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Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Time to Change, the social movement working to change attitudes and approaches
to mental health in the UK, carried out a survey of 3051 people in 2014 about their
experiences of mental ill health whilst in education.

This survey found that:

• 80% of people had lost confidence in themselves

• 54% of people said their mental ill health had an impact on their education

• 26% of people said their mental ill health had an impact on their
job prospects.

Bullying related to mental ill health was experienced by 15% of the respondents,
and a further 24% said they did not go to school for fear of what people might say.
Consequently, these people did not tell anyone about their mental ill health and
instead faked a physical illness to explain their absence.

Name calling was common for many of the people surveyed, and 31% had been
called derogatory names such as ‘crazy’, ‘mental’ or ‘attention-seeking’.

Key Fact

Mental health difficulties such as anxiety, low mood, depression,
conduct disorders and eating disorders can stop some young
people achieving what they want in life and making a full
contribution to society.
Source: The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health

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