Anonymous student, Year 12
Mental health, it’s something we seem to be talking about all the time these days. We know all the signs to look out for, we’ve been taught how to look after ourselves and we know how to look after others. But personally, I believe there is one thing that we’re not told enough about: what actually happens if you seek help for your mental health?
When I first reached out about my mental health, I genuinely imagined that I would be carted off to a hospital, I thought that my parents would be angry with me and I that my friends would disown me. This sounds like an extreme reaction; however, I was never told what reaching out for help might actually look like. When speaking to my friends, it seems as though many of us share this fear and I suppose it’s perfectly natural to fear the unknown. I want to share my experience of reaching out for help with my mental health because it was nothing like what I expected and, to be frank, it saved my life.
I was in year nine when I first realised that something wasn’t quite right, I’m not going to go into the details of what I was struggling with because I don’t think that would be helpful for anyone, but I knew I couldn’t deal with it on my own anymore. Personally, I decided to speak to a teacher in the Student Support Team, but you can reach out to anyone, from a subject teacher to your form tutor, a family member or a Peer Mentor. To be honest it doesn’t matter who it is that you decide on, as long as it’s someone you trust and feel comfortable with.
I had no idea how I was going to start the conversation, and was worried that I’d speak awkwardly and be judged, but that wasn’t the case at all for me. I decided to write everything down, that way I didn’t have to try and explain everything, and I wasn’t going to get too nervous or upset. I would really recommend this way of communicating because it feels so much easier than talking out loud.
Being able to start this conversation was really the first step on the road to recovery for me. Just talking to someone was a relief in itself, but it also allowed me to access specialist mental health services. This meant I could be referred into CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) where I was lucky enough to be assigned an amazing psychologist who has taught me the techniques I needed to cope with the difficulties I was facing.
Not everyone’s journey will look like mine and there are lots of different services which can offer support and treatment including school counsellors, the YES project, Kooth, Mind Jersey as well as CAMHS. I suppose what I’m trying to say, is that if you are ever in a position where you think you might need some support for your mental health, don’t be scared. Reaching out can be scary but it’s far better than not saying anything.
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