“I felt like I was a walking question mark for 16 years of my life, nothing made sense”, says Jayson McSwiggan. “I didn’t know why I felt like I did.”
Working with the See Me campaign against mental health stigma helped Jayson and now he volunteers with the campaign himself. “You don’t realise how much change you can make. If I help one person then I’ve done my job, but when you’re together in a group then you can make such a big difference.”
Jayson joined an appeal for volunteers to take part in a peer support programme, training young people aged 11-18 to help change attitudes and improve the mental health of other children and young people in Scotland.
The theory behind the scheme is that young people often won’t talk about their mental health even if they are struggling to cope, perhaps worried they won’t be taken serious by adults. But talking to other young people might be easier.
It is shocking how early negative attitudes and stigma relating to mental health appear to kick in. The recruitment campaign is backed by research with 885 young Scots which found that while 78 per cent would tell someone if they were physically ill that dropped to just 37 per cent if they were finding it difficult to cope with a mental health problem.
When asked how they cope with negative thoughts and feelings only 21 per cent said they would speak to someone supportive they know, while 46 per cent would stay by themselves and 50 per cent said they would cope by crying.
Laura Sharp, See Me’s education and young people’s manager said: “the only way to end mental health stigma and discrimination for children and young people is to work alongside them, actively involving, engaging and empowering them to lead the change they hope to see in the world.
“Mental health impacts on every aspect of young people’s lives and we need them to know that it is okay not to be okay.”
The search for volunteers - who need to be aged 16-25 - is particularly focused on North Ayrshire, Falkirk and Fife, but would-be helpers are wanted from across the country. For more information or to apply, visit www.seemescotland.org.
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