Inspirational Sixth Form Student Makes a Difference

Following the very successful Hello Yellow day on Monday we wanted to highlight one student's crusade to stop the taboo surrounding mental health.

STUDENT LED SUPPORT 

After struggling with my own mental health, and realising that it can get rough at times and that no one is immune to having bad mental health, I spoke about it to friends, parents, and teachers that I trusted. I realised that this process really helped improve the never-ending ups and down my own mental health. Once I had sought help from various support networks, I realised that people were asking me about where I went or what I did while I was struggling. This made me think about how hidden some of the resources were and highlighted the taboo about having these more open discussions with peers.

This is when I came up with the concept of Student Led Support; my thought was that a space needed to be created where students could have discussions that were way more honest about the general feelings and queries to do with their wellbeing and mental health. I wanted to ensure that people who feel they weren’t being heard, had a voice, and could see that at Charters we can make a change to how mental health is perceived.

Student Led Support is still in the very early stages but over time it will develop and be rolled out to the main school as well. As I am in Year 13, I’m aware that everything that I want to be changed won’t happen before next summer. However, before I leave Charters, having an impact - even it only gets the ball rolling - is so important to me. In the near future training will be provided for students who are currently in Year 12 and I'm looking forward to more students becoming involved.

Finally, my message to our school community is one that may seem a cliché but really is true, ‘its okay not to be okay’. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health and your issues are valid no matter how small!