Mental health issues raised by youngsters

NCS campaign is to abolish the stigma surrounding mental health in young men and raise awareness

YOUNG people took to the streets of Oldham town centre to raise awareness of mental health in young men.

The 16 and 17-year-olds are among 70 young people from Oldham who have taken up a programme with the National Citizen Service which introduces them to a great experience which helps them build skills for work and life. It includes a stay at an outdoor activity centre, the opportunity to gain new skills, helps them to meet new people and gives them the chance to plan and run a project.

The idea for the mental health campaign came from the young people themselves. They wore sandwich boards with questions written on them such as 'does social media have an impact on mental health?'. They then asked shoppers to write down or draw their response to the questions.

The campaign was brought to Oldham in partnership with the NHS Pennine Care's Healthy Minds service.

Roshni Parmar-Hill, 16, who lives in Saddleworth, was one of the young people on the NCS programme and was elected as its project leader.

The former Saddleworth School pupil said: "The campaign has been youth led. Seventy six per cent of those who commit suicide are men. We want to break down the taboo and stigma about men and their emotions. This month-long programme has been a great opportunity. It has been really intense and has brought together people from all sorts of backgrounds who I would never have met if I had not been involved with NCS. It has been amazing.

"My mum Reshma works for Healthy Minds and she said that our campaign would really stand out because it was delivered by young people."

During the month the young people enjoyed a residential at Weardale Adventure Centre in the north Pennines, got used to university life on a campus where they put together a media project and planned the mental health campaign. To find out more about services offered by NCS go to the website www.ncsyes.co.uk