School & Mental Health!
The start of September can usually be associated with one thing…the end of the summer holidays. Whether you are going back to School or University, this can bring with it a variety of difficult emotions. Let’s talk about that…
Whilst School and education as a whole are so important, it is completely normal to have complex and difficult feelings towards it, especially when going back after a six-week break. This could be down to several different reasons…
- Stress.
School can be incredibly stressful, with work that needs to be completed, deadlines to meet, trying to juggle a healthy school and social life, and the pressure of meeting expectations.
- Being around people
Whilst some might enjoy that aspect of education, for others, being constantly put into situations where they are around others and perhaps having to work with people they might not know can be quite challenging.
- Coping with homesickness
If you are at University, you may be living away from home for the first time.
- Dealing with bullying
For some, education may not feel like a safe space and may instead be associated with bullying.
This is why it so important to have steps in place to help look after your mental health so here a few ways you can support your mental health…
- Reaching out when you need help. Whether it’s a family member, friend or person in a professional setting, there is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it. Most school settings, including universities, will have pastoral care in place.
- Having things you enjoy outside of education. Sometimes we can often fall into a thing of education/studies taking over every aspect of life, meaning there’s very little time to do other things, which can negatively impact your mental health. So it’s important to split up your time to make sure you are still making time to do things you enjoy/look forward to outside of school. (Even if it’s just something like playing an hour or two of a game).
- Don’t compare yourself to fellow students. We can all feel a bit low if perhaps others do better than you in an exam/piece of coursework, but comparing yourself to others will not be helpful and instead cause further challenges. Everyone is different, and will have different strengths and weaknesses.
- Try to connect with fellow students. You could try and find people/clubs to do things with that you enjoy,
- Trying to remain organised can be very useful. Whether that’s making sure to keep a log of deadlines so there are no surprises, banking assistance apps, or just something like a planner can be really useful.
It can also be really good to look up the mental health support available for young people/students in your area too. That way, if there comes a time when you need it, you’ll be prepared.
Additionally, at Burton & District Mind, we are looking into how we can better support the mental health of Young People in our Community, and we are looking to hear from Young People on how we can best do that.
Our Help us to Help You Survey
You could fill in our Help Us to Help You Survey and let us know your thoughts on the current state of mental health support available to you as a young person. Our previous survey was a great indicator that we needed to do more for the LGBTQIA+ community, and as such, we have greatly improved the support available and obtained our Queerify Certification.
