It's World Mental Health Day and Katya has chosen today to announce her aim to become an advocate for young people with mental health issues...
"I believe that there should be a Young Mental Health National Advocate to represent mental health issues from a young perspective who could work together with mental health charities and the government.
There are currently advocates representing a wide range of issues, but nobody specifically concerning the mental health of young people. This is a huge issue and I know that a lot of people would support this idea.
This one person would essentially do everything my campaign is about.
They would get rid of the myths and break down the stereotypes of mental illness. They would create a recognisable figure to young people encouraging mental health to be more openly talked about amongst younger generations.
I believe it would be essential to:
- Speak at events and policy seminars about mental health giving a youth perspective.
- Work with the Children’s Commission.
- Feed into government policy.
- Support the work of mental health charities and work with them.
I think it is really important to have this advocate as not enough is done for young people specifically when regarding mental health. If there was a spokesperson young people knew about it may encourage them to be more open about mental health and provide them with a start to seeking information.
This is so important and ties in with everything my campaign stands for."
Katya
