in the background – and this number is increasingly alarming in today’s youth, the under 30s.
So, it leaves the question hanging in the air: “Why doesn’t the government do more to help?”
Let’s be honest, pain is inevitable in life, as is failure, but what counts is how we bounce back – that will define us.
None of us are the same, but we are all connected in the sense that we will all suffer from a sense of failure in our lives.
It’ll hurt in different places and we’ll be broken by different things but the feeling is the same.
We’ll lose hope, drag our head down, shut ourselves away from the world.
What unites us is our common imperfection in striving for greatness and yet that very same thing is the one which we will never admit.
All anyone wants is validation, but not everyone will find it. What matters is the value that others prescribe to us rather than our own feeling of self worth.
But when you struggle to find that, you begin to lose grip; you focus on the negativity around you and the further to the edge you get, the harder it is to hold on. So, what should we do? Well, obviously, it’s different for everyone and I can’t say ‘this is what you have to do’ because not everything works for everyone.
But, simple as it sounds, you’ve just got to speak to someone. Whether it’s your best friend, or just some doctor you’ve met for the first time.
If you get it off your chest it’s not all going to suddenly go away, but it will help. I suspect this is one of the only times when that age-old adage of “a problem shared is a problem halved” actually has any real bearing.
More importantly, know who your friends are because they will have your back when you feel as though it’s all going wrong.
Hope over despair, love over hate, the future will be bright.
If you would like confidential support on an emotional issue, call Samaritans on 116 123 at any time