Campaign is on track
Through the Storms project targets mental health
A group of teens has teamed up to create their own campaign highlighting how the mental health of young people has been impacted by the pandemic.
The insightful project run by Renfrewshire youngsters is tackling some of the fears and worries faced by young people as the country moves out of lockdown and back to ‘normal life’.
With support from CREATE Paisley and Active Communities, the group has been working together in recent months to shed some light on issues being faced by teens throughout the past year in the hope they can reach out and help their peers.
Topics such as social anxiety, returning to school, bullying and their hopes for the future are just some of the things they have been talking about during their virtual meetings.
Their hard work has led them to create the Through the Storms campaign, with their own specially designed billboards being displayed in Paisley Gilmour Street Station in the town.
The team - who are all aged between 15 and 19 - have also created a social media page on Instagram where they share their feelings about coming out of lockdown to show other Renfrewshire youngsters they are not alone.
Beth Ross, of CREATE Paisley, said the project was led entirely by the young people and yielded impressive results.
She said: “The project started as something different, but once we started it became clear that the group were keen to talk about lockdown and how it impacted them.
“Young people have been through a lot in the last year and they were really keen to highlight how they have been impacted.
“It was really beneficial for them and they did it all by themselves which was fantastic.
“It helped them gain a lot of new skills such as public speaking and helped give them tools to improve their communication.
Young people have been through a lot in the last year and we were really keen to highlight how they have been impacted Beth Ross
“Hearing about all the things they were worried about really hit home how much teens have been impacted by the pandemic, in particular when they were talking about their fears about school and friends.
“It’s quite a scary time, especially for teens.”
According to the group, the project has helped many of them overcome a number of fears and concerns.
One teen who took part in the project said: “We’ve spent the last year not really being able to talk to or meet new people so this group has helped me meet new people, talk to strangers and it has given me more confidence in doing that.
“I was really nervous about talking to new people and this has made me a lot better at doing that.”
Another added: “It has helped me to have more confidence in being creative as all ideas are accepted and discussed.
“I was also anxious about seeing people again but the project really helped me with that.”
The billboards, which have been displayed in various locations throughout the station, were in place until today.
The group hope it will encourage more people to join in their campaign.
Another group member added: “As much as you may feel like it, you are not alone.
“There is always someone in the next room, or around the corner who could be feeling the same as you or could listen to you.
“We want to help young people and make them feel less alone and make mental health a more talked about subject.
“We also want to impact our community and hopefully bring it together in terms of mental health struggles.”
Go to Through the Storms on Instagram to read all about the campaign.