Caring for the mental health of Jersey's teens

Wednesday 06 July 2016

Protecting and nurturing the mental health of the Island’s children and teens has been the sharp focus of a two-day conference sponsored by Mind Jersey and Victoria College.

Entitled Promoting Healthy Young Minds, it brought together all the stakeholders – teachers, health professionals, caring agencies and, most critically, young people themselves – to address the many challenges children face growing up in the modern world.

These challenges are perhaps more acute than ever before – bullying, body dysmorphia, self-harming, substance abuse, academic pressure, sexual pressure – all intensified by a largely unregulated, 24-hour cyberworld, which is available at their fingertips.

Speaking at the conference, Dick Moore, a qualified instructor for Youth Mental Health First Aid and trainer for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, revealed some frightening statistics:

• 32 percent of teenagers will experience suicidal thoughts;
• Only 25 percent of young people who need help for mental or emotional ill health receive it;
• 75 percent of mental health disorders originate in adolescence; and,
• More young men between 17 and 25 years of age take their own lives than the number that die from road traffic accidents, violent crime and AIDs-related illnesses added together.

In Jersey there are 60 teens on a watch list for suicide. But Mr Moore said there are reasons to be hopeful as well.

Facilitating at the second day of the conference – which saw 250-300 local schoolchildren between 14 and 18 years of age take part in workshops on managing feelings and helping their peers – was “inspiring”, he said.

He told Express that in the years since he has developed a passion for adolescent mental health, he has participated in well over 200 different forums – with schools, legislators and businesses – “but I’ve never seen anything like this."

The kids broke into nine groups, he said, and brought back ideas to help their peers deal with emotions, fears and self-doubts, which can feel like pressure cookers in their chests.

One group suggested the development of an App, which would allow teens to register how they were feeling at different times of the day. Teachers could also subscribe to the App, and as such would be alerted when moods darkened dangerously and “would know when to initiate conversations”, Mr Moore said.

Another group of teens suggested establishing “five days of freedom”, where rather than lessons or revising, students would be encouraged to meditate, do yoga or be creative in other ways.

Mr Moore said the students were highly engaged and had a message for other stakeholders: “Stop talking, stop having meetings – and do something.”

For one stakeholder at least, doing something is a major concern as well.

Julian Radcliffe, Jersey’s Principal Educational Psychologist, is working on a new Island-wide strategy on mental health, with a particular focus on preventative measures and early intervention for five- to 19-year-olds.

He told Express, there are gaps in care “which must be closed."

Some of these are related to inter-agency communication. In the past, he said, multiple agencies have been engaging without communicating. “We were all working with the same children and we didn’t know,” he said.

Going forward that should not happen, he added, and children and their families will be asked to tell all stakeholders which other agencies are involved.

That’s just one prong of a six-prong strategy to improve the way that Jersey keeps an eye on its vulnerable children.

Other prongs will ensure all schools have “good” resources to meet the needs of their pupils,that training initiatives are correctly targeted to the right age groups and that kids themselves are given the opportunity within schools to talk about issues and take care of each other and themselves.