SAPS 194 – Is Confining Students in Halls a Mental Health Crisis in the Making?
Posted by: Sue Atkins
Show notes:
In This Episode :
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Tuppence Worth
Thousands of young people have been encouraged back to university and abandoned by the system.
Where are their safety nets?
Is confining students in halls a mental health crisis in the making?
“It feels as though we’re paying to be in prison.” says an 18-year-old student on the phone from her room in university halls.
The journalist Joanna Moorhead deposited her daughter there a week ago; the days since have been a distressing spiral. As with many other students, nothing has been organised for the young people arriving at her university.
She has met no member of staff other than security guards; she has been introduced to no seasoned students in other years, who could show her the ropes and help her get her feet on the ground.
And worst of all, she has been given no information or advice about who she could turn to for help.
We have spent the past decade in this country trying to get people to recognise that mental health is every bit as important as physical health.
We already know that young people leaving home for the first time are at particular risk, at a time of huge change in their lives, and we also know that there’s an epidemic of mental ill-health in their generation.
And yet, despite knowing all this, thousands of our most vulnerable young people are right now alone, afraid and abandoned by the system. As my friend’s son points out: starting at a new school is scary – and the education system falls over itself to provide support and safety nets, to ensure that children’s worst nightmares don’t become a reality.
Ministers knew ahead of time that these young people would pay a terrible price. Yet the system is colluding to ensure that many of these people’s worst fears are realised. It’s a shocking failure of leadership, and it’s letting down a generation of young people.
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In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
MESSAGE FROM SUE
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Involve Yourself in Your Child’s Life
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