Mental and Emotional Health 
and Well Being

Here is some information from the UK’s Leading Mental Health Research

Young people in the UK have higher mental health need than ever. 1 in 6 young people in England (aged 5 to 16) experienced a mental health problem in 2020, up from 1 in 9 in 2017.    

Schools are struggling to meet the needs of young people with mental health problems. 
 

96% of reported that their mental health had affected their schoolwork at some point.
• 78% of young people said that school had made their mental health worse. 
• 56% of school staff identified that young people who didn't receive support self-harmed.
• 48% of young people told us they had been punished at school for behaviour that was caused by their mental health problems.
• 25% of school staff said they were aware of a young person being excluded from school because of their mental health.
• 70% of young people who experienced racism in school told us their experience had impacted their wellbeing.

Shiva Trust Agenda

The Shiva Trust agenda is designed to prevent and improve life chances for young people through the provision of Education, and Skills Training, and is targeted around area’s of mental and emotional health. 

Young people still don’t understand mental health well. They’ve told us that it causes them to talk down mental health problems that they might have. Because of this, a lot of them also said they prefer anonymous services

School or college is where they’d like to go for help first. And when they do, young people want clear information on the help they get. But at the same time, many told us that they usually hold back on what they’re going through at first. That’s because they don’t want to scare people or have their independence taken away.

Services need to be quick and treat them as people first. That means support that treats them has a whole person, and understands the trauma they may have experienced. This is really important – our research also found that if 1 young person has a bad experience, it can stop others seeking help.