Fry calls for youth mental health network
CHILDREN and young people have been hit hardest by repeated lockdowns, Stephen Fry has warned, as he calls for new walk-in services to help tackle the growing crisis.
The broadcaster, actor and president of mental health charity Mind is urging ministers to invest in ways to prevent an escalation of problems among the generation growing up in the shadow of the pandemic. The charity is calling for the creation of new walk-in services, which children can turn to without a referral from medics, to discuss anxieties and concerns.
Fry says his own experiences of mental health and his troubled childhood mean the issue is a matter close to his heart, as he presses for major action.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, he says: “I’ve done my best to speak candidly about my own struggles with mental health – living with bipolar and navigating my way through several dark and troubling times, including a near-fatal overdose. I’ve also seen a striking number of colleagues and loved ones struggle with their mental health, too.”
Fry, who has been president of Mind for the past decade, says Britain has made huge strides in awareness and understanding of mental health since 2011.
But, he adds: “While we’re seeing an increased willingness to talk about mental health, we are also seeing a
surge in the severity and scale of mental health problems across the UK, with NHS mental health services under pressure like never before.
“It has been well-reported that the pandemic has taken a huge toll on the mental health of the nation for a wide swathe of reasons – the loneliness and isolation associated with multiple lockdowns, not being able to spend time with loved ones, the loss of jobs and livelihoods as a result of economic recession. Mind’s research, however, has found that it is our young people who are among the hardest hit.”
The charity’s survey of almost 12,000 people, many with pre-existing mental health problems, found that almost one in three young people self-harmed to cope during the last year.
Fry is backing the charity’s call for the creation of a network of hubs, away from schools, which those aged 11 to 25 can turn to when they are feeling troubled. He writes: “Many of us look back on our school days fondly, although I for one was not what you might call a model student. Aged 17, after being expelled from various educational establishments, I went around London on stolen credit cards buying ridiculous suits in an attempt to reinvent myself and pull myself out of my own confused despair. In hindsight, my symptoms really surfaced here, but all everyone else could see was bad behaviour, delinquency, ‘lack of moral fibre’.”
Research has found half of teenagers have been left suffering from anxiety and trauma in the wake of lockdowns.
The systematic review into the impact of school closures by University College London found 53 per cent of girls and 44 per cent of boys aged 13 to 18 were found to be suffering from trauma or PTSD in the months after the first lockdown. And 60 per cent of boys and 50 per cent of girls of the same age were classed as suffering from anxiety.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists said the pandemic had caused a mental health crisis among children, with school closures having had a “devastating” impact.
Too many young people are strug- gling to access support, Fry says, backing The Telegraph’s campaign for children to be prioritised as the country recovers from repeated lockdowns, with action by the Government to address the harm caused. The charity is calling for investment in a network of early support hubs for young people aged 11 to 25 across England. Such centres would provide young people with mental health support in a friendly, non-threatening, non-clinical setting when problems first emerge – before they hit crisis point, he said.