Taking care of youth mental health is the focus of initiatives launched by the HSE and Jigsaw in recent days.
The Mind Monster – HSE
The HSE today (Monday 26th November) launched a new mental health campaign specifically targeted at young people. The ‘Mind Monster’ campaign was developed to raise awareness among adolescents and young adults of ways to look after their mental health. Focussing on things that are known to cause stress and anxiety the campaign highlights the benefits that getting enough sleep, taking regular study breaks, spending less time on devices and sharing a problem with someone you trust can have on your mental health.
The campaign launches today on radio and social media and signposts to the HSE’s newly developed website YourMentalHealth.ie. The site provides a significantly improved experience for everyone but is particularly relevant to young people who access information online every day. They will be able to find personalised support options through a search tool that generates information on online resources, telephone and face-to-face services relevant to a wide range of mental health issues including depression, anxiety and stress.
The campaign addresses recommendations of the Youth Mental Health Task Force and was developed using research from ReachOut.com and in conjunction with SpunOut.ie.
Speaking about the campaign Mr Jim Ryan, HSE Assistant National Director for Mental Health Operations said: “We know young people today have a lot to deal with. We wanted our campaign to highlight two key things – you’re not on your own and talking about things with someone you trust can help. This reinforces messages within our Little Things mental health campaign that there are small everyday things that will make a positive impact on our mental health. Providing young people of all ages with the information and resources to protect their mental health is a huge focus for us. This campaign follows on from a campaign we recently launched with Union of Students Ireland to promote mental health to third level students and forms part of our efforts to deliver on our commitments under Connecting for Life, the national suicide prevention strategy.”
Jigsaw, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health
Jigsaw have produced a special supplement, Let’s Talk Youth Mental Health. It was issued for free with the Irish Examiner and its sister titles on Saturday 10th November, but if you didn’t pick up a copy, don’t worry! You can view and download the whole supplement online now.
Inside you’ll find a raft of information that will help you to support your own mental health, whatever your age, as well as the mental health of the young people in your life. Jigsaw recognise that we can all make a huge and vital difference to the mental health and wellbeing of the people around us, and that we all have a part to play in creating a better, healthier Ireland for the future.
More about Jigsaw and What they do.
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